443 



general amongst farmers, and a trial may be fairly made of 

 the stability of the views which I have now advanced. 



The Noble Chairman expressed his opinion that the 

 society was much indebted to Mr. Briggs for his paper. 

 He considered the question of exhaustion an antiquated 

 prejudice. The farmer, in his opinion, ought to cultivate 

 that which he could derive the greatest profit from. There 

 ought to be no fear of the exhausting effects of a crop, if 

 it was sufficiently profitable to supply the means of repair- 

 ing the injury produced by its growth. 



Mr. Morton remarked that, as to profit, flax seemed, 

 according to Mr. Briggs, calculated to leave to the farmer 

 about the same as a wheat crop. There did not, therefore, 

 appear a sufficient motive for giving the production of the 

 former a preference over the latter. The question seemed 

 to narrow itself into this compass — whether we could grow 

 flax at a cheaper rate than we can procure it from abroad ? 



Mr. Briggs was of opinion that it could be produced 

 cheaper; and, in addition to that, there was the great 

 amount of manual labour required in its production, which 

 was a very important consideration. For £3 spent in 

 manual labour in the production of wheat, £7 would be 

 required in the production of flax. 



The Noble Chairman thought the manual labour re- 

 quired in the production of flax a subject well worthy of 

 consideration. 



Mr. Morton thought that for Ireland, where they had 

 a surplus agricultural population, such a consideration was 

 important. 



The Rev. W. Thorp then read the concluding paper, 

 " On the valuable Ironstone Mine in the Oolite district 

 of Eskdale." 



