J. Vargas Evuk and ii. Smith 105 



gi-own, and this view receives support also from the fact that dimorphism 

 occurs among the species of Linum. It is noticed that the pollen is 

 somewhat adhesive in character and is produced only in relatively small 

 quantities, and it seems highly probable that the crossing which takes 

 place is almost entirely caused by the insects which may be observed 

 visiting the flowers freely. 



The attempts being made to isolate improved strains of flax for 

 commercial purposes have been referred to already. These ai'e being 

 conducted at Wye under the auspices of the British Flax and Hemp 

 Growers' Society, and were commenced in 1912. 



Flax is grown very extensively both for the seed it bears and for 

 the fibre which is contained in the stem. The value of a flax crop 

 when grown for the fibre depends mainly upon uniformity in height 

 over the whole crop, tallness and branchlessness of the individual stems 

 and upon the quantity of fibre they bear — the seed obtained from the 

 crop being in this case of minor importance. In the case of a flax 

 crop grown for seed its value depends mainly upon the quantity of seed 

 produced and upon the oil-content of the seed obtained — the straw in 

 this case being of relatively little value is frequently disregarded. 



The S(jwing seed sold commercially for these purposes usually gives 

 rise to crops which exhibit certain marked irregularities, and this is 

 noticeable more particularly when flax is raised for fibre production. 

 Generally speaking such crops are composed of tall and short growing 

 plants, some of which carry much and some little seed, whilst many may 

 be observed which exhibit a marked tendency to branch at the base 

 instead -of giving long single branchless stems. 



The object has been to obtain from such mixed seed which usually 

 comes on the market and from other soni-ces some selected strains of 

 seed more suitable for the economic piddnction df tibic on the one hand 

 and of seed rich in oil on the other. 



With regard to raising improved strains Ibr the latter purpose the 

 W(jrk has not yet proceeded far enough \n warrant anything definite 

 being said, most attention, up to the present, having been devoted to 

 exploring the possibilities of improving the flax fibre crop. 



In the first year of this work (1912) the samples of seed which one 

 of us had collected for the purpose in 1911 from particularly good flax 

 fibre crops in various parts of Russia, Holland and Belgium, and also 

 certain trade samples were grown at The John Innes Institution, where 

 we were able to profit by the example of work of a similar nature which 



18—2 



