The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1903-04-24
rHB MITCHELL CAPITAL
FRIDAY APRIL "a, 1903.
WILL FLAX lNJURE SOIL?

The fax industry in the two Dako.
tas has not reached the point OF IN
creased acreage that it should. The
principal reason is that there is an
idea prevalent among the aImer
| that flax will in a short time lnJure
| the soil and make it practically unit
for the same crop. a large number
| of experiments have been made with
flax TO test it's alleged injurious effect
on the soil and so far the idea has
been abundantly s.disproved by a ro-
tation.of.-the crop. LAS there are
thousands of acres of new soil in the
northwest which are free from this
soil disease" writes Prof. Bolley, of
the North Dakota Agricultural
college, zone may readily understand
the Importance Of ascertainlng the
exact or first cause, that we may
learn ~its..habits and some methods OF
preventing it's spread and ravages.'
The Minneapolis Journal in discuss
ing the experiments made by Prof.
Bolley says that they prove that fax
is not an..exhausting crop, and adds
that an average yield of flax will not
remove from the soil as much fertil
ity as a..thirty-bushel crop OF wheat
or $50 bushels of potatoes.
There is no chemical change
wrought in the soil by the flax that
units it for succeeding crops of flax.
Flax wilt and taX-sick soil are
caused by a fungus, Fusarium lini.
This fungus is generally introduced
with the seed, and once in a field
maintains itself in the soil, growing
more numerous and harmful with
each succeeding crop of flax, on which
plant it feeds.
There is no known way to get the
fungus out of the soil, but after
several crops of other plants have
been raised, the land will yield a
good crop o%f..fax.
The practical results of Professor
Bolley's discoveries are chiefly in
showing that flax does not exhaust
land, that an occasional flax crop
may be raised on even f1ax-sick soil,
and in gaining information that
points out how to protect undiseased
soil from the c%ontagion. The last is
mainly to be accomplished by treat
ing the seed with a view to killing
the fungi. The treatment consists
Of washing the seed with formal
dehyde in the proportion of one
pound Of standard strength to forty
or forty-fve gallons of water.
If the farmers of North Dakota
shall generally avail themselves Of
Professor Bolley's advice, the pre-
eminence of that state may long be
maintained in flax raiisng. New
land may probably, by care, be pro-
tected from flax wilt altogether, es-
pecially if the farmers give up the
practice Of raising flax or the same
field year after year. In what
danger the crop already stands is
indicated by the fact that probably
50 per cent of the flax fields Of North
Dakota are infected. 1t is doubtful
whether any sample OF flax seed is
entirely free from the fungus.
Professor Bolley's work on flax is
one more illustration Of the great
assistance science leads to agriculture
in u times. For ages men have
raised flax and dealt with flax wilt,
but it remained for a North Dakota
experimenter to ascertain the cause
of the trouble and how to deal with
it. The modern farmer no longer
fights his foes in the dark. Science
shows him the adversary and arms
him for the victorious conflict.