-458 Flax for Paper-making. 
that purpose, I sold at 75. 9rf. for " domestic " purposes. Again, 
I see the quotations for clean linseed in the London market has 
been for a long time (35s. per quarter of 416 lbs. My seed has 
generally weighed close upon 56 lbs. per bushel; I have there- 
fore made it that weight when sold, and throughout this paper, 
-56 lbs. is the weight of my bushel ; I think, therefore, that I 
am not putting the price too high at 85. per 56 lbs., especially 
•as I am now told, on good authority, that the north of Ireland 
would be the best market for seed. 
Having given shortly the results of my own experience, which 
it will be observed extends over two years only, I will now give 
that of my friend Mr. T. R. Hulbert, North Cerney, Cirencester, 
who, at my suggestion, grew a small field of flax on a poor shallow 
piece of soil high on the Cotswold Hills. The land had pre- 
viously grown roots, which were fed off with sheep, eating corn. 
The seed (1^ bushel) was drilled 7 or 8 inches apart in the first 
week of May, and the crop yielded per acre : — 
£ s. 
20 bushels of seed, sold at 10s 10 0 
1 toa of straw 4 10 
£14 10 
In this case the land was in one or two spots much trodden 
by the sheep in wet weather, consequently worked badly, and 
the flax suffered accordingly. 
This would be about double the value of the average of the 
corn crops grown on North Cerney Farm in the year 1881, the 
season having been one of the worst for corn in that district on 
record, with the exception of 1879. 
It will be observed that IO5. per bushel was made of the lin- 
seed in this case, but, deducting the 2s. per bushel, and 20s. per 
ton for delivery and carriage of straw, the result then would be 
IIZ. 10s. per acre — not an unsatisfactory price for a crop of corn 
grown on the Cotswold Hills, and not planted until May. The 
foregoing examples will prove at a glance to any practical farmer 
that, compared with corn-growing, flax has, in the cases men- 
tioned, paid very much better, and must have left a good profit 
after paying all expenses : an eventuality not likely to have been 
realised in such seasons as 1880 and 1881 from corn-growing. 
But before arriving at a conclusion on a point of this kind, it 
will be well to consider carefully the " pros" and " cons." I may 
say at once, that I am so satisfied about the pecuniary advan- 
tage of flax over corn, that I am this year growing 70 acres, or as 
large an acreage as I am growing of wheat ; and but that I do not 
like having too many eggs in one basket, and that, after all, I 
■have had only two years' experience, I should feel strongly 
