460 
Flax fur Paper-makivg. 
from 2 to 3 bushels of seed, and to pull the crop before the seed 
is ripe, and so sacrifice the seed-crop altogether ; for there appears 
to be little doubt that the quality of the fibre is 50 per cent, more 
valuable in flax pulled green than when it is allowed to get 
thoroughly ripe. But so long as a uniform price is paid for 
the fibre, whether for good, bad, or indifferent, I think a seeding 
of about bushel is the best. Drilling appears to be pre- 
ferable to sowing, as it gives an opportunity for hoeing, which 
the other plan does not. I am inclined, therefore, to think that 
8 inches between the rows is not too wide. I believe there 
is a notion among the Belgians that flax is a crop to be very 
delicately treated — they fear to harrow, roll, or even tread on the 
young plants ; I have treated it exactly as I would barley ; 
harrowed and rolled when an inch or so high, and hoed until 
seven or eight inches high, without, I believe, in any way injur- 
ing the crop. 
The best manure for flax I am not prepared to state, but 
probably it will be found to be one rich in nitrates. I have 
used damaged decorticated cotton-cake with wonderfully good 
effect ; and I understand that the Belgians, who are probably the 
best growers of flax, use rape-meal in preference to any other 
manure. This year I have used nitrate of soda on one field, 
with apparently (so far) very great effect ; two of my brothers 
have also used nitrate of soda, and the effect on the straw is 
quite satisfactory ; it is too early yet to judge of its effect on 
the seed. 
Hitherto I have always pulled the crop, at a cost of IZ. per 
acre, without beer (for pulling, tying, and stooking) ; at this 
price in a fair crop a good man can earn 55. a day. If the weather 
is fine, we let it lie on the ground for a day or two before 
tying, but in catching weather this is a dangerous plan, and I 
am inclined to think that, on the whole, unless the weather is 
thoroughly settled, it is better to tie in small sheaves as fast as 
it is pulled, and stook it at once, when it is practically safe. 
The time required in the field will, of course, depend on the 
weather, and the state of ripeness when pulled, but it will gene- 
rally require more time than wheat or barley, but certainly not 
more than sheaved oats. I have put a large bulk together, and 
never had any heat observable. The advantages of flax over 
a corn-crop appear to me to be as follows : — 
1. More profitable. 
2. Far less risky, being virtually rain-proof. 
3. Being generally a new crop, it is an entire change for the 
land, and therefore desirable. 
4. However strong the land may be, flax will not lodge 
seriously, unless pulled down by bind- weeds; so that on land 
