The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1885-03-13
FLAx-GROwING.
From Experience in Beaver Creek
Valley, Minnesota.

Valley, Minnesota.
A correspondent of the Farm, Stock and
Homo writing from Beaver Creek, Rock eoun-
ty, in Southwestern Minnesota, writes as fol-
lows in reference to fax growing:
Assuming the object to be to obtain tho best
results, as to both quality and quantity, first,
If your ground is old, before plowing give it a
good coat Of barn yard manure Plow it we'll
under at depth of not more than four inches.
Also, in plowing, be sure not turn wider fur.
row than your plow will properly cut-say,
for example, that sixteen inch plow should
not be allowed to take more than fourteen
inches OF land to the furrow. Observing that
rule, you have your land all plowed, ready for
the harrow. A smoothing harrow il far tho
best for working the under surface of the land.
Your land should be made free frsln lumps
and hollows. Go over with the harrow from
two to four times; and if your seed bed is not
then smooth and level you should 70 over the
ground enough more times to make it smooth,
In narrowing your land, cross harrow every
other time, OF, in other words, you should not
harrow the same way twice. Ysur ground
being ready for the seed, take The shovels of
from your seedar and 60 seeding. II your seed
is OF the large kind, you should sow twenty
quarts to the acre; If of tho small kind, twenty
four quarts to the acre. The small seed is not
profitable to SOW, for its yield 10 not more than
half as much as tho yield of the large variety.
Having finished sowing, take your smooth.
ing harrow and harrow the ground once over
carefully, SO az to be sure that you leave nc
spot unharrowed. Always harrow crssswise
from the way you sowed your flax. This i,
for fall blowing. For spring plowing, work
your land just the same, with the exception
OF narrowing. You should keep your fresh
plowed land we'll narrowed up, even with the
plow.
Sow your flax Reed in the spring, az soon 81
the ground is fit to receive any other kind OF
seed or grain; but it may l,e sown with vood
results up to the 10th of June. Here in thit
valley know Of flax seed that was sown as
late as the 10Th Of July, and it gave very good
yield; but it is not best to SOW so late in the
season, for the seeds do not all get ripe, the
straw does not mature, and the frost has tc
ripen the seed. have heard that frost-ripell.
cd flax seed dses not grow good.
| This last season I sowed forty acres of break.
ing to flax seed. I sowed it between the 18TH
and 2Sth Of June. There was not moisture
enough in the sod to sprout the seed and it la,
| i'll the ground until about tho 18th of July
| then came a good rain, and with favorable
weather afterwards, tho flax sproutsd and came
up and grew we'll. cut 1t the last of Octobs,
and thresled it the FIRST of November, and had
eleven bushels Of good clean seed TO tho acre
while upon thirty-seven acres of corn stubblt
land (spring plowed, without any manurs) ]
averaged nineteen bushels to the acre.
There is great difference in the soil for thi.
product. Some soil is not adapted to fax rails
ing, say, soil that is very heavy and yer,
sticky when wet by too much rain-such as i,
sometimes called ''gumbo'-will net produce
goods crops of flax seed. The best soil for flax
seed I ever saw is this Beaver Creek soil, very
dark gray loan, with clay subsoil, and gently
rolling.