CHAPTER VI 



SOWING 



43. Period Selected for Sowing. 44. Early Sowing. 45. 

 Quantity of Seed per Acre. 46. Tabulated Sowing Data. 47. Hand 

 and Machine Sowing. 48. Details of the "Fiddle." 49. Operation 

 of the Mechanism. 50. The Work of the Sower. 



43. Period Selected for Sowing. The time of sowing depends 

 on the climate and specific locality of the country. 



Generally speaking flax seed should be sown as early as 

 possible in the spring to ensure that the germination will occur 

 with regular slowness, since the soil is likely then to be more 

 uniformly moist and cool than later in the season. Early 

 sowing makes possible .the tempting prospect of early pulling 

 and thereby affords a better chance of harvesting the crop 

 before the bad weather arrives. The most exemplary illustra- 

 tion on this point occurred recently. Several flax growers 

 sowed their seed about the middle of April ; the crop was 

 ready for pulling in the second week of July and consequently 

 the bulk of these crops was pulled, retted and dried and the 

 balance reserved for deseeding was also dried and stacked 

 early in September, when the exceptionally inclement weather 

 commenced and continued, more or less severe throughout the 

 autumn months. Many other growers who sowed their seed 

 at the end of April or the beginning of May were unfortunately 

 pulling, steeping, and endeavouring to dry the straw during 

 the many weeks of almost incessant rain which commenced 

 early in September. The resultant effect was that many 

 crops were almost completely lost while others were seriously 

 deteriorated in quality and yield of fibre. 



44. Early Sowing. On the other hand, early sown crops 

 are liable to grow up with a greater quantity of weeds than do 

 those of later sowings. Singularly enough some of the earlier 



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