298 



FLAX 



FLAX 



seed- and fiber-yielding properties have been se- 

 cured, but until labor is cheaper and more reliable, 

 or until a higher price is paid for fiber, the grow- 

 ing of flax fiber will have to be coupled with seed 

 production. It must not be inferred from this that 

 flax is grown for fiber alone in the flax-producing 

 countries of Europe, excepting perhaps in parts of 

 Ireland ; the seed is saved and is regarded to be a 

 secondary product of considerable value. 



Breeding. 



The systematic American breeding of flax has 

 been limited to the Minnesota and North Dakota 

 Experiment Stations. But limited as it is, some 

 lessons have been learned and results have been 

 secured that are of vast economic importance. The 

 Minnesota Station has bred two high-yielding varie- 

 ties, one for seed and one for fiber. North Dakota 

 Station has bred one that has proved to be notice- 

 ably wilt-resistant. 



Minnesota experiments. — The general plan for 

 breeding flax at Minnesota has been as follows : 



(1) To secure, through systematic methods of 

 testing, a few of the most promising varieties. 



(2) To save the seed of these and to grade it 

 carefully, eliminating all but the very best seeds. 



(3) To plant two to five thousand hills of each, 

 with two or three seeds per hill. (Fig. 408.) 



(4) When the plants are a few inches high, to 

 thin to one plant per hill. 



(5) At maturity the best ten to twenty-five 

 plants are secured by a gradual elimination of the 

 poorest plants. These are selected on the basis of 

 the economic character that is desired : If seed is 

 the object, the plants selected are those that have 

 a number of top branches and bear a large number 

 of seed-bolls. If fiber is desired, the tallest, stiffest 

 and least branched are saved. The plants thus 

 selected are termed mother-plants and are given a 

 register number (nursery -stock number). Certain 

 notes are taken on them, as height, number of 

 branches, quantity of seed, and the like, and the 

 best 250 seeds are saved to plant a centgener the 

 succeeding year.^ 



(6) At harvest the next year, the best ten plants 

 are again selected from which the seeds are 

 saved as one lot. The total number of plants is 

 recorded. All plants are carefully tied in a bundle 

 and threshed in an especially devised centgener 

 thresher. The total weight of the seed from all the 

 plants is divided by the number of plants, thus 

 giving the average weight per plant. This weight, 

 together with centgener notes, is a measure of the 

 inherited ability of the mother-plant. Such a cent- 

 gener test goes on for three years. 



(7) At the end of three years an average is made 

 of each mother-plant's progeny for the three years. 

 The best one or two nursery-stock numbers having 

 highest yields, other things being equal, are saved 

 for future trial. All others are discarded. 



(8) The best of all the bulk seed, saved from all 

 plants harvested the last year of the three years' 



■ Centgener is a name given to the product of a single 

 mother-plant ; in this case used to designate the plants 

 resulting from the 250 or more selected seeds. 



test, is planted in a " nursery increase plot," and 

 given a Minnesota number.^ From the field plot 

 results another three years' test, and the average 

 is made. Each year such notes as height, days to 

 mature, per cent lodged, evenness in height and 

 ripening, type, yield per acre, and the like, are 

 taken. . 



(9) If in this test a certain stock shows by its 

 record, as did Minnesota No. 25, that it is superior 

 to all others, the bulk seed is again saved. This 

 seed is planted in "field increase plots "until sev- 

 eral hundred bushels of well -graded seed are 

 secured. 



(10) This "field increased" seed is then sold to 

 farmers of the state in lots of four bushels or less, 

 at a price slightly above the ordinary market price 

 of flax. 



(11) These farmers, by signing a contract, be- 

 come cooperators of the Experiment Station. At 

 harvest time a blank form of inquiry is sent to 

 each cooperating farmer to fill out and return tO' 

 the Experiment Station. From the replies, a com- 

 parison of the new variety with the common 

 variety under farm conditions is made. 



(12) Inquiries coming in from other farmers in 

 following years for the improved variety are re- 

 ferred to the cooperators. 



To illustrate the results that have been secured, 

 the following table giving the results of compara- 

 tive tests made by forty-eight farmers in various 

 parts of Minnesota is introduced : 



Flax, Minnesota No. 25 Compaked with 

 Common Varibtibs. 



Minnesota No. 25 15.0 bushels per acre 



Common flax grown by farmers . 11.9 bushels per acre 



Gain 3.1 bushels per acre 



Rate of increase 26 per cent 



Minnesota No. 25 Compared with Varieties Sold by 

 Commercial Houses in 1901. Average 



Yield Yield Yield yield 

 1902 1903 1904 3 trials 



Minnesota No. 25 21.4 19.3 17.1 19.3 



Minnesota No. 12, Seedsmen . 11.4 19.1 18.4 16.3 

 Minnesota No. 14, Seedsmen . 12.5 20.3 15.4 16.0 

 Minnesota No. 13, Seedsmen . 9.6 20.0 16.6 15.4 

 Average yield of Minnesota No. 25 for three years is 19.3 



bushels. 

 Average yield of three commercial varieties for three 



years is 15.9 bushels. 

 Increase in favor of Minnesota No. 25 is 3.4 bushels. 



In addition to the improvement shown in these 

 tables. No. 25 is a week earlier than common vari- 

 eties, and is more even in growth and in maturity. 



North Dakota experiments. — At the North Dakota 

 Experiment Station, Bolley has been breeding flax 

 with a view to getting a variety that is immune to 

 the wilt disease. In this work, he has followed 

 closely the Darwinian hypothesis that success 

 attends the survival of the fittest. One of the 

 common varieties was selected and planted on a 



' A Minnesota number is given to any new accession 

 introduced into the field test in comparison with all other 

 promising stocks and varieties from various sources. 



