Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1894-03-30

Col. S. G. MAG1L1 of Fargo, writes an
interesting letter to the Argus, advo-
eating the more extensive cultivation of
flax by the farmers of North Dakota.
Col. Magill sets forth the merits of a fax
crop in an argumentative style, and his
idea is certainly worth consideration by
the farmers of the state. Col. Magill
says:
l seeded it one season On stubble, cut
ting with disc harrows and sowing broad
cast in June. The result was ten bushels
per acre, while %neighbors plowed care
fully, narrowed their land and planted in
good season got fifteen and seventeen
bushels. l am confident that there is 10
climate or soil in the United States more
favorable to flax cultivation than that OF
North Dakota, and that with great care in
sowing clean seed and as good cultivation
as we give to our wheat and barley it will
prove a most satisfactory and profitable
crop, and hasten the deliverance OF our
farmers from poverty brought about by long
continued wheat production. There are
certain conditions, however, which must be
observed. The land should be we'll pull
verified and smoothed by ample dragging.
The seed should be sown as early as it
can, to avoid frost, and covered not over an
inch. 1t is best to plant with drills, as
more uniform depth and spread is obtained
chan with broadcast sowing. i Il
Considerable apprehension has been ex-
pressed that if we engaged in flax produc-
ton extensively the effect may be overpro-
duction, and the reducing of prices so it
would become improbable, the same as
wheat has. l do not share this apprehension,
for experience has demonstrated that flax is
a pioneer crop, we'll adapted to new coun-
tries and new lands. 1t subdues new soils
rapidly, and brings good cash returns when
good money crops are most needed, but it
is eXhausting to soils, and its cultivation
cannot be continued wisely for more than
ten or fifteen years. The production of
flax in the United States has moved west.
ward with the march of empire, until it is
now practically confined to the five states
adjacent to us on the east and south, viz:
Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas,
and Nebraska. These states produced in
1892, 10,294.057 bushels, while the total pro-
duct of the United States was II, l03,4 4O
bushels, about % per cent of the whole
crop. North Dakota is now right in the
line of progress Of profitable production
ana as the acreage IS rapidly decreased an
nually east and south of us, we can CORES.
pondingly increase ours without risk of
overproduction. Another consideration,
flax is not dependent upon foreign markets
for prices, as wheat is, because we do not
raise enough for home use, but have to i'm
port some, and the duty on it is Is cents
per bushel and the pending tariff proposes
to make it 20 cents. Flax straw is excel
lent fodder. and | found that stock would
eat it in preference to any other straw or
hay and kept in fine condition. 1t seems
probable that the manufacture of falx fibre
in the northwest will become a prominent
industry within a few years which will en-
nance the value of its production. So long
as it is grown for seed merely, the ordinary
and economic methods of harvesting and
threshing which prevail seem all that is
required.