residue is pressed into cakes or ground into linseed meal for livestock. 

 Flaxseed is also employed in the manufacture of a variety of break- 

 fast cereals. The threshed straw is used in upholstering furniture 

 and for the insulation of cold-storage plants, refrigerator cars, and 

 ice boxes. 



Flaxseed, an official drug, luus long been used for medicinal pur- 

 poses. It has an oily taste, and the seed coats contain a mucilaginous 

 substance. Linseed tea, a mixture of licorice root and flaxseed, is 

 used in the treatment of coughs and to allay irritation and inflam- 

 mation of the mucous membranes. Poultices made by boiling lin- 

 seed meal are useful as a counterirritant for the relief of pain and 

 where there is deep-seated inflammation. These poultices are also 

 used efficaciously in the treatment of boils and ulcers. Linseed oil, 

 in combination with an equal quantity of lime water, forms carron 

 oil, an excellent and popular application for scalds and burns. 



Flaxes are easily cultivated, many species being valued as orna- 

 mentals. Most species, however, lose their petals soon after bloom- 

 ing. One European species, perennial flax (L. peren'ne), blooms in 

 the morning, the petals fall before noon, and new flowers blossom 

 again the next day. Our native flaxes constitute an inviting field of 

 scientific research. Various species are handsome plants when in 

 full bloom and deserve painstaking horticultural study. Flaxes are 

 sometimes shrubby at the base and have many narrow, small, alter- 

 nate (rarely opposite) leaves. The white, blue, yellow, or red flowers 

 are usually in flat-topped or slightly curve-topped clusters. 



