The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1895-12-27


many Of the common weed seeds, such
Is mustard, pigeon grass, French weed.
Russian thistle, tumble mustard and 8
host Of others which should be kept
entirely of the farm. The best way
DO select fax is to hunt up a field at
harvest time and pick out the hax
when standing to see that it is grown
on clean land and make purchase at
that time. Many weeds can be taken
out OF the. max, but it is only with
special machinery and with q large
amount Of work that some Of
the seeds above enumerated can b0
entirely gotten rid of. One half dozen
stalks Of mustard in q field Of fax
may escape notice and each produce
many seeds, and there will be many
weeds in the field the next year. Flax
needs about the same kind Of land
to do well as does wheat, and the
kind Of preparation needed is about
the same. The seed-bed should b
rather solid, as that formed by early
fall blowing, by corn or potato land
kept clean until fall and then not
plowed, or by summer following. Flax
will do fairly well on spring blowing,
ON new breaking, and especially will
it will do well on back setting or on
summer plowed timothy sod. Good
seed, clean Of all weed seeds, planted
on the best soil, has produced more
money per acre than wheat. The
seed should be planted about two
thirds the depth to plant wheat, and
may be planted from the middle OF
last of wheat seeding time to az
late as corn planting time, though
medium early planting generally gives
the best results. Plants will stand
some frost and still make crop,
though, as many experienced last
spring, the hard frosts either killed
out or materially reduced the yields.
As yet we arc growing fax for seed,
but there is strong probability that
ere long the fiber will be saved for
ropes, twines, and even medium and
coarse cloth products. We are now
burning our max straw and manufac.
turing fiber from foreign materials
with which to bind our wheat and
even our fax. Machinery is being In.
vented to thresh fax without destroy.
ing the straw, and it IL with These
a few years hence that the practice
will be accomplished along this line.
There are q few factories already
starting up where the straw 10 kept
straight by simply threshing OF the
heads from the bundles by sticking
only the head Of bundle in the cylin-
der, then throwing the bundle aside
to be retted and made into pretty
good class Of flber. Numerous factor.
les throughout the West are using
max straw for making tow for the
use Of upholsterers, but this demand
10 comparatively easily satisfied -
soon as the fiber can be so threshed
that It is kept straight and not broken
up as with the ordinary spike thresh-
ing cylinder and made into cordages
and coarse fabrics it can be used to
great advantage to growers and manu-
facturers. The retting can be accom-
plished in large tanks in building,
where the retting can be done very
rapidly by having the water somewhat
warmer than where the retting In
streams and lakes is practiced.
For seed alone fax should be sown
from one-half to three pecks per acre,
and should be sown in drills with ordi-
nary grain drilling machine. For
fiber, however, or for fiber and seed
combined, SOW one to two and one
half bushels, and the land should DO
very nicely prepared both as to line
ness and smoothness, and should also
be rather compact, and the grain sown
broadcast. Flax pulling machines are
being invented, and 1t is believed these
machines will soon be beyond the ex-
perimental stage. Where the fiber 10
to be saved either by pulling machines,
pulling by hand or cut of close to
the ground with the self binder, Il
is important that the ground be level,
smooth and rather compact, that the
wheels Of the machine will not sink
deeply into It. Many farmers use tho
fax dump on ordinary self bindinS
machines. This is q very simple de-
vice Of some Stats or fingers which
hold the bundle, and when filed tho
bundle is dropped by hand or by foot
lever. Where the fiber is to be used,
It is best to use the self-binding At
tachment, that the fiber may be kept
straight. While there are numerous
agricultural questions to be settled
regarding the fax industry, the ques-
ton Of machinery will do most toward
making the fax business successful n
the Northwest.
W. II. Hays.