SOWING THE SEED. 



Sowing the seed rightly is a most important detail of the fiber 

 industry, requires the greatest care, and if done by hand, con- 

 siderable experience. Flax seed being so slick and slippery is 

 likely to slip from the hand unevenly and thus produce a patchy 

 and uneven growth; a very bad fault for the reason given before 

 that ujieven straw will ret unevenly, and requires grading, be- 

 fore retting at an increase of cost and labor. In sowing by hand 

 the sower should follow the practice adopted in sowing clover 

 seed, taking only a small portion of seed in the hand as a pinch 

 between the finger and thumb at each cast and carefully avoiding 

 any back cast. In Europe the sowing of flax seed is done by 

 experts who go from farm to farm to do this work. My Ameri- 

 canized system entirely discards hand sowing, as the little Amer- 

 ican broadcasting machine ($3.00) will do the work better and 

 quicker and more uniformly than is possible by hand work. An- 

 other little American machine called a wheelbarrow broadcast 

 seeder has been proved to do good work in sowing flax seed for 

 fiber. Having' your seed cleaned and tested and measured at 

 the rate of 50 to 180 pounds per acre or such other quantity 

 as may suit your requirements, sow it evenly if possible in the 

 first week of April or as near that date as the condition of the 

 land and season will permit. 



In Ireland they fix on Good Friday as the date for flax sow- 

 ing, while in parts of Sweden they wait for the 24th of July. On 

 the Puget Sound, on the uplands from the middle of March to 

 the middle of April will be about right, while in the Willamette 

 Valley and Oregon, from the middle of April to the middle of 

 May will be more suitable. However, never sow flax seed when 

 the ground is wet, but wait a day or so, or it may be a week or 

 more until the land gets into good condition, then sow, harrow 

 and lightly roll and rest content you will have a good and profit- 

 able crop according to the care and intelligence displayed in carry- 

 ing out these instructions. The spraying of flax seed before 

 sowing with forty per cent Formalin is always of advantage and 

 renders it immune from flax wilt. 



WEEDING. 



As I have already pointed out, weeding field of flax by hand 

 is contrary to the spirit of the American people, and not included 

 in my Americanized system of flax culture, yet this is a mighty 

 great country and contains all sorts and conditions of men 

 from many nationalities, some of whom are willing to adhere 

 to their old country notions and practice and will consider it no 

 hardship to weed flax by hand. I have nothing to say against 

 this practice. Doubtless they will derive a benefit therefrom, but 

 whether they will find it pays for the time and labor expended, 

 I am not prepared to say. I have never weeded a field of flax, and 

 do not intend to begin now at 85. I will, however, emphasize the 

 point, HAVE YOUR LAND CLEAN BEFORE YOU BEGIN flax 

 culture. Clean your seed before you sow it and you will not be 



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