PEDIGREED FIBER FLAX. 19 
Table 4. — Results of a test of flax made at Crosivell, Mich., in 1919. 
Total 
height. 
Area. 
Yield per acre. 
Variety. 
Seed. 
Un- 
thrashed 
straw. 
Fiber. 
Inches. 
30.0 
38. 2 
Acres. 
6.0 
1.4 
Bushels. 
8.0 
6.6 
Tons. 
1.42 
1.85 
Pounds. 
195.44 
293.00 
Of the three other selections tested, remarkable differences were 
shown in the yield and quality of the fiber. One selection which 
had consistently yielded a larger tonnage of straw than the Saginaw 
variety produced one-fourth less fiber per acre, because it yielded a 
low percentage of fiber. Selection Xos. 1927, 1931, and 1919 not only 
produced less fiber than the Saginaw variety but produced fiber of a 
coarser quality. It is evident that for securing accurate testing of 
selected fiber-flax strains straw weights are not dependable. 'More 
satisfactory results could be secured from actual yields of fiber if 
complete data for this character were available. 
INCREASING THE QUANTITY OF PEDIGREED SEEDS. 
Having decided on the best strain of fiber flax, the next step is 
to increase the seed as rapidly as possible. From 300 to 500 acres 
are required to operate a small flax mill efficiently, and in order to 
become a factor in the commercial field it is necessary that a strain 
of pedigreed fiber flax reach the point where there is enough seed 
to sow this area, or from 500 to 700 bushels, If a start is made 
with an ounce of seed and the flax is sown at the ordinary rate for 
fiber, 1^ bushels per acre, it is estimated that at the end of 4 years, 
with good crops each year, there would be not much more than a 
bushel produced, and that it would take 10 to 15 years to produce 
the required quantity. There are two ways of speeding up seed 
production, one by thin rates of seeding and the other by making- 
two sowings the same year. 
Increasing the yield by thin rates of seeding was carried out as 
follows : Up to the time when there were about 5 bushels of seed it 
was sown at the rate of 4J pounds per acre in 28-inch drill rows 
and cultivated at frequent intervals. This was done in 1918 at East 
Lansing, Mich. It paid, for from 10 pounds of seed 420 pounds were 
obtained. By the usual method, sowing by broadcasting at the rate 
of 84 pounds per acre, not more than 60 pounds could have been har- 
vested. Since with as much as 5 bushels of seed this extremely thin 
method of sowing is cumbersome and expensive because of the large 
