CEREAL INVESTIGATIONS ON THE BELLE FOURCHE FARM. 39 
EXPERIMENTS WITH FLAX. 
VARIETAL TEST. 
A varietal test of flax was begun at Newell in 1912, when nine 
varieties were grown. Only five of these were grown in 1913. In 
1912 flax was grown on land which was fallow the previous year and 
in 1913 on land which produced a crop of small grain in 1912. The 
annual and average yields of grain and of straw for the five varieties 
are shown in Table X XI. 
TaBLE XXI.—Annual and average yields of five varieties of flax on the Belle Fourche 
Experrment Farm in 1912 and 1918. 
1912 1913 Average. 
Cale F 
NG! Variety. 
Grain. | Straw. | Grain. | Straw. | Grain. | Straw. 
Bushels.| Pounds.) Bushels.| Pounds.| Bushels.| Pounds. 
2h serimosty vb sNOn 25) jase ence sae Wo 880 4.8 910 7.0 895 
HOW RUSSIA GNEuDalkesNiOs 155) sae see 8.9 730 5.2 830 Coil 780 
CAs idee ahi eee nua aaee AoeeeoSee rae 11.4 880 2.8 710 Cel 795 
1 | Select Russian (N. Dak. No. 608)...... 10.6 1,130 Be 630 7.0 880 
3 | Select Russian (N. Dak. No. 1215)..... 11.2 940 5.6 910 8.4 925 
The highest average yield of flax obtained on the Belle Fourche 
- Experiment Farm, 8.4 bushels per acre, as shown in Table X XI, was 
produced by the Select Russian, C. I. No. 3. This variety produced 
the highest yield in 1913 and was only slightly exceeded by one other 
variety in 1912. C. I. No. 3 is a pedigreed strain from the North 
Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station, bemg North Dakota No. 
1215. The yields of the four other varieties which were tested both 
years wére practically the same, being 1.3 or 1.4 bushels less than 
that of C. I. No. 3. 
DATE-OF-SEEDING TEST OF FLAX. 
A date-of-seeding test with Primost (Minnesota No. 25) flax was 
conducted at Newell in 1912 and 1913. Fiftieth-acre plats replicated 
three times were sown on each of two dates, May 15 and June 1, 
in 1912, and on three dates, May 2, May 23, and June 9, in 1913. 
The yields of grain and of straw and the weight per bushel of the 
grain from the various dates of seeding are shown in Table XXII. 
The highest yield in 1912 was obtained from the later date of 
seeding, June 1. The increase in yield over the sowing made May 15 
was about 25 per cent. The earlier sown plats were injured by 
drought to a greater extent than the plats sown on June 1. In 1913 
this condition was reversed. The highest yield was produced from 
the earliest sown plats and the injury from drought increased with 
the later dates of seeding. It is probable that the best results will 
be obtained in western South Dakota if flax is sown at the earliest 
date when good germination and growth may be expected. 
