228 FIELD CROPS 



286. Production in the United States. In the ten years 

 from 1908 to 1917, as shown in Table XIII, nearly half of the 

 flax crop of the United States was produced in North Dakota, 

 the average area devoted to flax in that state being 1,074,000 

 acres, and the average production 8,361 ,000 bushels. Minne- 

 sota and South Dakota each produced nearly one fifth of 

 the crop, most of the remainder being grown in Montana. 

 Figure 85 shows graphically the portion of the crop produced 

 in the four leading states. The production of flax is much 

 N. DAK. m ^^^m^^m^^ ^m^^a^mama^^m^m 48.1% 



MINN. ^i^i— ^Mi^^— 18.5% 



s. DAK. w^mmmm^^mm ^^ 18.5% 

 MONT, m^^m^^^mm 12.7% 



AU others ■■ 2.2% 



Figure 85. — Graph showing the percentage of the total flax crop of the United 

 States produced in the four leading states, and in all others, 1908-1917. 



more important in North Dakota than in any other state, 

 the acreage being about half that in oats and only sUghtly less 

 than that devoted to barley. In annual value, the flax crop of 

 the United States exceeds rice, ranking next to rye. The aver- 

 age annual value of the crop for the ten years was $28,111,000. 

 The standard weight of a bushel of flax is 56 pounds. 



GROWING THE CROP 



287. Soils Adapted to Flax. In America, flax is grown 

 almost entirely in newly settled districts, and is quite gener- 

 ally the first crop sown after the breaking of prairie sod. 

 There are two reasons for this practice. One is that flax 

 grows better than almost any other crop on tough sod and 

 it is effective in subduing new land; the other is that when 

 flax is grown for several years in succession, the land becomes 

 "flax sick" and fails to produce a profitable crop. The con- 

 dition known as flax sickness is explained elsewhere (Section 

 295). The crop grows best in a rather cool climate and on 

 soils that are not too heavy. Sandy loams are better adapted 

 to flax than are clay loams or heavy clays. The idea is very 



