66 



BULLETI:N" 1039, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 



feet in diameter, mostly in a plat of North Dakota Eesistant No. 52, 

 was made almost bare by wilt in 1916. The same land had produced 

 flax in 1914. 



VARIETAL EXPERIMENTS. 



Varietal experiments with flax on irrigated land were begun in 

 1912. Ten varieties have been grown, three of them during each of 

 the eight years. Five varieties were grown during the six years from 

 1914 to 1919, inclusive. All varieties were of the blue-flowered, 

 brown-seeded type. The yields of the flax varieties are shown in 

 Table XLIX. The average yields of five varieties are also shown 

 graphically in figure 22. 



Table XLIX. — Yields of flax varieties groion- on irrigated land on the Belle 

 Fourche Experiment Farm, 1912 to 1919, inclusive. 





C.I. 

 No. 



Yields per acre (bushels). 



Group and variety. 



1912 



1913 



1914 



1915 



1916 





1919 



Average. 





1917 



1918 



1912 

 to 

 1919 



1914 

 to 

 1919 



European seed: 



Russian (N. Dak. No. 608) 



1 

 3 

 17 

 19 



8 







3.7 

 11.8 

















Damont (N. Dak. No. 1215). . 







14.5 



10.7 



15.1 



21.7 



10.7 





14.1 





10.1 

 12.5 

 11.9 

 11.3 



ii.'i' 







Reserve (Russian) 



5.3 



4.8 



10.0 



5.8 



14.1 

 13.6 



12.7 

 10.7 



13.6 

 12.9 



19.1 



20.8 



11.9 

 12.2 



12.4 

 11.6 



13.6 



N. Dak. Resistant No. 52 



12.7 



Short fiber: 



N. Dak. Resistant No. 114... . 



Primost (Minn. No. 25) 



Turkish: 



Turldsh 



13 

 12 



7 

 30 



"5.' 3' 

 4.4 



11.1 

 11.6 



1.5 



12.4 

 12.9 



6.5 

 9.0 



11.4 

 10.0 



15.5 

 20.5 



8.6 

 12.2 



'ii.'e' 



10.9 

 12.7 





6.0 



4.1 







1 . 

















1 





The Damont and Reserve varieties have produced the highest 

 yields, the former averaging 14.1 bushels and the latter 13.6 bushels 

 per acre. Both of these varieties are rather tall, with medium-large 

 seeds. The Primost and North Dakota Resistant No. 114 varieties 

 belonging to the short-fiber group have short stems and small, dark- 

 brown seeds. Neither of the wilt-resistant varieties grown produced 

 the highest yields, because of the almost total absence of wilt. 



The two varieties of the Turkish group, Turkish and Smyrna, 

 which were grown in the experiments produced relatively low yields 

 and were almost too short to harvest with the binder. 



Table L shows the average dates of heading and maturity, height, 

 weight per bushel, and yields of seed and straw of three varieties of 

 flax grown from 1914 to 1919, inclusive. The Damont was one and 

 two days, respectively, later than the North Dakota Resistant No. 52 

 and Primost varieties. The average height apparently is the same 



