7 64 LIN 
leaved, the length of the corolla; petals four, upright, 
fmall, roundilh, blunt; ftamens and ftyles four. Hence 
fome have feparated this fpecies from the reft, and have 
made it a feparate genus under its own name of Radiola. 
It is a native of many parts of Europe ; with us on moift 
fandy heaths, flowering in July and Auguft. Its Englifh 
names are all-feed and leajl rupture-wort. It is fliown on the 
annexed Plate, at fig. i. 
24. Linum quadrifolium, or four-leaved flax: leaves in 
fours. From a thick woody root this puts up feveral 
ftems, fix inches high or more, (lender, upright, with 
leaves in fours at intervals, as in the deflate plants, divid¬ 
ing at top into branches, which fupport large blue flow¬ 
ers. Native of the Cape of Good Hope. 
25. Linum verticillatum, or whorl-leaved flax: leaves 
an whorls. This is an annual plant, and does not exceed 
a foot in height. Flowers violet or blue grey; feeds 
olive-coloured. Native of Italy ; near Rome. 
Propagation and Culture. Flax (hould be cultivated upon 
a rich foil, that has not been ploughed for feveral years, 
upon which it always makes the bed improvement; but, 
as it draws greatly from the foil, it (hould not be fown 
two years together upon the fame ground, nor in lefs than 
after five or fix years interval. The ground (hould be as 
clean from weeds as poflible; in order to have it fo, it 
(hould be fallowed two winters and one fummer, obferv- 
ing to harrow the ground well between each ploughing, 
particularly in fummer, to deftroy the young weeds foon 
after they appear; this will alfo break the clods, and fe¬ 
parate the parts fo, that they will fall to pieces on being 
itirred. If the land (hould require dung, that (hould not 
be laid on till the laft ploughing, when it muft be buried 
in the ground; but this dung fliould be clear from feeds 
of weeds, which it may be by laying it in a heap and fer¬ 
menting it well. Juft before the feafon for fowing the 
feed, the land muft be well ploughed, and laid flat and 
even. The feeds (hould be fown at the end of March or 
•the beginning of April, when the weather is mild and 
•warm. The common way is to fow the feed broadcaft, 
and to allow from two to three bulhels of feed to an acre; 
but from many repeated trials it has been found a much 
better method to fow the feeds in drills, at about ten inches 
■diftance from each other, by which half the quantity of 
feed ufually fown will produce a greater crop; and, when 
■the flax is thus fown, the ground may be eafily hoed to 
deftroy the weeds; if this operation be twice repeated in 
dry weather, it will keep the ground clean till the flax is 
ripe; this may be done at half the expenfe which hand- 
weeding will coft, and will not tread down the plants nor 
harden the ground, which by the other method is always 
done ; and it isabfolutely neceflary to keep the flax clean 
from weeds, otherwife they will overbear and fpoil the 
crop. Towards the end of Auguft, or at the beginning 
of September, the flax will begin to ripen ; and it muft 
not (land to be over ripe; it muft therefore be pulled up 
as foon as the heads begin to change brown and hang 
downwards, otherwife the feeds will foon (catter and be 
loft; fo that the pluckers muft be nimble, in tying up the 
plants in handfuls, and fetting them upright, till they are 
dry enough to be houfed. If the flax be pulled when it 
firft begins to flower, the thread will be whiter, but then 
the feed will be loft ; the thread however will be Jlronger 
if the flax is left till the feed is ripe, provided it does not 
(land too long; but the colour of it will not be fo good. 
The Siberian perennial flax (N° 2, j 3 .) has been tried, 
and anfwers very well for making common ltrong linen ; 
but the thread is not fo fine or white as that which is pro¬ 
duced from the common fort; but, as the roots of this 
will continue many years, it will require little other cul¬ 
ture but to keep it clean from weeds, which cannot well 
be done unlefs the feeds be fown in drills, that the ground 
jnav be conftantly kept hoed to deftroy the weeds when 
young. This fort muft have the ftalks cut off clofe to 
the ground when ripe, and then managed in the fame way 
as the common fort; but it feldom produces more than 
U M. 
three crops that will pay for (landing. Mr. Miller men¬ 
tions another fort with a biennial root, which he there¬ 
fore names L. bienne. He received it from Iitria, and 
fays that it produced the fined thread of all the forts which 
he had tried. It grows taller than the common flax, and 
in gardens lives through the winter without receiving the 
lead injury from froft. Mr. Miller gave a parcel of the 
ftalks of this, with the Spanifh and Siberian perennial 
forts, to a perfon well (killed in watering, breaking, and 
drefling, flax; who, having prepared them, allured him 
that the Iftrian flax was by much the fined of the three, 
and was in goodnefs preferable to any he had feen. 
The other forts are chiefly preferved in botanic gar¬ 
dens. L. catharticum, or purging flax, is one of thofe 
plants which refufe culture; the feeds, whether fown in 
fpring or autumn, will feldom come up. Several of the 
fpecies are hand fome plants. The Siberian flax is now- 
very commonly found among hardy perennials in the bor¬ 
ders of large flower-gardens and plantations, and is eafily 
increafed either by feeds or parting the roots. L. flavum 
bears large yellow flowers, and is a hardy perennial. It 
appears to be eafy of culture, and fucceeds bell in a foil 
moderately (tiff and moift. The feeds vegetate freely ; 
and it piay be increafed either by parting the roots in 
autumn, or by cuttings of the young (hoots. Some of 
the forts (N° 6, 17, 18, 20.) require the protection of a 
greenhoufe. They may be increafed by cuttings, but not 
without fome difficulty. They feldom or ever ripen their 
feeds in this country. 
Old pallures, efpecially on land formed from the ouze 
or fediment of great rivers, are the bed adapted to the 
growth of flax. In Reed-nefs, a trad of land in the 
county of York, on the fouth fide of the river Oufe, near 
its junction with the Trent, they frequently plough their 
old paftures, when the herbage begins to fail, and adopt 
the following courfe of crops, viz. r. Flax; 2. Rape or 
Cole; 3. Flax: and,if the ground Hill continue too rank 
for corn, they add, 4. Rape; 5. Flax; 6. Oats. 
When they break up the pafture, they plough the fward 
in December, about three inches deep ; in this (late it re¬ 
ceives the winter’s froft, and without any more prepara¬ 
tion they fow the feed (linfeed), two bulhels on an acre, 
the fecond or third week in April, if the weather permit ; 
or, if not, as foon after as poflible; and with light (hort- 
tined harrows, that will not drag the fod, they harrow it 
pretty much to mould. They keep the crop as free as 
poflible from weeds, for which purpofe it is hand-weeded 
once or twice, in dry weather, before, and not after, the 
flax is four inches high ; from that time it will out-grow 
and nearly Another every weed, and will be ready for 
pulling by hand, the fecond, third, or fourth, week in 
July, according to the foil and feafon ; but, if it be in¬ 
tended for feed, it will require about a fortnight more. 
It is next tied into (heaves of about three inches diame¬ 
ter, with bands made of part of the flax; and, whilft the 
pulling and tying are going on, in dry weather, if pofli¬ 
ble, a team is employed in carrying it to the pits or ponds, 
which are previoufty well cleanfed ; here it is laid clofe, 
and trod, one layer of (heaves upon another, until the 
man who treads it (lands about mid-leg deep in water ; the 
flax is then covered with fods, earth, &c. fufiicient to 
keep it entirely under water; a briflt fermentation enfues, 
and the pit (links abominably ; in this ftate it receives an 
additional treading, every night and morning, for About 
four days; when a (heaf is taken out of the pit, untied, 
and fpread on the ground to dry; when dry, it is tried by 
rubbing between the fingers, to fee if the bun (hecks or 
fpongy part of the (talk) be fufliciently brittle to feparate 
readily from the flax, (or fibres;) if not, they try another 
(heaf the day following, by which time it is ufually raited 
(retted or rotted) enough ; though, if the growing feafon 
has been more than ulually wet, the flax will he raited a 
day or two (boner; if needful, they try it again on the 
fixth and even the feventh day. As loon as it is difeovered 
to be fufliciently raited, it is all taken out of the pit, and 
every 
