AND USE IN UNITED STATES. 45 



plant grows low and bushy, with many 

 branches growing 1 out close to the ground. 1 

 The fibre in such plants is coarse, weak, 

 and brittle, and worthless for the manufac- 

 ture of any but the very coarsest fabrics, 

 but the yield of seed is large. 2 



After the sowing, the land should be 

 again gone over with the hand-harrow 

 and roller. 



While the flax is growing, it must be 

 carefully tended to remove all weeds. In 

 Belgium the weeding is done by hand, 

 when the plants are a few inches high, 

 by women and children who crawl about 

 on their hands and knees with cloths to 

 protect them from the ground, working 

 always towards the wind so that the plants 

 may be at once blown back in an upright 

 position. 3 All writers agree that it is 

 absolutely essential to remove all weeds. 

 " Flax will not thrive in close proximity 

 to obnoxious weeds ; on dirty land it will 

 prove a failure, or will treble the expense 



1 Rep. Dept. Ag. 1879, P- 587- 2 Rep. Dept. Ag. 1862, p. 115. 

 3 Rep. Dept. Ag. 1879, P- 58?- 



