THE IEEIGATION AGE. 



297 



IRRIGATING LAND FOR THE PRODUCTION OF 

 FLAX SEED.* 



BY H. L. BOLLEY. 



We receive many letters asking regarding the advisa- 

 bility of putting flax into wheat or barley or oats stubble 

 and as to the advisability of putting flax on corn lands of 

 the previous year. 



Flax After Corn: With regard to this topic there can 

 be not the slightest question as to the results. On my own 

 experimental plots I have, in a small way, demonstrated that 

 a properly cultivated corn ground is the best preparation for 

 flax crop, provided the cultivation has been sufficiently thor- 

 ough and persistent during the corn growing season to 

 keep down the weeds and mature a good corn crop. If the 

 land were properly deep plowed for the corn it should not 

 be replowed for flax, but should be levelled in any manner in 

 which the corn rows can be smoothed over, so as to get the 

 ground evenly level. Discing, planking, packing and har- 

 rowing on the surface of such old corn ground, provided the 

 discing and harrowing are done when the ground is suffi- 

 ciently damp not to cause it to blow, will prepare a seed bed 

 for flax which has no equal. 



Flax After Wheat, Oats or Barley: If the ground were 

 properly plowed previous to the wheat, oats or barley, and 

 the ground is reasonably free from weeds, a thorough discing 

 and harrowing and packing of such stubble lands will give 

 a good seed bed for flax. When I write this I mean, how- 

 ever, that the discing, harrowing and packing should be 

 thorough, and that the discing, harrowing and packing 

 should be done while the ground is damp, so that it will 

 work down in good shape. No effort should be made to get 

 the ground loose. If. however, the crop is being planted in 

 this manner in a region where Russian thistle, tumbling 

 mustard and other weeds have blown over the land during 

 the year, I do not believe it is advisable to prepare the seed 

 bed in this manner unless it is in the southern portion of the 

 state, when it will be possible to harrow and disc and pack 

 such land several times during the spring before it is time 

 to seed the flax, allowing the weed seeds to germinate, 

 after which the flax should be planted immediately after 

 the last working of the ground, while the ground is fresh 

 and moist. 



Planting Flax on Weedy Stubble Land: In this case the 

 land should be plowed deep, so as to turn under the stubble 

 and weeds of the last year to a considerable depth say five 

 to seven inches or better. The plowing should be done when 

 it is time to plant flax, and a sub-surface packer should fol- 

 low the plow at once while the plowing is being done. This 

 should again be followed by a cogwheel packer or some heavy 

 surface packer, then the flax drilled in while the ground is 

 fresh and moist. Following the drill it will not be a bad 

 plan to put on a heavy stone boat or float to mash down the 

 ground, or to repack the ground. On such ground too much 

 packing cannot be done, unless it is done while the ground 

 is muddy. The ground should be packed so hard before the 

 drill is put on it that the discs will not cut much deeper into 

 it than they would into new plowed sod land. The seed in 

 no case should be planted deeper than an inch three-quartern 

 of an inch is still better, if the ground is packed hard enough 

 to bring the moisture up to that point. 



Do not forget to plant bright colored flax seed. Do not 

 forget to treat all seed before planting. Do not sow over 

 twelve quarts of good seed per acre. 



Cereals After Flax on the Previous Year's Breaking: 

 We get hundreds of letters asking us what to do with the 

 rrotind on which flax grew on first year breaking. Most of 

 the people want to sow flax on it again because they say 

 they cannot plow the land well for other crops. 



I have had during the past year a number of farmers 

 '-elp me in carrying out a test of the question whether such 

 flax stubble lands where the flax grew unon new breaking 

 can be successfully used for the growth of wheat, barley or 

 oats, without plowing. The reason for warning to do this 

 rests in the fact that in a dry year the sod of the breaking 

 on which the flax grew does not properly root. Tt is almost 

 impossible to plow such land and make a success of the plow- 

 i"g sufficient to allow one to work down a compact seed bed. 

 Backsetting cannot be done on such land by anv other tool 

 than a deep tilling disc plow, and even that will have diffi- 

 culty to prevent the ground from being very lumpy and loose. 



(Abstract from Precr, Bulletin No. 47, North Dakota Experiment 

 Station). 



We have had reports from enough farmers who have tried 

 planting wheat after flax on last years breaking to show 

 conclusively that such flax stubble land can be made into a 

 good seed bed for wheat. Indeed it seems to produce a 

 wheat crop second only to that which can be produced on a 

 proper summer fallow or on corn lands. When I say this, 

 remember that I mean thorough discing and pulverizing asso- 

 ciated with thorough harrowing and packing, using some such 

 tool as the cogwheel, corrugated, or sub-surface packer. As 

 soon as the land thaws enough to put on a disc and cut the 

 old sods of the flax stubble, disc the land first lengthways, 

 then diagonally, then crossways. Then put on your packing 

 tools and follow immediately with the drill. In the case of 

 barley the work can be continued somewhat more thoroughly 

 and the seed put in a little later. Remember that in planting 

 barley to be sold for brewing purposes the object is to get 

 a high quality of barley free from weed seeds and of high 

 germinating power. This sort of land will give this very 

 crop, if properly handled. To give a high malting value the 

 barley should be harvested as soon as ripe and threshed as 

 soon as dry. Oats do equally well under these conditions. 

 I dislike to advocate discing in grain upon stubble because 

 many people think that discing in grain means to run a disc 

 once or twice over such stubble lands. If that is what the 

 reader has in mind, my advice is, do not try to do work. 

 To do a good job of planting wheat, oats or barley on flax 

 stubble or to do a good job of planting flax on wheat, oats 

 or barley stubble one should do about as much work with 

 the disc, the harrow and the heavy packer as he would do if 

 he should plow the land. It is just a better way of handling 

 stubble land. It allows one to prepare. a firm seed bed in 

 the spring without getting it too loose. If, however, the 

 work is carelessly done it will result in a good weed patch. 



Irrigating Land for the Production of Flax Seed: We 

 have considerable correspondence from various sources re- 

 garding the proper method of cropping flax on irrigated 

 lands. 



If irrigation is used it should be used with the point in 

 view of forcing the early growth of the flax crop up to the 

 point of boll formation, and there should be enough moisture 

 remaining in the sub-soil at this time to properly ripen the 

 seed and no more. The application of water will therefore 

 depend largely upon two features, the nature of the sub-soil 

 and the climatic conditions as affected by rainfall and atmos- 

 pheric moisture. The writer is of the opinion tnat the land 

 should be thoroughly flooded late in the fall just before 

 freezing weather sets in, thus allowing the sub-soil to be 

 thoroughly saturated. In regions where there are rains in 

 July and August, no more moisture will be necessary. 



In some regions a spring flooding, or perhaps two, may 

 be necessary, one before the seed is planted and one just 

 preceding the blossom period. If irrigated after it is in 

 blossom it is apt to continue blossoming, and it will be diffi- 

 cult to get it to ripen. This is especially true if the crop is 

 late or if there are cool nights in the region under considera- 

 tion. A clear sky and soil which tends to become drouthy 

 at maturing time seems to be essential for the production of 

 flax seed of high quality. 



THINGS WHICH HURT THIS COUNTRY. 



The government made a great mistake in irrigating 

 the upper Pecos valley in New Mexico through its Hondo 

 project. After the appropriation had been made to con- 

 struct a great reservoir at that place the land sharks im- 

 mediately began to sell the land which was assumed would 

 be watered from the dear old reservoir which Uncle Sam 

 was to build for them. All kinds of people flocked in and 

 purchased this land at fancy prices. Now it turns out 

 that after the reservoir was constructed twice there is no 

 water because it is mostly lost through seepage. The wind 

 has carried considerable sand into the reservoir which 

 absorbs what little water is left. It was one of the most 

 beautiful bunco games ever perpetrated on the American 

 people and the funny part of it all is that not a newspaper 

 in the country has mentioned it. The thing that has oc- 

 curred at the Hondo has practically found a replica at 

 every other reclamation project that Newell has under- 

 taken and the joke keeps running on like the water in the 

 brook, only in this case the joke is dry. The Denver Field and 

 Farm. 



