THE OIL CONTENT OF FLAXSEED 6 
WORLD PRODUCTION AND TRADE IN FLAXSEED 
Previous to the World War, the principal countries producing 
flaxseed were Argentina, India, Russia, the United States, and 
Canada in the order named. Pre-war production, 1909 to 1913, 
averaged 111,000,000 bushels annually. In 1923 the estimated world 
production was 125,000,000 bushels and for 1924, 133,000,000 bushels. 
World consumption of linseed is also increasing. Since the war, 
Russia has not produced much seed flax for export. Argentina, 
India, and Canada are thus the chief surplus-producing countries. 
Western Europe and the United States with intensive paint, var- 
nish, and linoleum industries, are the chief importers of flaxseed. 
There is also a large demand from the dairy industries for linseed 
cake and meal as a feeding concentrate. 
PRINCIPAL MARKETS FOR FLAXSEED IN THE UNITED STATES 
Minneapolis and Duluth, Minn., and Superior, Wis., are the pri- 
mary markets for most of the flaxseed grown in the United States. 
Nearly all of the domestic northwestern-grown seed is crushed at 
mills located at Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Redwing, Minn. ; Chicago, 
111.; Milwaukee and Superior, Wis.; and Toledo, Ohio. Mills lo- 
cated at Des Moines, Iowa, and at Fredonia, Kans., crush all local 
offerings. 
A large percentage of the flaxseed imported from Argentina enters 
the port of New York. Canadian seed enters chiefly by the way of 
Duluth and ports on the Great Lakes. Linseed mills at Buffalo, 
N. Y., Toledo, Ohio, and Undercliff and Newark, N. J., depend 
largely upon imported seed for their raw material. Very little of 
the domestic supply reaches eastern mills. On the Pacific coast, 
mills located at Portland, Oreg., receive some domestic seed, but 
rely mainly on seed from the Orient and Argentina. 
CLASSES OF FLAXSEED FOUND IN THE TRADE 
The trade recognizes three commercial classes of flaxseed: That 
grown in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana, 
which is known as northwestern-grown seed ; that grown in Kansas, 
Nebraska, Iowa, and eastern Colorado, which is known as south- 
western-grown seed; and that imported from Argentina, India, and 
Manchuria, which is known as imported or foreign-grown flaxseed. 
Most of the Canadian crop is imported into this country, but it is 
seldom considered as foreign-grown seed and is usually deliverable 
on contract as domestic northwestern-grown seed. 
At the present writing crushers rate northwestern-grown seed as 
superior in quality to either of the other two classes of flaxseed, and 
foreign and imported flaxseed next in quality. 
Car lots of flaxseed from the fiber- flax industry are appearing in 
larger quantities each year. Indications are that this type of seed 
will continue to increase in quantity. 
OIL CONTENT OF FLAXSEED, BY CLASSES 
During the crop years 1918 to 1924, inclusive, 4,370 samples of 
flaxseed representing the three commercial classes of seed were 
