22 BULLETIN 1092, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 
The method of selection now used is based on a comparison by per- 
centages of the various characters regarded as important and similar 
characters of the best strain used as a check. 
In a semicommercial test the pedigreed strains proved to be su- 
perior to commercial fiber flax. 
The supply of seed of the best pedigreed strains has. been in- 
creased by growing two crops in one year. 
Efforts are now being made to combine the desirable characters 
of different strains by cross-pollination. A special score card and 
special instruments for cross-pollinating and for measuring flax have 
been devised. 
