CEREAL INVESTIGATIONS ON THE BELLE FOURCHE FARM. 39 

 EXPERIMENTS WITH FLAX. 



VARIETAL TEST. 



A varietal test of flax was begun at Newell in 1912, when nine 

 varieties were grown. Only five of these were grown in 1913. In 

 1912 flax was grown on land which was fallow the previous year and 

 in 1913 on land which produced a crop of small grain in 1912. The 

 annual and average yields of grain and of straw for the five varieties 

 are shown in Table XXI. 



Table XXI. — Annual and average yields of five varieties of flax on the Belle Fourche 

 Experiment Farm in 1912 and 1913. 



C.I. 



Variety. 



1912 



1913 



Average. 



No. 



Grain. 



Straw. 



Grain. 



Straw. 



Grain. 



Straw. 



12 





Bushels. 

 9.1 

 8.9 

 11.4 

 10.6 

 11.2 



Pounds. 

 880 

 730 

 880 

 1,130 

 940 



Bushels. 

 4.8 

 5.2 

 2.8 

 3.3 

 5.6 



Pounds. 

 910 

 830 

 710 

 630 

 910 



Bushels. 

 7.0 

 7.1 

 7.1 

 7.0 

 8.4 



Pounds. 

 895 



19 





780 



7 





795 



1 

 3 



Select Russian (N. Dak. No. 608) 



Select Russian (N. Dak. No. 1215) 



880 

 925 



The highest average yield of flax obtained on the Belle Fourche 

 Experiment Farm, 8.4 bushels per acre, as shown in Table XXI, was 

 produced by the Select Russian, C. I. No. 3. This variety produced 

 the highest yield in 1913 and was only slightly exceeded by one other 

 variety in 1912. C. I. No. 3 is a pedigreed strain from the North 

 Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station, being North Dakota No. 

 1215. The yields of the four other varieties which were tested both 

 years were practically the same, being 1.3 or 1.4 bushels less than 

 that of C. I. No. 3. 



DATE-OF-SEEDING TEST OF FLAX. 



A date-of-seeding test with Primost (Minnesota No. 25) flax was 

 conducted at Newell in 1912 and 1913. Fiftieth-acre plats replicated 

 three times were sown on each of two dates, May 15 and June 1, 

 in 1912, and on three dates, May 2, May 23, and June 9, in 1913. 

 The yields of grain and of straw and the weight per bushel of the 

 grain from the various dates of seeding are shown in Table XXII. 



The highest yield in 1912 was obtained from the later date of 

 seeding, June 1. The increase in. yield over the sowing made May 15 

 was about 25 per cent. The earlier sown plats were injured by 

 drought to a greater extent than the plats sown on June 1. In 1913 

 this condition was reversed. The highest yield was produced from 

 the earliest sown plats and the injury from drought increased with 

 the later dates of seeding. It is probable that the best results will 

 be obtained in western South Dakota if flax is sown at the earliest 

 date when good germination and growth may be expected. 



