FIELD, ORCHARD, AND GARDEN CROPS 159 



linseed as its seed are often called, are, like cotton seed, rich in oil. 

 This linseed oil is used for mixing paints and varnishes and for 

 other purposes. The hulls and meal from which the oil has been 

 extracted are a valuable stock feed, rich in fer- 

 tilizing elements. 



Cultivation. Flax prefers a cool, moist cli- 

 mate. It thrives on a deep, well-cultivated loam. 

 It grows to a height of two or three feet, bearing ^^^^f 

 clusters of pretty blue or white flowers at the 

 ends of the branches. The best fiber is obtained 

 from the stalks of plants that are grown close 

 together and are pulled soon after blossoming. 

 Usually, however, they are sowed thinner and are 

 allowed to ripen seed for oil. 



Like cotton, the flax crop has been threatened 

 by wilt disease, but of this also a wilt-resisting 

 variety has been bred. 



Hemp. Hemp, like flax, flourishes on a 

 moist, fertile soil. If the soil be rich and the 

 weather moist and warm, the plants grow rap- 

 idly and form long fibers. Stunted plants pro- 

 duce short, inferior fiber. The fiber, the cells 

 of its inner bark, is coarser than flax; it is 

 used to make coarse cloth and rope. 



EXERCISE 



1. Grow cotton, flax, and hemp in well-cultivated 

 plots. 



2. Sow some of the flax thick and some thin. A, flax T fiber j B, hemp 

 Observe the difference in branching and flowering. fiber 



3. Separate and examine the flax and the hemp fiber. Compare 

 them with cotton. 



