722 
On  the  Farming  of  Somerset. 
to  afford  matter  for  useful  reflection  when  taken  in  combination  : — 
1st.  The  district  is  singularly  favourable  to  the  growth  of  flax  and 
wheat.  2ndly.  The  straw  of  the  wheat,  and  the  seed  of  the  flax, 
arc  neither  of  them  to  any  extent  consumed  in  the  district  as  food 
for  cattle.  3rdly.  The  population  is  large,  perhaps  redundant ; 
wages  are  low,  poor-rates  are  high  ; and  yet  it  is  now  generally 
admitted  among  good  farmers  that  the  judicious  combination  of 
the  use  of  straw-chaff  with  linseed,  either  as  jelly  or  cake,  is  one 
of  the  most  economical  ways  of  making  large  supplies  of  meat 
and  manure,  while  house-feeding  and  flax  cultivation  both  in- 
crease the  demand  for  labour.  It  is  surely  premature  to  talk  of 
giving  up  the  growth  of  flax.  Would  it  not  be  better  to  review 
the  whole  process  of  its  preparation,  and  to  inquire  whether  im- 
provements which  have  been  adopted  in  Belgium,  Norfolk,  and 
elsewhere,  may  not  be  imported  into  this  district,  and  combined 
with  the  profitable  feeding  of  cattle  in  addition  to  the  sheep  now 
folded  on  the  land  ? 
That  the  extensive  introduction  of  house-feeding  into  a district 
which  has  hitherto  relied  on  the  sheepfold  will  involve  a con- 
siderable outlay  in  building,  cannot  be  denied.  In  this  respect 
several  yeomen  residing  on  their  own  estates  have  set  an  example 
of  what  is  really  required  to  make  the  most  of  the  land,  and  I 
found  some  tenants  quite  willing  to  use  accommodation  for 
feeding  purposes,  if  they  had  it.  I need  only  refer,  in  confirma- 
tion of  what  1 have  stated,  to  the  practice  of  Mr.  Cuff  of  Merriott, 
who  farms  his  own  land.  The  arrangements  made  by  Lord 
Portman  and  his  steward,  Mr.  Parsons,  for  feeding  at  West 
Lambrook,  show  that  they  are  alive  to  this  subject.  At  the  latter 
place  every  convenience  is  provided  that  can  be  desired  for  feeding 
stock  of  all  kinds,  and  for  the  preservation  of  manure  on  a large 
scale. 
In  Mr.  Nicholls's  Prize  Essay  on  Flax,  republished  under  the 
title  of  the  f Flax-grower,’  will  be  found  a great  deal  of  useful 
information  on  this  subject,  tending  to  show  that  the  market 
value  of  the  flax  depends  very  much  on  the  colour  which  it  has 
acquired  in  the  process  of  steeping  or  dew-retting,  and  how  much 
the  amount  of  profit  is  affected  by  the  economy  and  skill  with 
which  the  various  operations  have  been  performed,  I am  in- 
debted to  the  same  gentleman  for  the  information  that  a new 
process  has  been  recently  introduced  from  America  for  steeping 
or  watering,  which  is  said  to  be  successful : — that  is  by  using 
tepid  water  heated  to  a certain  temperature  by  steam  in  long 
troughs,  in  which  the  operation  can  be  carried  on  at  any  period, 
winter  as  well  as  summer.  But  it  maybe  travelling  too  fast  to 
speak  of  new  machinery  and  steam  in  a rich  corn-growing  dis- 
trict, where  threshing-machines  are  comparative  strangers.  If 
