text:  If we cannot persuade our farmers to collect and apply to the land the liquid manure of their farm-yards when can we hope to persuade them to empty their flax-ponds for the purpose of watering their fields? Can we ever hope soon to persuade them to preserve and use up the thousands of tons of _shows_ that are now yearly sent down the streams by which our flax mills are set in motion? We are far from saying that flax or any other crop may not be grown without necessarily exhausting the soil--chemistry we know will by-and-by put all this within our power; but we are very much of Mr Stephens' opinion that our English and Irish flax societies do not as yet clearly see their way to that end and that unintentionally they will lead many to inflict a permanent injury upon their land without any adequate compensation to themselves their landlords or the country