PEDIGREED FIBER ELAX. 



15 



several of these crosses give promise of distinct improvement. The 

 most definite results secured were from a cross between a tall blue- 

 flowered fiber flax and a short pink-flowered seed-flax type. The 

 object of the cross was to secure a tall pink-flowered fiber flax which 

 would be distinct from the ordinary blue or white flowered types. 



The blue-flowered parent, Selection No. 1831, originated as a single 

 plant selected for height in 1910 and has shown a superiority in stem 



Fig. 5. — Pink-flowered flax and parent strains. Blue-Blossom Dutch fiber flax, 110 centi- 

 meters high (on the left) ; pink-flowered hybrid, third generation, 90 centimeters high 

 (in the center) ; pink-flowered seed flax, 65 centimeters high (on the right). 



length over unselected fiber flaxes for a period of five years. It has 

 two, rarely four, basal branches and matures in 85 to 90 days. The 

 average total height is 100 centimeters. 



The pink-flowered parent came from a single plant found as a 

 mutation in a field of tall blue-blossom fiber flax which had been 

 selected for height. In a field with an estimated number of 800,000 

 plants only one pink-flowered plant was discovered. It has four to 



