The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1875-02-27

Even if you tried few acres this year
next year you will have plenty of seed
Some have expressed fears that their
will be such an immense amount sown il
the West this season that the marke
will be overstocked. We cannot, o
course, look into the future of the marke
but can state q few facts, and you car
draw your own conclusions. In the
first place. ourselves and others who an
loaning in Missouri and Kansas, Art
willing and are now contracting the
coming crop at fair prices, and you car
contract your independent seed also, il
you wish to. In the second place, the
business of raising fax seed is all work.
ing West. In Ohio. and States east oil
us, where the principal bulk of fax seed
was raised few years since, there isnow
comparatively little raised. The crop
has run out there. The land is not Pc
culiarily adapted As it is here. It does
not seem to have much effect upon our
deep black soil. One farmer in the vi.
cinity of Kansas City says: "During the
past twelve years have engaged in the
raising of fax seed. I did consider it an
exhausting crop, but believe it will do
we'll from five to seven years, when sown
or spread on the same land. It deposits
an excrementitious matter, rendering
the soil unfit for the same plant for a
longer time. Nevertheless I consider it
less exhausting than oats, or most other
crops, and no crop will prepare the
ground better for regular rotation than
fax" Yet fax is more or less exhaus-
ting to the soil, and we would suggest to
farmers, after sowing one piece of land
two or three times, to follow it up with
Clover or Castor Beans. The latter is as
great fertilizer as Clover and is becom-
ing very profitable crop in this section.
The fax crop would be still more prof.
table if the straw could be put to prof.
table use. We have endeavored to get
fax mills started for the purpose of
working up the straw into tow or rope,
but without success so far. The business
seems to have been improbable for the
past few years. Yet the straw is by no
means worthless. 1t can be put to many
uses, and some claim that it is good for
stock. We quote from the same farmer
as above, who says: "The straw I con.
sidered unfit for cattle, on account of
the flax, and kept it separate from my
other straw. Last month, however, l
found that my cattle were more fond of
the mixed than either the oat or the
wheat straw, and did better than on
either. This led me to examine the
of the straw or fibre, and l
find it contains vegetable albumen in
the bark rendering it as nutritious as
grain fed to stock upon the straw. The
chaff also possesses nutritious properties.
Almost any dry, rolling, moderately
rich land, will produce good seed. 1t is
generally thought that fax should be
sown on moist, rich land such as our
creek and river bottoms. This opinion
prevails because the straw of fax grows
more luxuriously on such land. The
best seed, !. c. the richest in oleaginous
matter is produced upon rather dry,
rolling and only moderately fertile soil. |
The stalks are shorter, branch more, and !
The hollis fit better. A better quality of
'eed is also obtained in a dry season
than in wet ONE. e. the seed contains
greater per cent. of oil. The straw
Ices not grow SO rank and the bolls gil |
with larger, and richer seed.
The soil should be put in the finest |
possible filth for the reception of the
eed. One good deep blowing, and seve.
al borrowings, so as to make the surface
inc and smooth, will answer. But it is
'etter when it can be done, to pillow the
round deeply in the fall, exposing the
ub-soil to the action of the frosts and
he atmosphere. In the spring cross
low the land and harrow as before rec
One thing must always be
'orne in mind in preparing land for
lax seed, and that is, the land must not
re worked when wet. If it is, it will
e lumpy sticky and in bad condition
Or crop. When the soil is dry it pull
erizes freely, and no consequences fol-
ow. 1t is desirable to have . heavy
oller drawn over the field, to crush and
pulverize any Jumps or clods
bat may be on the surface. The whole
Utilization of the crop, and the yield
herefrom, depend upon putting the
md in proper condition for the seed. A I
tile extra labor and care in this respect ,
ill yield rich return. 9
Too much pains cannot be taken to Z
It that which is fully matured and per. {
city clean, free from all foul seeds, {
9TH to secure q good merchantable crop, 6
i'd to preserve the land on which it is 9
'wn from troublesome weeds. Farmers =
ten experience great difficulty in OBJ q
lining such seed, as no ordinary fan 4
ing mill will remove some of the worst
lemies of the farmer, and good fax.
18th good seed 10 SOW there is nothing
Re fax as a preparatory crop for wheat.
he testimony of Ohio farmers, where o.
X has been extensively grown for over o