THE OIL CONTEXT OF FLAXSEED 
11 
A series of tests was made in the chemical research laboratory of 
the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, to find out how positive a 
relationship exists between the above factors and the percentage of 
oil in different lots of flaxseed. 
RELATION BETWEEN TEST WEIGHT PER BUSHEL AND OIL CONTENT 
There are marked differences in the test weight per Winchester 
bushel of flaxseed as it comes to market. These differences are due 
in part to the weather during the growing season, to storage condi- 
tions from harvest time until the flaxseed is marketed, and to varietal 
differences. 
Some flax varieties naturally produce seed of heavier weight than 
others (_?) . During any crop year, the test weight per bushel of com- 
mercially clean flaxseed will vary from 43 to 55 pounds per measured 
bushel. This fact is brought out in Table 7 which shows the range 
in test weight per Winchester bushel found by analyzing 3,335 sam- 
ples of flaxseed obtained during the seven crop years 1918 to 1924, 
inclusive. 
Table 
-Range in pounds in. test weights per bushel* 
Num- 
ber of 
sam- 
ples 
Percentage of samples having the indicated test weight per bushel 
Crop year 
43 to 
43.99 
44 to 45 to 
44.99 45.99 
46 to 
46.99 
47 to 
47.99 
48 to 
48.99 
49 to 
49.99 
50 to | 51 to 
50.99 51.99 
52 to 
52.99 
53 to 
53.99 
54 to 
54.99 
55 to 
55.99 
1918 
141 
56 
182 
702 
618 
1,226 
410 
0.7 
1.4 
2.1 
3.6 
4.4 
4.1 
1.0 
1.9 
.7 
2.1 
17.9 
2.2 
9.7 
2.3 
8.6 
2.3 
10.6 
21.4 
9.9 
20.9 
13.8 
23.3 
12.2 
20.7 
14.3 
37.4 
37.0 
37.1 
33.7 
30.5 
26.3 
26.8 
37.9 
18.1 
39.0 
24.6 
43.6 
22.7 
7.1 
3.3 
43 
5.7 
5.8 
9.5 
9.9 
7.1 
3.8 
3.5 
1919. . 
1.8 
______ 
.1 
.2 
1920 
1921 
"676" 
"I.T 
1.1 
1.6 
.1 
.1 
~"l.~9~ 
.1 
.7 
1922 
.8 
1.0 
1923 
. 1 
1924 
.5 >. .7 
Total num- 
ber of sam- 
ples 
3,335 
Yearly average 
.09 
.16| .40 
. 59j . 69 
1 
2.54 
6.44 16. Oil 30.10 
30.90 
8.34 
3.23 
.51 
1 Winchester bushel, 2,150.4 cubic inches. 
To determine whether test weight per bushel is an accurate index 
of the oil content of flaxseed the percentage of linseed oil in some 
2,000 samples was determined and the resulting data were com- 
pared with the test weight per bushel of the same sample. For this 
comparison the oil content of the sample was converted to the basis 
of the moisture content of the sample at the time the test weight 
per bushel determination was made. The samples used had less than 
1 per cent of damaged kernels and contained less than 0.5 per cent 
of foreign material. The comparison between test weight per bushel 
and oil content of the sample is given in Table 8, 
