FLAX, HEMP, AND OTHER FIBER PLANTS 131 



spring, after danger of frost is over. Where grown 

 for the seed, from fourteen to twenty pounds of seed 

 are sown per acre ; and where raised for the fiber, 

 about forty pounds 

 per acre are sown 

 broadcast in order 

 to make the plants 

 grow straight and 

 tall. Flax will 

 grow in almost 

 any kind of soil, 

 but rich soils are 

 required to pro- 

 duce large yields 

 of fiber and seed. 



Harvesting. 

 The crop matures 

 in about one hun- 

 dred days from 

 the time of sow- 

 ing. It is usually 

 harvested with a 

 reaper, leaving the 

 bundles without tying, or tying and standing them in 

 loose shocks to dry out before threshing. 



Uses of the seed. After the linseed oil is pressed 

 from the seed, the oil cake made of the crushed seeds 

 is used as food for stock. This oil cake or meal is one 

 of the most important stock foods, furnishing both 



FIKLD OF FLAX 



