EXPERIMENTS WITH FLAX ON BREAKING. 3 
VARIATIONS IN SOIL 
In the eastern portion of the flax area the soils are of glacial origin. 
The types range from light sand and sandy loam through clay loams 
of various descriptions, to muck and peat. Then come the transition 
soils found in North Dakota and South Dakota at the western edge 
of the glaciated area and the true residual and water-transported soils 
found in western North Dakota, western South Dakota, Montana, 
and other foothill and mountain States. 
VARIATIONS IN CLIMATE. 
Rainfall is the most essential factor in any consideration of climate 
in relation to flax production. The annual precipitation varies from 
40 to 15 inches and less, but where flax is principally produced, the 
success of the crop usually is dependent upon the seasonal precipi- 
tation. This averages from 70 to 80 per cent of the annual pre- 
cipitation in the important flax-producing States. In western North 
Dakota, western South Dakota, and Montana the seasonal precipi- 
tation is so limited that a favorable distribution is almost essential 
for maximum production. In eastern North Dakota, eastern South 
Dakota, Minnesota, and farther east not only rainfall but the general 
cloudiness and humidity are such that fiber flax of fair to good quality 
could be produced if labor and marketing conditions permitted. In 
the semiarid districts the general dryness of the atmosphere, with 
alternating periods of adequate moisture and drought, tends to pro- 
duce brittle straw of uneven tensile strength and poorly adapted for 
fiber production. It is under these conditions that the bulk of the 
seed-flax crop is grown. Yield of seed, therefore, determines the 
fitness of any flax variety or method of culture. 
THE PLACE OF FLAX IN THE AGRICULTURE OF THE FLAX-PRODUCING STATES. 
In Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Minnesota flax is grown as a 
late catch crop on low wet lands which can not be prepared until 
late in the season or on reclaimed or sod land, and in some cases as a 
nurse crop for grasses, clover, or alfalfa. The acreage in these 
States is small. In eastern North Dakota the development of wilt- 
resistant varieties has encouraged the continuance of flax growing on 
a larger scale, where flax is used with grain crops in a more or less 
definite crop rotation. The present flax prices, if maintained, will 
insure the retention of the crop on farms in longer settled districts 
where new land can not be had. The results of the present study do 
not apply directly, however, to these conditions. 
In practically all the area lying west of the ninety-eighth meridian 
flax is grown as the first crop on breaking, and the results obtained 
in the experiments at Mandan herein described apply directly to it. 
Moreover, these results agree very closely with those obtained under 
similar conditions at other stations located in this area. 
