EXPERIMENTS WITH FLAX ON BREAKING. 27 
varying in degree of clearness with climatic conditions. This flax 
probably was originally imported from Japan and is grown in limited 
areas in Montana, North Dakota, and Alberta. C. I. No. 23 is a late 
flax with numerous heavy, prostrate basal branches. C. I. No. 25 
has a tendency to more erect growth, but usually yields less than 
C. I. No. 23. These strains yield well, but do not average as high as 
the European seed-flax varieties. Their large golden seeds have a 
high oil content and are in good demand in the linseed trade when an 
occasional car comes to market. Their mediocre yielding capacity 
and short prostrate growth eliminate them in their present form 
from the serious consideration of flax growers. 
7. Chinese Turkestan. — Numerous importations from Turkestan 
and Chosen (Korea) have been grown. All are similar. They are 
tall, with numerous basal branches, and are very late in maturing. 
The seeds are relatively small, but rather rich in oil. One type 
has blue flowers and brown seeds and another has wavy white 
flowers and white seeds. C. I. No. 43, the only one on which data are 
reported here, is a blue-flowered brown-seeded form. This matured 
a fair crop in the three seasons for which data are here reported, but 
it was always one of the last varieties to be harvested and then usually 
was harvested before it was ripe. This variety can be grown com- 
mercially only when early sowing is possible, and its yield does not 
commend it. 
8. Abyssinian. — Abyssinian varieties are not at all adapted to 
conditions in the Northwestern States. They seldom attain a height 
of over 18 inches and under field or adverse seasonal conditions pro- 
duce their crop on stalks ranging from 3 to 10 inches in height. 
Figure 3 shows one variety of Abyssinian (C. I. No. 38) and one of 
Indian (C. I. No. 20) flax grown in field plats at Mandan in 1915. 
Although the season was very favorable, these varieties were too short 
to be cut satisfactorily with a binder. The stems of Abyssinian 
varieties are very slender and produce from four to twelve basal 
branches, which are fairly erect. The varieties are early, but have 
small seeds, yield poorly, and are not very rich in oil when grown 
under semiarid conditions. The flowers are always blue, but C. I. 
No. 36 is a white-seeded variety. White seeds were originally present 
in all of the importations, but by selection have been eliminated. 
This is the only example so far noted of a commercial flax variety with 
blue flowers and white seeds. Many such strains have been produced, 
however, by hybridization. 
9. Indian. — The Indian varieties are of importance because much 
seed is imported from India for crushing purposes. The imported 
seed is large, with a high oil content, and linseed crushers on various 
occasions have distributed small quantities of the seed for growing in 
