58 FLAX CULTURE AND PREPARATION 



growths. Diligent and systematic destruction of weeds always 

 repays the cost of same by the extra yield in the cultivated 

 crop. 



If, during the early stages of the growing crops, the weeds 

 are permitted to grow to undue proportions, or, as in the case 

 of the charlock, to reach the seeding stage, they are difficult 

 to eradicate and eventually tend to almost choke and destroy 

 the crop. 



When flax is grown in a field singularly free from weeds, 

 there is not only a relative increase in food and air for the 

 growing flax stems, but subsequently, when pulled, stocked, 

 and dried or retted and dried, the flax straw dries much more 

 rapidly on account of the absence of weeds and grasses which 

 can naturally absorb and retain more moisture than the flax 

 plants themselves. It has been frequently observed that 

 flax beets which contained a considerable portion of weeds 

 or grasses were invariably more saturated after a shower, 

 and retained the moisture for a much longer period than did 

 the beets of flax which were clean and free from weeds. Further, 

 if the season is unduly wet, the resultant fibre in the mixed 

 beets is deteriorated in quality. 



60. Detrimental Effects of Weeds. When the weeds are 

 allowed to mature and their seed to ripen much of it falls 

 to the ground and thus automatically provision is made for 

 a new crop of weeds in the same field during the following or 

 some future season. A peculiarity of weeds is that they 

 produce seeds capable of lying dormant in the soil for several 

 years until turned up to light and air by the plough when 

 they germinate. 



The prolification of seed by weeds is prodigious. One single 

 plant of Charlock will produce 4,000, field bindweed 600, 

 and corn marigold 13,500 seeds. 



Many weeds are carried forward with the flax plants reserved 

 for deseeding purposes, the result being that various seeds 

 get mixed with the flax in the deseeding operation. Obviously 

 these seeds must be removed in the later work of crushing 



