Flax for Paper-making. 
463 
America. I have been fortunate in making the acquaintance of 
Mr. James Goulton (above alluded to), of Ponder's End, North- 
ampton Road, Middlesex, who has probably been the largest 
grower of flax in the United Kingdom. He tells me that he has 
grown upwards of 2000 acres of flax in one year, in Yorkshire, 
Lincolnshire, &c. ; that he has grown it successfully 1000 feet 
above the sea-level, and not less successfully below the level of the 
sea ; but he considers a " strong " soil produces the best fibre, 
and deep friable loam the most bulky crop. It will certainly grow 
fairly well on the chalk, and some twenty years ago it was grown 
to a considerable extent for a few years in North Wilts, until the 
factory at Calne stopped work, owing to the failure of the pro- 
prietor. There appears to be little doubt that any land in good 
condition, free from weeds, and in a finely pulverised state, in 
any part of the United Kingdom, will grow a satisfactory crop 
of flax ; and Mr. Goulton gives it as his decided opinion, after 
forty years' vast experience, that this country can produce flax 
of equal quality of fibre to any that can be produced elsewhere, 
not excepting Holland and Belgium. What place flax should 
take in the rotation is a matter of opinion, and I am inclined to 
think of little consequence as far as the flax-crop is concerned, 
provided always .that the ground works " kindly." In Russia it 
is usually grown after an old " lay." The land is ploughed 
deeply in autumn or winter, harrowed down, and the seed sown 
on the stale ground. I intend, as a rule, to plant it after roots 
fed off, where there is danger of barley lodging, and to take barley 
as the next crop. In Lincolnshire I am told that flax has been 
found a good preparation for wheat, and that the old idea of its 
being a very exhaustive crop is a pure delusion. 
Enough has been said, I think, to prove that satisfactory 
crops may be grown, provided a good market can be found for 
the straw or fibre, should the grower determine to scutch his 
flax at home ; for though in many parts of England a little- 
flax has been grown for many years past for the sake of 
the linseed, it can hardly be worth any one's while to grow 
it solely for that purpose, or for consumption on the farm, 
though flax-straw makes the very best thatch. And this 
brings me to the point of importance, namely, to what extent 
is there likely to be a market for the straw ? On the answer 
to this question must, I think, depend whether flax will be 
largely grown in this country or not. A certain agricultural 
newspaper, in commenting on this subject in the spring of this 
year, remarked, " First catch your paper-maker," which might 
be meant to convey that I had made a very good bargain with 
the manager of the Ely Paper Mills. Had the writer known 
Mr. Reed, and been aware of the business-like way in which 
