Flax for Paper-maldng. 457 
It will be observed ibat I got no more seed from 40 cwt. of 
straw, than from 32 cwt. the year previous. This is probably 
owing to the wet weather, which prevented the seed filling as it 
should have done ; moreover, the crop was too thick for a large 
crop of seed. The next instance 1 have to record is not so 
satisfactory. 
Ten acres of somewhat tenacious soil on the Old Red Sand- 
stone was selected. A fair crop of swedes had been, for the 
most part, fed off with the ewes and lambs without cake or corn. 
It was the last of the roots, and they were not finished until the 
end of April. 
The land was ploughed at once, and knocked about with 
drags, &c. It worked unkindly, owing to the treading of the 
sheep, but, as it was getting late, we rolled the ground and 
drilled the seed — 1 bushel per acre — about the 7th of May. 
Owing to the roughness of the ground, the seed shook out of 
the cups, and we did not drill so much per acre as we intended. 
Again dry weather set in, and some of the seed did not ger- 
minate, or did so only to be dried up ; consequently, the crop 
was too thin, and the result meagre compared with the other 
two I have mentioned. 
£ s. 
Yield — 15 bushels seed per acre, 8s. ..GO 
IG cwt. straw, 4s. Qd. 3 lli 
£9 12 
It will be evident that in this case flax ought never to have 
been planted, the essential condition of success, namely, a fine 
seed-bed, was absent ; but I was anxious to bring the whole 
field into clover ; moreover, I wanted to see how flax would do 
under unfavourable conditions, and I am bound to say that I 
am confident that either barley or oats would have given a worse 
return. 
The remainder of this field, where the roots were fed off in 
good time, the sheep eating cake, was planted with wheat in 
November, the land working well. The result was the most 
unsatisfactory of all my farming experience : it lost plant in the 
spring, blighted badly, and realised no more than 6Z. per acre, 
corn and straw together. The whole field, 32 acres, was sown 
with clover, which came up well, and is an excellent crop, 
equally good after flax as after wheat. 
The price at which I have put the seed, viz. 85. per bushel, 
may be thought high, seeing that the quotations for crushing- 
seed are considerably below this price. As a matter of fact, I 
have averaged more than 8s. for all I have sold. I charge 10s. 
for seed, and the remainder, which I could not dispose of for 
