228 IRRIGATION FARMING. 



the binder can be run, the rice is ripe and ready to cut. 

 It is cut with the ordinary self-binding harvester, is 

 shocked up in shocks of twenty-five to thirty bundles 

 each, these shocks well capped with four bundles 

 broken down at the band, and then left until well 

 cured and ready for the separator. 



Flax. — This is one of the negledled crops of the 

 United States, but it is coming into favor more com- 

 monly here in the west. The crop requires but little 

 moisture, and if furnished early in the season insures a 

 yield. Flax may be sown any time in May, for good 

 results, though as late as the middle of June is not ob- 

 je<5lionable if the ground at that time is found to con- 

 tain enough moisture to germinate the seed and pro- 

 mote plant growth. Not less than forty-five pounds 

 of seed should be sown on an acre, while fifty pounds 

 will give better results in most cases. The yield of 

 flaxseed varies all the way from eight to twenty-five 

 bushels to the acre. It should be sown in drills nine 

 inches apart, or if broadcast the corrugated roller may 

 be profitably employed. As the crop is grown mostly 

 for fiber, the value of which depends greatly upon the 

 length and fineness of the stems, it should be kept 

 growing steadily, and may be irrigated every three or 

 four weeks with light heads calculated to sink deep 

 into the soil, so as not to coax the roots toward the 

 top. After the plants are three-quarters grown with- 

 hold the w^ater and thus give the fiber a chance to 

 ripen properly before cutting. 



The plant while growing is very tender, and ex- 

 treme care must be UvSed in irrigating. Water must 

 not be allowed to stand on the land after an irrigation 



