PEDIQREED FIBER FLAX. 19 



Table 4. — Results of a test of flax made at Crosioell, Mich., in 1919. 





Total 

 height. 



Area. 



Yield per acre. 



Variety. 



Seed. 



Un- 



thrashed 



straw. 



Fiber. 





Inches. 

 30.0 

 38.2 



Acres. 

 6.0 



1.4 



Bushels. 

 8.0 

 6.6 



Tons. 

 1.42 



1.85 



Pounds. 

 195.44 



Saginaw 



233.00 







Of the three other selections tested, remarkable differences were 

 shown in the yield and quality of the fiber. One selection which 

 had consistently yielded a larger tonnage of straw than the Saginaw 

 variety produced one-fourth less fiber per acre, because it yielded a 

 low percentage of fiber. Selection Nos. 1927, 1931, and 1919 not only 

 produced less fiber than the Saginaw variety but produced fiber of a 

 coarser quality. It is evident that for securing accurate testing of 

 selected fiber-flax strains straw weights are not dependable. More 

 satisfactory results could be secured from actual yields of fiber if 

 complete data for this character were available. 



INCREASING THE QUANTITY OF PEDIGREED SEEDS. 



Having decided on the best strain of fiber flax, the next step is 

 to increase the seed as rapidly as possible. From 300 to 500 acres 

 are required to operate a small flax mill efficiently, and in order to 

 become a factor in the commercial field it is necessary that a strain 

 of pedigreed fiber flax reach the point where there is enough seed 

 to sow this area, or from 500 to TOO bushels. If a start is made 

 with an ounce of seed and the flax is sown at the ordinary rate for 

 fiber, li bushels per acre, it is estimated that at the end of 4 yeai^, 

 with good crops each year, there would be not much more than a 

 bushel produced, and that it would take 10 to 15 years to produce 

 the required quantity. There are two ways of speeding up seed 

 production, one by thin rates of seeding and the other by making 

 two sowings the same year. 



Increasing the yield by thin rates of seeding was carried out as 

 follows : Up to the time when there were about 5 bushels of seed it 

 was sown at the rate of 4J pounds per acre in 28-inch drill rows 

 and cultivated at frequent intervals. This was done in 1918 at East 

 Lansing, Mich. It paid, for from 10 pounds of seed 420 pounds were 

 obtained. By the usual method, sowing by broadcasting at the rate 

 of 84 pounds per acre, not more than 60 pounds could have been har- 

 vested. Since with as much as 5 bushels of seed this extremely thin 

 method of sowing is cumbersome and expensive because of the large 



