FLAX C ULTURK. 



I have given the highest, the lowest, and a medium calculation of the cost of pro- 

 duction in this state, but the average may be taken as $10.00 per acre, and thus it will be 

 seen that even doubling this amount, in order to make up for additional labor and larger 

 outlay for sowing seed, we are still much below the lowest rate at which Flax is raised in 

 Europe, while the cost of Flax production in France is twice as high, and in Holland three 

 times as high as ours. We are, therefore, undoubtedly, in the most favorable position to 

 compete with any country in the world and need no " protection " for raising Flax, any 

 more than for growing wheat, corn, cotton, or any other of our staple crops. All that is 

 needed is to imitate our European competitors in the care they bestow on the Flax crop as 

 suggested in the following pages on this subject, and most remunerative harvests will 

 surelv be the reward . 



KLAX CULTURE. 



SOIL. 



Flax culture requires very careful preparation of the land ; deep tillage and thorough 

 pulverization being essential to success. By careful attention to these prime requisites 

 Flax may be proritably grown on almost any soil, although all are not equally adapted to 

 this crop. The best soil is considered to be a firm sandy loam ; or a dry mellow loam 

 with a clay subsoil, but this must not be too compact, and by all means it should be well 

 drained. Flax will not do well if the land be wet, nor upon heavy clay soil unless thor- 

 oughly underdrained, well pulverized and enriched with manure. It is no more reasonable 

 to expect to raise a good crop of Flax from a poor, wet, half-cultivated soil, than a good 

 crop of wheat. 



In selecting land for Flax culture, the advantage of having it smooth and level should be 

 considered. Upon hilly land the crop will not grow evenly, nor can it be readily harvested 

 with a mower and self-binder. Peaty soil destitute of a clay bottom, also sandy land with a 

 gravelly bottom, should be avoided, as only a scanty yield and inferior fiber can be expected 

 from a crop of Flax grown under such unfavorable conditions. 



The finest Flax is grown in Belgium, notably in the district of Courtray. Regarding the 

 soil, the English Agricultural Gazette says : " It is not to the natural fertility of the soil 

 ' ' that the fine crops in Flanders are to be attributed, as a very brief inspection of it will 

 "suffice to show. We have before us a sample of soil taken from a celebrated Flax dis- 

 " trict, at which we do not hesitate to say many an English farmer would turn up his nose 

 ' ' as beneath his notice and unworthy of his cultural cares. It is to the careful working of 

 " the soil, the unstinted supply of manure, of which the quality and mode of action on the 

 "soil and plants is a matter of careful and anxious study ; to an equally careful attention to 

 * * the quality of the seed and the properties of the plant ; and last but not least, by carrying 

 " out a well-considered system of rotation, that the Flemish farmer owes his success in Flax 

 " culture." 



The above paragraph embodies the secret of successful and lucrative Flax culture, and I 

 commend the hints given therein to the serious consideration of American growers of Flax. 



