40 FLAX CULTURE AND PREPARATION 



Briefly summarized then perfect preparation of the soil to 

 a fine, firm and porous tilth is the best guarantee towards a 

 good crop of flax. This is even more important than the soil 

 itself. When the soil has been thoroughly prepared a light 

 covering is all that is necessary to cover the seed. The various 

 operations of preparation and their varied sequence may be 

 detailed as follows 



40. Ploughing and Grubbing. Flax generally requires rather 

 deeper ploughing than most other farm crops. Plough 6 or 

 7 in. deep in the autumn and cross-plough lighter in the spring 

 is a safe guide to follow. Early ploughing facilitates the after 

 pulverizing of the soil in the spring. Deep pulverization is 

 more important for flax than is usually believed. No crop is 

 less suited to a wet soil than is flax. 



Grubbing on heavy and medium soils is sometimes adopted 

 in lieu of cross-ploughing in the spring. 



41. Harrowing and Rolling. The function of the harrow, 

 Fig. 17, is to reduce the ploughed and grubbed earth to the 

 smallest particles possible. This operation, together with 

 heavy rolling, must be judiciously combined and repeated 

 until the desired object has been fully and completely attained. 



If the soil is not sufficiently broken up by the harrow, then 

 a raft of heavy planks with narrow but strong pieces of wood 

 nailed crosswise on the underside, may be employed to obtain 

 the necessary fineness. 



42. Methods of Procedure. Two methods of operations, 

 with their order of sequence, are given herewith 



A. For a Heavy Loam 



1. Plough 6 or 7 in. deep in the autumn. 



2. Cross-plough in the spring, or grub. 



3. Break with a coarse harrow. 



4. Give two strokes with spring-harrow. 



5. Harrow. 



6. Spring-harrow. 



7. Chain-harrow. 



8. Rake or chain to clean up the weeds and scutch grass. 



