THE OIL CONTENT OF FLAXSEED O 
Samples of fiber flaxseed were analyzed from crops grown in 1919, 
1921, and 1924. The average oil content of all samples tested was 
39.46 per cent. Over 90 per cent of the samples tested contained 37 
per cent or more of oil. 
The variation in oil content of flaxseed of the classes by crop years 
is shown in Table 3. These data are given on a moistnre-free basis 
in order to eliminate errors due to the presence of moisture in the 
samples. All samples, with the exception of the Argentine seed, at 
the time of analysis contained less than 0.5 per cent of foreign 
material and were commercially sound. 
Within the northwestern group of domestic origin, in almost every 
crop year, the flaxseed in the great majority of the carlots tested 
contained between 38 and 42 per cent of oil. With the exception of 
one crop year — 1919 — 90 per cent or more of all the samples in any 
crop year contained at least 38 per cent of oil. 
On the average, there was a difference of approximately 8 per 
cent in the oil content of the different carlots tested and in one crop 
year an extreme range of 15 per cent was found. 
Lesser variations were found in the lots of Canadian seed than 
were noted in the domestic crop. Over 90 per cent of the Canadian 
samples tested from the four crop years, 1920 to 1923, inclusive, con- 
tained 40 per cent or more of oil. 
The oil content of the southwestern-grown flaxseed varied to a 
greater extent than the oil content of any of the other classes studied. 
The number of samples analyzed was small, but it is believed that 
this number was representative of this class. Since 1921 there has 
been some improvement in the quality of the seed grown in this area, 
very few samples containing less than 36 per cent of oil. 
The fiber flaxseed tested was rather uniform in oil content. 
The oil content of the Argentine seed tested was uniformly good, 
the majority of the samples containing over 40 per cent of oil. There 
was also less variation in the oil content of various lots of this class 
of flaxseed than in the other commercial classes of flaxseed, but cer- 
tain lots of imported seed contained less oil than many lots of the 
current run of domestically grown flaxseed. 
Because of the small. number of samples received of other types of 
foreign-grown flaxseed, data regarding their variation have not been 
compiled. The indications are that they are similar in nature to the 
Argentine seed in oil content. 
Foreign-grown flaxseed, of which Argentine seed is the most im- 
portant in this country, although having the advantage of contain- 
ing the greatest quantity of oil, is said to contain oil of a slightly 
inferior quality to that found in the domestic crop. For this reason 
it is often discounted in price when the supply and demand warrant 
it. Because of the higher quantity of oil in the samples of Argentine 
seed, the percentage of crude protein is somewhat lower than that 
found in the domestic crop. This also reacts against the price paid 
for Argentine seed, inasmuch as linseed meal or cake of a high 
protein content is an important by-product of the linseed-oil industry. 
Hanged in the order of their oil content, the classes of flaxseed rank 
as follows: Foreign-grown seed, northwestern-grown (Canadian) 
seed, northwestern-grown (domestic) seed, fiber flaxseed, and south- 
western-grown seed. 
