437 



to yield that sum, must fetch £16, which may be estimated 

 in the following manner : — 



Produce of a pair average Crop of Flax, per acre. 



£, s. d.£. s, d. 



Seed, 20 bushels, at 6s. 6d 6 10 0 



Tow 0 10 0 



Refuse, suitable for bedding and manure 0 5 0 



7 5 0 



Leaving the sum of £8 15s. to be produced by the sale 

 of the crop of dressed flax, which may be estimated 

 at 50 stones of 14 lbs., or 700 lbs., at 3d. per lb.... 8 15 0 



£16 0 0 



If 50 stones of dressed flax should be considered an ex- 

 cessive crop, (which, from Mr. Warnes's and Mr. Dickson's 

 Reports, it is not,) even 40 stones, at 3|d. per lb., would 

 produce the same money. An excessive crop is the more 

 particularly desirable, from the circumstance that the more 

 crowded the stems are upon the ground, the finer will be the 

 fibre, though the produce of grain or seed will be less ; and 

 as the increase is in that particular item in the crop which 

 is the least exhausting to the soil, and at the same time the 

 most valuable, it seems highly desirable to adopt the thick 

 mode of sowing. By sowing three bushels of seed per acre, 

 as much as 70 stones, or 980 lbs., of fine dressed flax have 

 been obtained, with a produce of only 12 to 14 bushels of 

 grain; whereas by sowing only bushels, only 30 stones, 

 or 420 lbs., of flax of a coarser quality, has been the result, 

 though with a crop of grain amounting to 26 or 30 bushels. 

 Now, taking these as data, let us see the result in point of 

 value. Produce in the first case : — 



£. s, d. 



Fine dressed flax, 70 stones, at 10s 35 0 0 



Grain or seed, 12 bushels^ at 7s 4 4 0 



Refuse, say 0 16 0 



Carried forward ...£40 0 0 



