CHAPTER VIII 



FLAX 



HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION 



283. Origin and History. Flax, like wheat, has been 

 grown from the earliest times of which we have records. Its 

 earlier cultivation was for the production of fiber, the manu- 

 facture of cloth (linen) from flax fiber being an art which was 

 practiced by the ancient Egyptians and Hindus. The use 

 of the seed for the manufacture of oil and for feeding to stock 

 seems to have been of comparatively recent development. 

 Flax still grows wild in the region around the Black Sea, in 

 what is now Asiatic Turkey. While it is quite possible that 

 this is the region from which it was originally obtained, this 

 plant is so likely to run wild in localities where it is culti- 

 vated, and to maintain itself in the wild state for years, that 

 it is equally possible that it may have been brought to the 

 Black Sea region from some other country. In fact, flax 

 is quite frequently found growing wild in the United States, 

 though it is well known that it is not native. The cultiva- 

 tion of flax was carried from Egypt and western Asia into 

 Europe, and from Europe it was introduced at an early date 

 into America. The ancient peoples of central Europe culti- 

 vated a perennial species, but this was later replaced by the 

 annual species from Western Asia. 



284. Botanical Characters and Relationships. Flax be- 

 longs to the Linaceae, or flax family, the typical genus and 

 the only one which grows in the northern part of the United 

 States being Linum, to which the cultivated flax belongs. 

 The only species of this genus which is cultivated in the 

 United States is Linum usitatissimum though two other 



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