296 



FLAX 



FLAX 



or no attention to this feature of crop production. 

 On the older farms of the East, fertilizing is 

 necessary for the success of the crop. On the 

 newer western farms, flax may be grown for a 

 number of years without the use of manures ; but, 

 sooner or later, manures will become an absolute 

 necessity. 



It is recommended that the shives from the mill 

 and the flax straw from the threshing machine be 

 returned to the soil. If this is done, a very largj 

 part of the fertilizing ingredients are returned. 

 The only elements removed and not returned to the 

 soil are those of the seed, which are as follows : 

 Water, 12.3 per cent ; ash, 3.4 per cent ; crude fiber, 

 7.2 per cent ; albuminoids, 20.5 per cent ; carbo- 

 hydrates, 19.6 per cent ; fats, 37 per cent of the 

 total weight of the seed. When the straw is pool- 

 retted for the manufacturing of the fiber, large 

 returns may be secured by sprinkling the pool 

 steep, which is rich in organic matter, on the flax- 

 field. This is likely to introduce the wilt disease, 

 however, if flax is to follow in the next few years. 



The seed. — It was supposed for a long time that, 

 in order to procure the best results, seed-flax must 

 be imported, at least every three or four years, 

 from the flax-growing countries of Europe. How- 

 ever true this may be for the production of the 

 flax fiber, it does not hold true for the production 

 of seed. Many imported varieties of flax have been 

 tested at the Minnesota Experiment Station, but 

 none has proved so valuable a seed-producer as the 

 common or native flax, which is undoubtedly an 

 acclimated stock of the well-known Riga. It is not 

 definitely known that it is necessary to import seed 

 in order to secure fiber for the production of the 

 finer linens. 



In growing flax for seed, a farmer can aiford to 

 use nothing but the best. There is such a vast dif- 

 ference in the individual seeds in their power of 

 growth and production, that to use the small, 

 shrunken seeds is but to encourage a small yield. 

 In ordinary farm practice; however, it is seldom 

 that a farmer makes any effort to select the largest, 

 heaviest, plumpest and most matured seed (those 

 known by experience and experiment to give best 

 results) for seeding purposes. He sells all the seed 

 as threshed, except enough in the bottom of the 

 bin to plant his next year's acreage, many times 

 not even saving this, but depending on the local 

 elevator for seed the next spring. 



The selection of the seed can best be made on the 

 specific gravity basis, i. e., taking advantage of 

 the difference in the weights of the seeds. The 

 ordinary fanning-mills will do this work quickly 

 and effectively when operated intelligently. The 

 better form to use is the " sideshake " mill. This 

 form drops the seed off the feed-board under the 

 hopper in a steady stream. The wind blast here 

 catches and carries the grain with it to various 

 distances according to the weight of the kernels, 

 the lightest seeds being carried out at the back of 

 the mill, while the heaviest ones drop nearly straight 

 down. By setting the sieves in the lower shoes of 

 the " shake " (one so as to catch the heavy kernels 

 and the other farther out so as to catch the medium 



and lighter grains), the best can be saved for seed 

 and the other, called " market grain," can be 

 cleaned. The small percentage thus saved does not 

 lower the market grade of the grain, for separating 

 this from the chaflf arid lightest seeds more than 

 compensates for the small percentage saved for 

 seed purposes. So far as the writer is aware, no 

 experiments have been made comparing the results 

 from good, medium and poor seed-flax, but with all 

 other classes of crops the results have shown marked 

 advantages in favor of the well-graded seeds. 



Seeding practices.- — Flax is planted in the spring 

 after all danger from frost is past. As it requires 

 only eighty-five to one hundred days for maturing, 

 the planting is seldom done before May 10 in the 

 Middle Northwest. In some of the new sections on 

 low spots where water stands on the surface in the 

 early spring, the planting season is materially 

 lengthened, seeding often being done as late as July 

 1. It is unsafe, however, to sow flax later than June 

 15 in the great northwest flax section. Early seed- 

 ing, May 10 to 20, always gives the best results, as 

 the plants get well rooted and strong before the 

 hot, dry summer weather comes. 



Prom an account given in Report No. 10 of the 

 United States Office of Fiber Investigation, the fol- 

 lowing dates for sowing and harvesting in the 

 various states are taken : 



The depth to plant varies somewhat with the soil 

 and season. On the heavier, wet soils the seed 

 should be planted shallower than on the lighter 

 soils. In the ordinary soils, flax should be planted 

 not deeper than one and one-half inches. 



The quantity of seed used by the American farmer 

 varies from two to six pecks per acre. For the 

 production of seed, the Minnesota Experiment Sta- 

 tion has found that for Minnesota conditions two 

 pecks give most satisfactory results, but the farm- 

 ers of the Northwest usually sow a little more. 

 For fiber, the quantity sown is never less than four 



