196 DRY LAND FARMING 



southward. As the latitude recedes toward the equator, 

 the elevations most suitable to the growing of flax 

 ascend. The crop when grown in dry areas is produced 

 almost entirely for the grain. The conditions are too 

 dry for growing the best quality of fiber. In the future 

 large quantities of flax will be grown in the Dakotas, 

 as in the past. The adaptation of these states for grow- 

 ing flax has been abundantly proved. Many of the 

 farmers, however, have made the grievous mistake of 

 sowing flax infected with wilt. Such seed was in very 

 many instances sown unconsciously at the first. Later, 

 in some instances, it was the outcome of deliberate 

 carelessness. This means that much of the area formerly 

 devoted to growing flax crops cannot be so used for a 

 term of years, until the wilt dies out in the land. The 

 farmers who try to grow flax in new areas should profit 

 from the knowledge of this experience. 



Montana will doubtless become a great flax pro- 

 ducing state. The conditions on Montana benches are 

 more than ordinarily favorable. In some instances rec- 

 ord-breaking crops have already been obtained. That 

 portion of the Canadian provinces in the dry area of 

 the Canadian west have adaptation equally high. 



Winter rye will doubtless prove a more sure crop 

 and over a wider area than any other cereal that can be 

 grown in the dry area. The nearest competitor to it in 

 this respect is probably speltz. Rye can grow under con- 

 ditions more dry than would be suitable for wheat, and 

 it is less harmed by the extremes of heat and cold. Bet- 

 ter crops of grain will be obtained from rye in the north- 

 ern areas of the dry belt than in the southern, as in 

 the case of wheat. But when winter rye is grown 

 mainly to provide pasture, it may furnish more of the 

 same in many of the areas southward, for in these it 

 has a longer time in which to grow. 



