The Republican journal., 1911-06-22
Seeds From Foreign Lands.

A high record importation of 20 mil.
lion dollars worth of flaxseed in the ifs
cal year 1911 is indicated by the records
of the Bureau of Statistics, Department
of Commerce and Labor, now completed
for the 10 months ending with April, 1911.
During that period the imports of flax
seed or linseed, aggregated s Ia million
bushels, compared with a little over g
million bushels last year and So, 600 BUSH
els in the corresponding period of 1909.
The growth in value is even greater. the 10
months figures of the current fiscal wear
being 16 "a million dollars, against 5 mil.
lion in 1910 and but $73, 625 in 1909. The
estimated importation of 20 million dol.
lars worth Of flaxseed in the fiscal wear
which ends with the present month ex-
ceeds by more than 10 million dollars the
value imported in 1909, is nearly IS mil
lion dollars above the record of 1901, and
is by far larger than that of any other
year. During the ten years, 1901 to
1910, inclusive, total of Is million dol
lars, or an average annual importation
OF 81, 300, 900 is shown, as against 800
0O0,o 600 for the single year 1911 now
drawing to close.
Flaxseed furnishes the bulk of the %
million dollars worth of seeds of various
kinds imported during the year. The
other leading classes include sugar beet,
clover, and castor beans. Of these, the
imports of clover seed during the year
will be about 3 million dollars, and those
OF sugar beet and castor seed, each about
$4,000. The remaining 3-4 million
dollars worth of seeds imported includes
grass, mustard, beet, cabbage, poppy,
and flower seeds, also large number of
seeds valued by reason of the volatile oils
ana perfumes contained, such as anise,
caraway, coriander, and fennel.
The price of imported faxseed tends
to increase from year to year. In 1897
the average price per bushel was 81. O3;
in 1901, $1.27; in 1903, sl.5O; in 1909,
$1.4O; in 1910, S1.7O; and in 1911, 81. O4,
for the high record importation of 8 IA
million bushels in the 10 months ending
with April
Argentina is the chief source of the
f1aXseed imported into the United States
about 81 percent of the imports during
1910 having been from that country,
compared with about 25 percent from
Canada and about percent each from
the British East Indies and Belgium.
Nearly all the sugar beet seed imported
is from Germany, while clover seed is
imported chiefly from Germany, Canada
and France
The very large increase in importa-
tons of faxseed during 1911 is due to
the partial failure of the crop last year.
The flaxseed crop of the United States
is, according to figures of the Bureau OF
Statistics of the Department of Agri-
culture, chiefly produced in Minnesota
and North and South Dakota. The crop
IN North Dakota last year was to large
extent failure, reducing the domestic
production by nearly one-half, and the
amount available for market purposes,
aside from seed, fully one-half, hence
the large importations in the current
year from foreign countries.
The shortage in the domestic crop of
tiaxseed and presumably in the produc-
ton of linseed oil is reflected in the large
imports of oil of that character during
the current fiscal year. During the
months ending with March, 1911, the i'm
ports for consumption of linseed oil ag-
gregated 3,207, 425 gallons, valued at
81, 1873, 679 compared with ACT, 664 gallons,
valued at s25S, 800 in the entire fiscal
year 1910 and but 2S, 1O2 gallons valued
at Sl3, 249 in the fiscal year 1909.