When engaged in flax-pulling operations in the year 1921 in a field of flax belonging to Mr. Palmer of Desertmartin, the workers were astonished to find a circular path in the midst of the flax on which no flax was growing. It looked as if the ground had been paddled at some time during the growth of the crop, but there was no trace of any living creature going into or out of the ring, which looked like the circular path which a goat would make if walking for a long period at the end of the tether. A considerable number of people in the neighbourhood went to see the peculiar occurrence, but could find no satisfactory solution of the cause, some attributing it to the “Wee folk,” fairies, etc. It also became known that a similar occurrence was observed in a field of flax at the “The Loop,” near Ballinderry Bridge, and another at Ringsend, near Moneymore. Would the fungus Agaricus oracdes, which is sometimes causes the appearances known as Fairy Rings in pasture lands, produce the same effect when the land is under flax, and what effect, if any, would it have on the growth of other crops?—“G. B. McKeown” (Draperstown).
[Can any reader answer the above?—Ed.]
George Barnett 