224 USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



recommended ;i mixture of 30 pounds of potash, 28 of common salt, 34 of burnt gyp- 

 sum, 54 of bone dust, and 56 of magnesia, -which it was claimed would replace the 

 constituents of an average acre of flax. Dr. Hodges, of Ireland, many years ago pro- 

 posed the following, -which he concluded by analysis would replace the inorganic 

 matter removed from the soil by 2 tons of flax straw: Muriate of potash, 30 pounds; 

 common salt. 25 pounds ; burnt gypsum, 34 pounds ; bone dust. 54 pounds, and sulphate 

 of magnesia, 50 pounds. This is very similar to the formula given by Dr. Ure above. 



Uotation of crops. — A systematic rotation of crops is considered essential in all 

 flax-growing countries, though little practiced in the United States. A rotation 

 formerly followed in Xew York, covering three years, -was Indian corn, barley, oats, 

 winter and spring -wheat, and red clover, the corn being planted on land plowed 

 from clover sod. The cleaning process, to rid the soil from weeds, began with the 

 first crop which followed the clover sod. The Belgian farmers are particularly 

 careful in this matter. In the Courtrai region the occupancy of the laud with llax 

 varies from five to ten years, the average being about eight years. In eastern Flan- 

 ders it is five to nine, and in the Brabant five to eight. In some other sections a 

 much longer time elapses between two crops of flax, and several generations back 

 fifteen and even eighteen years were sometimes allowed to intervene. A common 

 rotation is clover, oats, rye, wheat, and in some cases hemp. Crops of rape, tobacco, 

 beans, and vegetables (these latter crops on farms contiguous to towns;, or even 

 onions and salsify, are grown as in middle Belgium. Clover is considered one of the 

 best crops to precede a crop of flax, as its numerous roots go deep into the soil, and 

 from their decomposition not only furnish nutriment to the growing flax roots, but 

 enable them more easily to push down into the subsoil. 



Sowing the seed. — An old rule in this country was to sow when the soil had 

 settled and was warmed by the influence of the sun, and weeds and grass had begun 

 to spring up and the leaves of trees to unfold. In fact, no definite rule can be laid 

 down, experience being the best teacher, as the seeding must be largely governed by 

 atmospheric conditions. Too early sowing may result in injury to the growing 

 plants. A practice followed by some farmers, especially where the soil is at all 

 weedy, is to allow the land, after it is put in condition, to lie until the weeds appear; 

 then, just before sowing, give the surface a light harrowing, when the greater part 

 will be killed. 



In regard to the manner of seeding the crop, it is usually put in by hand, broad- 

 cast ; in foreign countries, the experts at the business going from farm to farm, as 

 their services are required. The seeding is accomplished in this country both by 

 hand broadcasting and by means of the drill, though the latter method can not be 

 recommended. The work should be done with great regularity to secure an even 

 growth of straw and the same standard of iineness for different portions of the field. 

 The objection to drilling in the crop is that the outside straw will always be coarser 

 than that straw in the center of the drill row, and also will have a tendency to branch. 

 The practice in Flanders is to sow in the morning and harrow the seed in with a 

 close-set harrow; and after the seed has germinated, the land is rolled. When llax 

 is grown for seed without regard to liber, it is sown thin, at the rate of 2 to 3 pecks 

 of seed per acre, in order that the plants shall branch ami produce as large a crop as 

 possible. A large seed is also desirable. When the production of fine liber is the 

 object, a thicker sowing is necessary, say, from U to 3 bushels per acre. This pre- 

 vents branching, the plants are shaded, and a crop of clean, slender, straight straw 

 i.s the result. In Belgium, where the finest fiber is produced, the amount of seed 

 sown varies ordinarily from 2. to 3 bushels per acre, though in one district (Hai- 

 naut) it is claimed that the quantity sown is sometimes double ibis amount. Prob- 

 ably 3 bushels per acre comes nearer the general practice. Some growers hold that 

 more should be used when the sowing is late than when early: at any rate, when 

 planted too thickly, as is sometimes the case, it is afterwards thinned, though such 

 a practice, of course, adds just so much to the cost of production. 



Good liber can not be grown from the average seed of the oil mills. Imported se< «' 



