Oil the Cultivation of Flax. 



419 



When the seed is sown, it should be covered by two strokes of 

 the light seed-harrow, once up and down, and once across, then 

 finish with a light roller, leaving the seed equally covered about 

 an inch in depth. Broadcast is the best mode of sowing flax-seed. 

 Some persons advocate the use of a drill, set very close, as is 

 sometimes used for grass-seeds ; but on the whole, it seems now 

 generally admitted that broadcast is to be preferred for flax. 



The quantity of seed to the acre depends much on the kind of 

 flax required. For fine flax, sow thick. If flax of a stronger 

 and coarser description is wanted, or if the seed is a principal 

 object, sow thin. When thickly sown, the flax grows tall and 

 straight, yielding little seed; but the fibre will be of superior 

 length and fineness. When sown thin, the flax grows more 

 coarse and branchy, producing much seed, but affording an infe- 

 rior quality of fibre. 



As a general rule, 3 bushels of seed per acre should be sown 

 for fine flax; 2 bushels per acre for flax of a medium quality, 

 yielding both seed and fibre ; and six pecks where seed is the 

 primary object. If particularly fine flax is desired, such as the 

 Flemings raise for their finest lace and cambrics, very thick sow- 

 ing must be resorted to, as much as 3J or 4 bushels to the acre; 

 but the demand for this description of flax is comparatively small. 

 The medium quality is most in demand for the purposes of the 

 manufacturer, and a large quantity of the stronger and coarser 

 kind is required for every day use by our traders and handi- 

 crafts of every description. 



The Seed may be either home-^rown or foreign, flax equally 

 good being raised from both. It should be clean, plump, and 

 heavy. If light, thin, or dull in colour, it is of inferior quality, 

 and should be rejected. Much loss and disappointment occurred 

 in Ireland three years ago by using foreign seed of this descrip- 

 tion, which turned out to have been kiln-dried, and its vegetative 

 principle thereby destroyed. A change of seed every second or 

 third year is advantageous for flax as for other crops, and an occa- 

 sional use of Dutch Belgian or Riga seed may be resorted to as 

 affording the completest change, care being taken to sift and 

 thoroughly cleanse it from the seeds of weeds with which all 

 foreign flax-seed is more or less mixed, American seed is said not 

 to answer so well as Riga and Dutch, the flax growing coarse and 

 branchy.* 



* The cultivation of flax appears to be extending in America, especially 

 in the Canadas. The following is an extract of a letter dated June, 1S4G, 

 from Newmarket, Upper Canada In the spring of 1844 I sowed 2^ 

 acres, which yielded me 500 lbs. of clean scutched flax per acre, and 22 

 bushels of excellent seed per acre. I was so well satisfied with this, that 



