138 
Some Minor Farm Crops . 
A fairly good crop may be estimated to yield \ ton of linseed 
and 1^ tons of straw per acre, blit inasmuch as the return 
depends upon the variety grown, the treatment given to the 
land and to the crop, and also upon the weather, such estimated 
yields as the above must be accepted with diffidence until more 
definite information is acquired as to the best mode of raising 
linseed in this country. 
There have been frequent requests for information relative 
to the growth of linseed in this country. Various kinds of 
linseed have been tried by private individuals ; for example, 
the White Flowering Dutch Flax has been tried in Cambridge- 
shire, the large seeded African variety near Bury St. Edmunds, 
whilst some farmers have made use of the seed usually supplied 
for the purpose of raising crops of line rather than linseed. 
During the past three years the University College of North 
Wales has encouraged the growth of small areas of linseed on a 
number of farms in their contributing counties, and con- 
currently with this work flax as a linseed crop has been dealt 
with at the South Eastern Agricultural College. 
The Projected Revival of the Flax Industry in 
England. 
The possibility of successfully reviving the flax industry in 
this country has been seriously considered by the Development 
Commissioners ; indeed the revival of both the flax and the 
hemp industries was specifically mentioned in the Act of 
Parliament which brought that advisory body into existence. 
The first move made in this direction took place early in 1911, 
when the writer was appointed to obtain information and 
draw up a report on the possibilities of reviving the flax 
industry in this country. In this connection much first-hand 
information has been gathered during the past two years by 
studying the subject of flax cultivation and fibre separation in 
the principal flax-producing countries of Europe, namely, 
Russia, Holland, Belgium, France, Ireland, Austria, Hungary 
and Germany, and, in addition, certain field experiments have 
been conducted in Kent and in Bedfordshire where, besides 
raising line as a farm crop, retting experiments have been 
made in tanks specially constructed for the purpose. 
The results of this enquiry leave no room for doubt that 
although good crops of line could be raised in this country, the 
troublesome and somewhat complicated operations of fibre 
separation do not fall properly within the province of the 
agriculturalist. Certainly they are much better performed else- 
where, since in the former case not only is there difficulty in 
obtaining the necessary labour at a time of year when it is in 
