412 [Assembly 



'« 



it may be exposed to the effects of frost, and pulverized thorough- 

 ly for the reception of the seeds ; two plowings and two harrow- 

 ings in the spring will effect this object. After the seed is sown 

 broadcast, harrowed snd cross-harrowed, I would roll the ground 

 once with a light roller. The quantity of seed sown must depend 

 on the object you have in cultivating the plant. If for commer- 

 cial purposes, it should be sown thick, say three 'bushels to the 

 acre, when it will grow tall and produce a fine fibre. If sown 

 thin it spreads, grows low, and throws out side branches, yield- 

 ing large quantities of seed, plump, heavy and well filled. Seed 

 for sowing should be obtained from Holland, as that is held in 

 the highest estimation, ripening sooner, and yielding larger 

 crops. The same seed should not be used in the same district 

 repeatedly, as the plant will inevitably degenerate by such a 

 process. The seed from Holland is superior to ours for the 

 reason that they pay more attention to ripening and preparing it. 

 Notwithstanding the Hollanders cannot, and never have been 

 surpassed by any other people in the world in the cultivation of 

 flax, still they consider it necessary to change the seed once in 

 every three or four years, and usually obtain it from Riga. This 

 seed, when sown in Holland, grows coarse and bulky the first 

 year, consequently they permit it to perfect seed, which is sown 

 the second year, and the produce of this sowing they keep for 

 themselves, knowing that it yields the finest flax, and wortli 

 double as much as the seed of the third crop, which last is never 

 used by themselves, but exported to foreign markets. Our agri- 

 culturists might import from Riga direct, and follow the Dutch- 

 man's rule of management, making the seed of one crop worth 

 twice as mucli as the next. If we were to pay the same atten- 

 tion, and take the same pains as they do, we should most certainly 

 equal them in quality, as our soil and climate are equal to 

 theirs. 



It is of vast importance to the farmer to know how to judge 

 good seed from bad. This knowledge is easily obtained ; seed 

 proper for cultivation should be bright, smooth and very slippery, 

 and more than this, it must be pi amp and heavy enough to sink 

 in water. The interior, when broken open, should present a 

 yellowish green appearance, and taste sweet and oily. All other 



