108 GROUND FEEDS. 
FLAX FAMILY—Linacece. 
FLAX—Linum usitatissimum L. 
This plant has been in cultivation from very ancient 
times. Its stems produce the fibre of linen, and its seeds 
are used for oil and feed. In western Canada where thc 
plant is raised extensively for its seed, disastrous effects 
have come from the feeding of screenings contaihing 
immature flax bolls and frozen flowers. 
J. R. Dymond, late of the Seed Branch, Ottawa, re- 
ceived a sample of flaxseed screenings with the following 
statement from a farmer in Saskatchewan: “A few 
weeks ago I fed about three gallons to a cow and two gal- 
lons to a heifer. Both were in convulsions in less than 
twenty minutes. The heifer died in about two hours, the 
cow in about eight hours.” On analysis the sample was 
found to consist of: immature flax bolls and chaff, 75% ;: 
flaxseed, 18% ; wheat, 4%; weed seeds, 2%. A chemical 
analysis showed a considerable proportion of prussic acid. 
Corroborative reports have come from other places where 
screenings containing immature flax bolls have been fed, 
and it is now an established fact that they develop prussic 
acid in sufficient quantity to make them dangerous in 
feeds. ; 
The plant is too widely cultivated to need description 
here. 
