OTHER FARM CROPS 569 



more cloudy skies than those in which spring wheat is usually grown 

 with success. The crop may also be said to possess either general 

 capabilities or varieties and strains which allow of the production of 

 fair crops of seed flax at least to the southern limits of winter-wheat 

 producing regions. (F. B. 274.) 



Soil Selection and Preparation. Experience shows that flax can 

 be grown in a wide range of soils, although a moist, deep, strong loam, 

 upon uplands, is the preferable soil for this culture. Reference is 

 made in this connection to the soil usually selected in European prac- 

 tice, where it is recognized that in a dry calcareous soil the stalk re- 

 mains short, while in a heavy, clayey soil greater length is secured, 

 though at the expense of fiber. To raise a good crop and good qual- 

 ity of flax, both for fiber and seed, choose a clean field, free from 

 weeds, where a good crop of wheat or corn could be grown ; plow it 

 late in the fall, 7 or 8 inches deep after small grain or corn, and 5 or 

 6 inches on timothy and clover lands, and roll this last immediately 

 after plowing; but if the land plowed 7 or 8 inches has never been 

 turned so deep before, it ought to be replowed the same way in the 

 spring, or, better, in the fall. When the land is dry enough in the 

 spring, and as a general thing in the West about the 10th or 15th of 

 April, cultivate the field for flax twice crosswise, as deep as first 

 plowed, if praticable ; let it lie for a few days, and if the weather is 

 warm pulverize fine and deep ; sow with the seeder, having the teeth 

 arranged to work but very lightly, l 1 /^ or 2 bushels per acre of Riga 

 or Belgian seed; harrow once crosswise on the seed, and next day, 

 after the dew is gone and the land is dry, roll it well, and be satisfied 

 you can not fail to raise a valuable crop. 



The Use of Fertilizers. It should be understood as one of the 

 axioms in flax culture that a crop of flax that will scutch out a good 

 quality of salable fiber can not be produced on impoverished lands. 

 The reader is referred back to the practice of Belgium and other 

 European flax-growing countries in this matter, where high fertility 

 is considered of first importance. 



On the new lands of the West good crops may be grown for a 

 number of years without manures, though in time fertility must be 

 exhausted and poor crops will inevitably follow. The flax crop of all 

 crops makes heavy demands upon the soil, and for this reason is fre- 

 quently called an exhaustive crop. It must be so naturally, as flax 

 is usually grown for seed, where the ground is shallow plowed, not 

 cultivated, everything taken from it and nothing returned. The 

 stem of the flax plant is tall and slender, growing rapidly, and the 

 long roots as they push down deeply must have something to feed 

 upon to make vigorous growth and good straw. It is on account of 

 this habit of the plant to extend its roots to such depth in the earth 

 that plowing and fine tilth are so essential; and the roots must find 

 food or the plant will be of slow growth, woody and deficient in fiber, 

 and the product inferior both as to quality and quantity. (U. S. 

 Fiber Inves. R. 10.) 



Crop Rotation. The feature most observed by all is that on 

 light soils a leguminous crop is of much benefit in preparing the soil 



