The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1875-07-02
CULTIVATION OF CASTOR
beans AND FLAX-SEED.
cERrAINTY on THE CROPS.

CERTAINTY OF THE CROPS.
On this point there is perfect
agreement from all sections. One
man says: II have raised 1t for over
twenty years in succession upon one
piece of land, aud never knew it to
fail" Others say: "If sown in sea-
son there is no crop more certain.
We hope farmers, who have
hitherto stood aloof from its culture,
Will give it at least a fair trial. Fully
persuaded that, at no distant day,
the south and west can and will pro-
duce flaxseed enough to supply the
whole country with linseed oil,
and fax fibre enough to clothe us
all in linen more or less fine, and
that at cost comparing favorably
with cotton. ~
I H letter from Missouri Farmer.l
GENTLEMEN Two years expert
ence has satisfied me that our soil
contains the requisites for producing
lent quality of lint. Failures will
occur here as well as elsewhere from
excessive wet in the spring, follow
ed by drouth in summer, until we
underdrain and subsoil our land.
During my life, with the excep-
ton of the last twelve years, have
been engaged in raising flax for the
use of the lint and seed. l did con-
slider 1t an exhausting crop, but be-
live it will do well from five to
seven years when sown or even
spread on the same land; deposits
an excrementitious matter, render
ing the soil unfit for the same plant
for longer time. Nevertheless, /
consider 1t less exhausting than oats,
or most other crops, and no crop
will prepare the ground for q regu-
lar rotation better than fax.
My first year / had good crop of
seed, though did Lot measure it to
ascertain the quantity per acre.
My second year 1 sowed flax with
barley and oats, and seperate. /
found no material difference in the
quantity of fiaxseed, whether SOW
ed alone, or with barley and oats |;
the barley and oats, therefore, are
a clear gain. Notwithstanding i
put my seed in too late, and an I'M
usual drouth in the summer
followed wet spring, yet 1t prov
ed q paying crop. cut with a
reaper, gathered with suitable fork
-as do all my small grain-with-
out binding, and threshed it as soon
as it was dry, with an ordinary
threshing machine and separator,
leaving a small quantity of the seed
and the unbroken bolls with the
oats and barley, which makes good
food for all kinds of stock, particu-
larly when ground. The straw 1
considered unfit for cattle, on ac-
count of the flax, and kept it sep
arate from any other straw. Last
month, however, found that my
cattle were more fond of the mixed
than either the oat or wheat
straw, and did better than on either.
This led me to examine the proper
ties of flax straw or fibre, and /
find it contains vegetable albumen
in the bark, rendering it as nutri-
tious as grain to stock fed upon the
straw. The flax chaff also possesses
nutritiYe properties.
Flaxseed has proved profitable
crop in the northern States for sew
eral years. The importation of lin
seed and linsced oil has exceeded
MANIFOLD the home production aud
the present duty on foreign oil
and seed, with the immense home
demand, is a sufficient guaranty to
the produced remunerative prices
for many years to come.
The market price for flax seed has
ruled remarkably regular the past
few years. The highest prices for
manufacturing purposes for the last
five years, having been $500, and
the lowest $1.50 per bnshel.
The fibre, when properly rotted
and broken, is salable in large guam
titles in the principal cities.