108 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Apkil, 
ulactuied intc^ow-cloth, or into small ropes and cords. 
The flax is made into linen thread, and linen cloth. 
“ Coarse tow ” consists of the entire fibre of flax, the 
Bhives having been simply removed. This is pressed 
into bales, weighing 300 to 400 pounds each, and is 
sold in most of our large cities, at 2 to fi or more cents 
per pound, according to the locality and the demand, for 
stuffing the cushions and backs of carriages, and house¬ 
hold furniture, for making ropes, coarse cloth, etc. 
There is always a good demand for flax fibre, wiiether it 
is in the long-line commonly called “ flax,” or fine tow, or 
coarse fow'. Consequently, a farmer can always dis¬ 
pose of his crop of lint with a little labor, .at low price ; 
or he can bestow mucli labor in preparing it for market, 
and receive a proportionately larger compensation. This 
is one of the excellences of the flax crop ; and for this 
reason there is no other crop that may be raised in our 
grain-growing regions—w here a three, four, or five-years 
rotation of crops has been adopted—with more profit to 
the farmer, and more advantage to the soil. If a farmer 
desires to raise it for seed only and get quick returns, it 
can be done witli a limited amount of labor ; but if he de¬ 
sires to have work for his laborers at tliose seasons of the 
vear w hen nothing can be done in the field, lie w ill al¬ 
ways find it profitable, if he is a good manager, to grow 
a crop of flax every year, and prepare the fibre for market. 
Characteristics of the Plant. —Fiax has one very 
important cliaracteristic, an understanding of whicli is 
of great practical advantage. When a flax stem is 
growing alone, it will throw out numerous oranches, 
many of which will be as large as the main stem ; as 
shown by the accompanying engraving, fig. 1 ; and 
each of these will produce other brandies, all of which 
will yield seed. On the contrary, when tlie seed is sown 
thickly, each seed will produce only asti aiglit stem, with¬ 
out any branches, witli but little seed. The practical 
point is, to decide before tlie seed is sowed, whetlier the 
purpose be to raise flax for the seed chiefly, with coarse 
tow in connection, or principally for the fibre. See para¬ 
graph upon thick and thin seeding in another place below'. 
Soils. —Flax will flourish wed on any soil that wiil 
yield good crops of cereal grain, and some soils that do 
not produce abundant crops of certain kinds of grain, 
will produce an excellent crop of flax. Flax likes a 
deep, fertile, and mellow loam, and on such a soil a 
heavy crop of both seed and lint may be produced, pro¬ 
vided there be not an excess of water in the soil. These 
river bottoms, and uplands where the predominating 
characteristic of the soil is black muck, if fertile 
enough to produce heavy grass, will yield a good 
crop of flax fibre, and a small crop of seed. But, if tlie 
soil is in a good stale of fertility for yielding potatoes, 
oats, Indian corn, or rye, the yield of botli seed and fibre 
will be large. Flax will not flourish on wet soils of any 
kind, and the crop will be light on heavy, slippery clay 
soils, unless thoroughly underdrained, well pulverized, 
and enriched with fertilizing materials. A good crop 
of flax can not be produced on a poor, wet, and half- 
pulverized soil, any more tlian a good crop of wheat. 
Preparing the Soil. —There is no kind of grain,— 
wheat not excepted,—for which the soil needs as much 
preparation as is required for a good crop of flax, and 
there is no crop that farmers are accustomed to raise, 
that will pay better for fertilizing and pulverizing the 
soil. Not only will the seed be better, but the fibre also, 
when the flax is grown on soil that is very fertile, and has 
been kept clean by thorough cultivation.^ Weeds and 
grass wiil not only be a nuisance w hen the fibre comes to 
be rotted and dressed, but they will seriously injure its 
growth. And if the dressed lint, the tow or the flax, have 
grass, straw or weeds in it, the value will be greatly reduc¬ 
ed. My own practice in getting the soil ready for a crop of 
flax has been, to commence its preparation at least three 
years before, with especial reference to flax. I have al¬ 
ways raised it in rotation, with Indian corn, barley, oats, 
winter or spring wheat, and red clover. A clover sod, 
well manured, would be plowed for Indian corn. If the 
soil were a lieavy, slippery clay, or a graveily, calcareous 
clay, it was plowed in the fall. If there were any wet 
places in the field, they at least would always be under¬ 
drained. The corn was kept clean, and no weeds allow¬ 
ed to go to seed. The next year, a crop of barley was 
raised, and as soon as the barley w.ts harvested, the 
soil was well harrowed with a heavy harrow, or culti¬ 
vated with a wheel cultivator, for the purpose of covering 
the seeds of all noxious weeds, so that they would vege¬ 
tate and die before winter. In October, or November, 
the soil was well plowed ; and if deep, we used a 
double team, and a Micliigan double plow. The dead 
furrows were cleaned out, so as to carry off the sur¬ 
face water. If tlie soil were light and porous, and 
not disposed to bake in the summer, we would never 
plow it in autumn. Where black muck predominates in 
the soil, or wliore it is a very porous, sandy, or gravely 
’oam, or a liglit alluvial deposit, it should not be plowed 
in late autumn, but lailier in August, or September. 
Then, if any weeds come up before winter, use the har 
row, or the cultivator to de.stroy them.—In the following 
spring, as soon as the ground has settled and become 
sufficiently dry, we plow it, cutting narrow furrow slices, 
as deep as it has previously been plowed ; and always 
take especial pains not to have any balks or holes between 
the furrows. After the grounu is plowed, we harrow it 
twice, and tlien roll previous to sowing the seed. 
The great object in harrowing and rolling before sow 
ing the seed, is, to have the surface of the ground as 
smootli and uniform as it can be made, so that the flax 
may get an even start, ana grow more unitorraiy, ano tne 
surface of the ground be better to work on when the 
flax is pu/led. If the seed is sowed on an uneven sur¬ 
face, where there are lumps, sods, and little furrows and 
holes, much of it will be buried too deep, and conse¬ 
quently, the growth of the straw (and fibre) will not be 
uniform, and the seed will not mature alike. In case 
there are no lumps, the roller should not be used, but 
the soil should be gone over with a harrow having nu¬ 
merous small teeth. Where the soil has been cuitivatea 
as it should be, while a crop of Indian corn, or barley, 
or potatoes was growing, the surface of it will be as free 
from lumps as a neatly prepared carrot bed. On such 
soils, fl.ax w'ill often grow from three to four feet long; 
the seed will be of a superior quality, and the lint will be 
heavy and of great length. Where the soil is well adapt¬ 
ed to raising potatoes and other roots, if it is well ma¬ 
nured about two years beforehand, and the weeds thor¬ 
oughly eradicated, the proprietor may be sure of a heavy 
crop of botli lint and seed. Thoroughly rotted manure 
is quite as essential for flax, as it is for wheat; but. coarse 
unfermented manure produces a rank growth of straw, 
not much seed, and the flax is very liable to rust. 
When there are many stones in the soil, the larger one* 
should be removed, and the smaller ones may be pressed 
down with a heavy roller, before the seed is sowed, 
for the purpose of making a smooth surface to work on 
at harvest time. In some portions of the country, a black 
muck soil rests directly on a stratum of rich clayey loam. 
Now, by using a double team and a Michigan sod plow, 
or any other plow turning a deep furrow well, and 
by turning up two or three inches in depth of this fertile 
subsoil in late autumn or winter, so tliat the rains and 
frosts will thoroughly pulverize it before the next springt 
then plowing and harrowing as just directed, a very 
heavy crop of lint, and a fair crop of seed may be raised. 
But it must be kept in mind, that a large crop of seed can 
not be raised on an inferior soil, without good manure of 
some kind. Clean culture, a deep soil thoroughly pul 
verized and in a good state of fertility, will always pro* 
duce a good crop of both lint and seed, if the season is 
at all favorable for other crops. Flax will do as well as 
oats, barley, or wheat, when sowed on sod ground. 
Eradicating Small Weeds Before Seeding. —After 
the soil has been well prepared for tlie seed, let it remain 
about ten days, when nearly all the seeds of noxious 
weeds will have vegetated. Now, on the day that the 
seed is to be sowed, give it a thorough harrowing, for the 
purpose of destroying the little weeds that hare appeared 
in the “seed-leaf.” In case lumps of earth, or small 
stones are harrowed up, the surface must be rolled. And 
while the surface of tlie soil is fresh, let the seed be put 
in as speedily as possible, because flax seed, or any 
other seed will germinate much sooner thus, than if put 
into soil that has not been disturbed for a number of days 
Proper Selection of Seed. —Most farmers appear to 
think tliat flax seed is all of one quality, so far as its pro¬ 
ductiveness is concerned. There is just as much differ¬ 
ence in the productive quality of flax seed as there is in 
Indian corn ; and a large proportion of that which is sold 
in market is no more fit for seed, and no more produc¬ 
tive than Indian corn would be, were all the half-ripe 
ears shelled with the good ones for seed. No good farm 
er would ever think of planting such corn, because, al¬ 
though it might vegetate, it would not, and could not 
produce a good yield of grain. Half-matured flax seed 
cannot produce a good crop of either lint or seed. 
But unless farmers raise their own seed they will be 
obliged to take up with such as they are able to find in 
the market, wiiether good or poor. My own practice has 
been to obtain Hie plumpest and brightest seed to be 
found. Then run it through the fanning mill twice : and 
blow out all the light seed, by a heavy blast. Then 
at harvest time, select those stooks of flax that grew 
on the best ground and that ripened first, and keep them 
separate from the rest. Thresh off only about /la/y of 
the seed, and save it for sowing the next season. Con¬ 
tinue this practice for a few years, and even on the same 
soil, with tlie same cultivation, both the qu.ality and 
quantity of the seed wiil be greatly improved; and the 
length ann excellence of the fibre very much increased. 
The seed first matured—which will be the plumpest, fair¬ 
est and most productive—will be shelled out first. Every 
intelligent farmer will readily perceive the importance of 
growing his own flax seed when it can be done with so 
little trouble ana expense. 
Thick and Thin feeding. —Flax may be sowed too 
thick as well as too thin. The correct quantity de¬ 
pends upon the object for which the flax is raised. 
If we desire to obtain the largest yield of /ini, we must 
sow the seed very evenly, .and as thinly on the ground as 
it will grow and not throw out branches, as sliown in fig. 
1, but having the branchless habit shown in fig. 2. If the 
object is simply to raise seed and coarse tow, it may be 
sowed very thin—say from half a bushel to one bushel 
per acre. The old rule is, half a bushel per acre, but 
in my experience half a bushel is not enough, be 
cause, when it stands so thin on the ground, new branch¬ 
es, and new bolls will continue to grow, and when much 
of the seed is ripe, many bolls will be only half-ripe. 
And besides this, the fibre of such large branched flax 
will not make as good lint as the longer less branched 
stalks. It may be worked into coarse tow; but it is 
not so good for dressed lint as the straight stalks. There 
IS aiso a difference in the lint of the single stalks. If the 
flax seed be sowed at the rate of three or four bushels 
per acre, the stalks will be very small, and the fibre fine 
and thin, and very soft. But if only one bushel and-a-halt 
be sowed per acre—if it be sowed as evenly as it should 
be-all the stems will be of a very uniform quality j the 
bolls will grow for the most part near the very top end 
of the stalks : and consequently the seed will ripen more 
evenly, and the crop will be better in every respect than If 
thicker or thinner. Tlie habit of flax is such that it will 
accommodate itself to the fertility of the soil better-than 
most other plants, when the quantity of seed per acre is 
too small. If the soil is in a very good state of fertility, 
and one bushel of seed be sowed evenly on an acre, al 
most every stem of flax will throw out only two or three 
brandies close to the ground. When flax forms branck 
