The river press., 1910-03-23
GOOD PROFIT IN FLAX.
A Bonanza Crop Produced Last Year
In This Vicinity.

A Bonanza Crop Produced Last Year ,
In This Vicinity.
The success attending the fret at
tempt to raise lax in this part OF Mon
tana will encourage the seeding OF
large area of land to that crop the
coming season. Flax is regarded in
North Dakota and the eastern part OF
Valley county as one of the crops that
are beet adapted to newly broken
land, but in this locality there had
been no attempt to experiment along
this line until last season.
Oscar Johnston, Of this city. who Is
oper ating stage line between Mon'
lax and Glendive, was impressed with
the profitable results OF fax raising
in that locality, and decided last
spring to seed part of bis Arrow
creek ranch to that product. He pre-
pared about $50 acres for that pur'
pose, the land being In excellent con-
dition, and along in May seeded the
tract at the rate of two pecks to the
acre. The seeding was not very care
fully done, and subsequent measure
ment showed that the seeding covered
only a little over 14l acres.
Gentle rains followed at intervals,
the genial sunshine warmed the soil,
and the combin alton Of moisture and
heat soon caused the seed to germt-
nate and transform the field into an
expause of green. More rain and more
sunshine resulted in sturdy growth
of the young plants. and they devel'
oped rapidly. Then the blossoms be-
gan to appear, and the green field
became q mass of blue, agitated into
an ating expanse by gentle breez-
; es, and under continued favorable con.
ditions the seed began to form. Nat
} ure appeared to be doing her best to
encourage Mr.. Johnston's efforts to
, demonstr ate that fax growing In this
part of Montana is q profitable enter.
prise.
, The crop ripened and was harvest.
} ed In due course, Mr.. Johnston anttc'
|ipating returns of about an average
amount. A few weeks later the thresh.
D er began work on the crop. and al
q the finish it was discovered that Mr.
e Johnston ad 3, ,430 bushels OF the finest
:Ifiaxseed (: ever raised In the northwest
:. AS the crop came from tract tha
I was little over 141 acres in area
/. the result was an average of q littl'
better than "a bushels per acre.
y It was q phenomenal crop, ant
: probably it would not be duplicated
=. by subsequent attempts. the condl
tions under which it was produced
>. being exceptional. And the size o
4 the crop was not the only satisfactor!
- feature OF the enterprise. The ia,
seed market was on the boom las
tall, the Minneapolis market quota
~ tions going up TO 1926 per bushel
~ and Mr.. Johnston disposed of hi
"a crop of fax seed at prices which CAV
80 it a total value of over $4,000. Tha
~ amount of revenue from 14l acre
- looks good to the average rancher.
- In order to dispei or modify unrea
~ ~ sonably optimistic expectations.cause
~ by this phenomenal yield, it Is prope
- to recall the fact that the averag
~ Montana yield of dax, under ordin
~ ary conditions, is about ten to twelv
bushels per acre. In reply TO an ir
D. quiry as the proper method of cult
Il vating this crop Professor Atkinson
u OF the agricultural college at Boze
~ m an, makes these suggestions:
s' Throughout certain OF the dry farm
80 ing sections of Montana, fax is con
'e monty planted on spring breaking
al The plan is to break the land four c
~ FIVE inches deep and follow the pIo
re with disk or packer to pack dow
OF the furrow slice, and in case the pacl
g. er is used, follow this with the harro
to create mulch for the conservatio
of the soil moisture. The packing au
b. surface cultivation should follow Ia
ed mediately behind the plow, workin
tie down the area each day before lea
as ing the field 10 the evening.
'ts The fax is seeded as soon as grour
n is in condition, using about 20 pound
''s of seed to the acre, and seeding wi
os drill. In case of heavy rains SOC
nk after seeding, it Is wise plan to ha
70. row the ground. The crop has BET
de fairly profitable when planted in th
'es way, yields ranging from 10 to
re- bushels an acre being reported.
of -->----
o Montana Grown Seeds.
id. The growing of agricultural see'
or on the government irrigation projec