Cultivation and Proper Manageinent of Flax. 187 



sidered, the second and third weeks in April may be regarded 

 as about the safest and most advantageous time for sowing-. 



To sow flax-seed well requires a practised hand. Many a 

 man who can sow grain well will here utterly fail. Cloudy 

 sowing is most objectionable. On the thin spots the plant will 

 grow longer, coarser, and more branchy at the top ; on the thick 

 spots shorter and finer and liable to ripen earlier, so that there 

 will be two qualities of flax which will not work together with 

 any advantage. Thin sowing has its advocates and so has thick ; 

 but an extreme on either side should be carefully avoided. A 

 medium "cast" evenly scattered is most to be recommended. 

 If the seed be sown too thick it will not grow the desirable 

 length ; and if to draw it up to a full height, you put it upon, 

 very strong land, you are likely to have it lodged before it is 

 ripe — the greatest evil that can befal this crop. On the other 

 hand, if it be sown too thin it will spring up coarse in the stalk 

 and fibre, forked in the top, and will be laden with bolls. 



After many experiments, the quantity of seed that is most 

 approved by the best growers is about nine pecks to the English 

 acre, or a Riga barrel to the Irish acre. In some of the English 

 counties the seed is drilled. Such a process is never attempted 

 in Ireland, nor would it be considered advisable. The centre 

 and sides of each drill are liable to grow two different qualities 

 of flax — coarse and fine, and very frequently also long and short. 

 All that is gained by superior cleanliness, either by hoeing between 

 the drills or otherwise, is a minor consideration ; and to secure 

 a crop of uniform length and quality, there is no method of sowing 

 to be compared with the old " broadcast." 



The ground should be rolled flat and smooth before sowing, to 

 prevent the little drills cast up by the "tines" of the harrow, 

 casting the seed off into the adjoining little furrows. In a fall of 

 rain and while the ground is wet the seed should never be com- 

 mitted to the soil, for the feet of the horses will " poach" the 

 ground, and the harrow will carry off the seed and deposit it in 

 lumps upon the head ridges and foot ridges. Moreover, a clay 

 soil harrowed in rain invariably forms a crust when it gets the 

 sun, which is most detrimental to the brairding of flax. Very 

 dry weather, on the other hand, while the soil is parched, is also 

 to be avoided for sowing. In the finer mould the seed would 

 germinate ; in the coarser it would wait for the rain, and thus 

 the dreaded evil of different lengths would present itself from 

 the first. A condition of soil sufficiently dry for pulverisation, 

 and sufficiently damp to produce vegetation in an oily seed, is 

 the best conjuncture for sowing. If a genial shower should fall 

 a couple of days or so after sowing it would generally prove 



