356 FIELD CROP PRODUCTION 



The length of the growing season is from 90 to 100 days. 

 Flax is attacked by a wilt fungus which can be controlled 

 to considerable extent by treating the seed before planting 

 with formaldehyde in the same manner which was rec- 

 ommended for treating the seed wheat for smut. 



Flax when grown for seed is harvested with a grain 

 binder and thrashed with a grain thrashing machine. 

 The harvesting, therefore, is very similar to that of wheat 

 or oats. When grown for the fiber, the plants are pulled 

 by hand, tied into small bundles, and put into the shock 

 to cure. The seed is thrashed from the bundles without 

 injuring the straw by rubbing or by special machinery. 



HEMP 



377. Hemp, Cannabis saliva, is a member of the MoracesB or 

 Mulberry family aad is therefore closely related to the hop and 

 osage orange, which are also members of this family. Hemp is a 

 large, rank growing, annual plant, bearing the pistillate and 

 staminate flowers on separate plants. The pistillate or seed- 

 bearing plants are more branched and do not produce as desirable 

 fiber as the staminate or pollen-producing plants. The plants 

 grow from 10 to 15 feet in height under favorable conditions, and 

 mature seed in from 100 to 110 days. Hemp thrives best in 

 temperate climates and may be grown on any soil adapted to the 

 growing of corn. The seed is sown just before corn planting, 

 usually broadcast or drilled in with a grain drill, at the rate of 

 4 to 5 pecks per acre. When seeded in this way, no cultivation is 

 necessary, as the plants grow rapidly and give the weeds little 

 chance to compete with them. In fact, in fields known to be 

 very badly infested with weeds sometimes the crop is seeded for 

 several successive years to smother them out, which it does very 

 effectively. The crop may be cut with a mower or self-rake when 

 the plants are not too large, but tall plants must be cut by hand as 

 corn is harvested, because they are too large and woody for the 

 mower. After cutting, the hemp is allowed to lie on the ground 

 for some time in order to separate the fiber from the woody stem. 



