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comparison, — so small, indeed, that it is considered as an 
experiment, and as a curiosity of crop culture among 
agriculturists. Yet England has to import enormously of 
flax, and her manufactures, commerce, and comforts are 
much dependant upon flax ; the true value of this crop 
ought, therefore, to he immediately known to the farmer. 
The flax plant is grown in most countries for two pur- 
poses, — one for the plant to furnish fibre from the stem — 
the other for the plant to furnish seeds ; and history assures 
us that countries are to be found at the present day that 
grow vast crops for the one purpose, utterly careless of the 
other. In India, where the seeds are used for the purpose 
of obtaining oil by expression, there the natives refuse to 
obtain the fibre from the stem ; while in Ireland the early 
culture of flax for the fibre alone, and the production of 
thread and linen belonging to their tradition, the seed is 
there thrown away and disregarded ; indeed, the enormous 
value of this waste could neither be estimated nor believed, 
if we had not the true data afforded us. But societies have 
been furnished with funds, printed instructions circulated, 
travelling agents sent to speak and teach, and public boards 
and meetings held, to subdue this extent of ignorance and 
prejudice. Of the necessity for education, and to explain the 
value of scientific appreciation to eradicate the habits fostered 
by prejudice, few examples can be quoted more to the point, 
perhaps, than the language of the Royal Flax Society of 
Ireland, which declared, in 1850, " That the value of the 
seed of Irish flax crops during the ten years of the so- 
ciety's labours cannot be estimated at less than £2,000,000 
sterling ; of this large amount, probably not more than one- 
tenth had been rendered available, the rest having all been 
steeped with the flax, and thus utterly lost." Other state- 
ments up to the present time show that prodigious waste 
occurs with the present crops of Ireland, notwithstanding 
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