Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1895-03-09
About Flax Culture.

OF flax Is from the AnacOrteS American,
having been furnished that paper by f.
J. Parker, of Wa!la Walla, and will
prove interesting to Pullman farmers:
IL sent to Berkeley University, Cali
form for fibre seed, and some | sent to
Olympia was sown and proved splendid.
Samples [ sent to Dundee were enthusi-
aslicaly received; they said it was supe-
rior to that raised in the best French
and German districts, and there was
market for hundreds of thousands of
acres of it in Europe But, while the
yallery" stage, in order that the fibre
NAV be marketable. [ believe the seed Is
not fit for oil in that state, but is excel
lent for feed. [ have no doubt but with
irrigation it will do we'll in the Yakima
valley, as the ground has to be damp,
for on dry soil it soon dries out"
The attached article, from the pen of
the best authority in Scotland, David II.
Saunders, will give q thorough idea of
the method employed in the culture and
harvesting of fax, together with its mar
ket value, uses and the land most
adapted to it's growth:
"In Scotland we choose clean land in
good heart. Pea, oats, then flax does
best. We keep the land as free from
weeds as possible, as the wedding of the
flax is costly. Land in river bottoms,
and moist and dampish land which
grows good long grass is best for flax
The land should DO a fine mould, and
after beng plowed and narrowed should
be rolled fat to oblterate all trace of the
drills. The fax should be sown IN April,
Just little after oats. The seeds should
be carefully tested, one hundred should
be counted, sown upon a wet, moist rag,
and if 70 per cent. terminate two and
one half bushels will be required for an
little more is sufficient. The fax
should be sown broadcast on the rolled
field, tn, n lightly narrowed. 1t will
show thick on the ground and in Scot
ladd we weed it. But good farmers are
able to have their land in such condition
that they do not require to spend much
On wedding. When the fax is ripe it
will show yellow half way up the stalk,
1t should not be allowed to be dead ripe.
Note we'll that the flax should not be in
drills, but should stand close together,
SO that the stems may be tall Ike rod
with the flowers in cluster on the top.
The flax should not branch out like a
tree IN a park; but rather like tall trees
in forest, free from branches till they
reach the top, The fax may be- either
pulled or cut. If cut, 1t will be difficult
to handle, as the bolls interlace, and
then a good many valuable inches are
lost. The fax should be pulled and tied
up in small sheaves with its own strand
and set up in stacks. Then it must be
ripped. Let the farmer get an iron
comb, precisely like a hair comb only of
iron wire, the prongs fourteen inches
long and three Fights of an inch apart;
fit this in frame on log; let two men
sit astride, face to face as on horseback,
the comb setting between them. The
fax is now lifted in hardfuls and dawn
through the comb; the bolls will start
off and should be allowed to fall on a big
sheet or on the barn floor. Now, the
bells are Of great value. Note we'll, the
hLsk or pod is of as much value as the
seeds, for feeding, and the seeds should
not be used without the husk. The
husk has many valuable properties. 1t
ensures the complete digestion of the
oily seeds; it compels cattle to chew the
cud, and it gives tonic, bitter, astrin-
gent quality to the food. The bolls must
therefore, not be flung away as chaff.
The best method of preparation is to dry
them with care and use them in cooked
food with little salt, say seven pounds
of barley to one pound of bolls They
60 splendidly, crushed with Indian corn,
in the same proportion, The farmer will
find that poultry, milk COWS, horses and