Flax Culture

Attempts to grow flax in the Umted States have been most sucoessful on the fertile virgiu soils of the northwest. In fact at the present time practically the eutire flax erop of the United States is grown west of the Mississippi river. The faot that flax has been sucoessfully growu only on such fertile soils has led to the quite general belief that thiscrop ruakes a heavy draft on the fertility of the soil. According to a recent bulletin of the departruent of agriculture, the Minnesota station has receutly made ome iuvestigatious which throw considerable light on this point. Flax plants were aualyzed at different stages af growth, and studies were also made of different soils on which flax had been, grown with varying success. It was shown that many of the crops ordinarily grown remove more plant food from the soil than the average flax erop does. This is strikingly true in the case of corn. The oat erop removes about the same amount of nitrogen anc phosphoric acid, but nearly as ruuch again of potash as the flax erop. The uecessity for a fertile soil in successfu! flax growing is not due, therefore, to the fact that this erop requires larger total aruounts of fertilizingconstituents than other common farm crops, but to the fact that although it is a somewhat dainty feeder with a small root system it must secure the necessary plant fooc for its perfect growth in a short growing period of from 60 to 100 days. The plant food, therefore, must not simply be abundant, but it must be in a readily available forrn. The heaviest draft in flax culture is made upou the nitrogen of the soiL, and this fact, taken in connection with the further fact that nitrogen is more abundaut in virgin soils thau in tbóse which have been cultivated, explains the gieater success, of flax cultnre on new land. It furnishes also a strong reason wby clover should be included in the rotation with flax. The sarue station has also undertaken to determine the reason why flax raunot be grown continuously on the same soil. Experirnents on this subject show that "the flax straw aud roots in their decompositiou produce producís wbich will destroy the followiug flax crops. Wheu five or seven years intervene between two flax crops, tben the old straw and erop residue are thoroughly decomposed aud will not in jure a new flax erop." Uuless new land is available, therefofe, it becomes neccessary to grow flax in rotation with other crops.