Judith Gap journal. [volume] (Judith Gap, Mont.) 1908-19??, 1911-05-05
Flax on Dry Land.
BY n. r. Patterson, Montana
AGRICULTURAL College.

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J. L., st. Peter, Mont, writes y
lave small tract Of land that cannot
he irrigated. The soil varies from
a clay to a sand. Will flax grow
upon dry land? II so, how would you
prepare the seed bed, and how much
seed would you SOW per acre? Will
treating the seed with fornlaldehyde
be Of value?"
Reply: Yes. fax will grow uDon
dry land, providing the proper systems
Of farm management are followed.
Perhaps the most important thing
that will determine whether profita-
BILE crop Of fax can be raised upon dry
land is the method OF preparing the
seed bed. We cannot too strongly
emphasize this point. The land should
be plowed very early in the spring.
end it should be plowed to good
depth. The pillow should be followed
with disc and a harrow. The disc will
lack down the soil and pulverize some
OF the sod. The harrow will level off
the land and put dust mulch upon
the surface. These two points should
never be overlooked. if we wish to re-
ceive the best results.
The amount of seed to SOW per acre
will be influenced by the time Of seed
ing and the method OF preparing the
bed. If the seed bed is well prepared.
about twenty pounds of seed per acre
will be sufficient. This seed should
I've drilled in to a depth of one to one
and one-half inches and should be
seeded as early in the spring as pos
sihle. Some farmers have had COED
yields upon dry land when they delay
ed the seeding until the first part Of
June. This is not Il good practice,
however, because we are apt to lose
from the soil a largeamount of moisture
and it is likely to be very dry late in
the season. If the crop had been put
in at an early date, it would have
made use OF this moisture and have
matured before the dry weather came.
Flax is a quick growing crop and it
demands large amount of available
plant food. For this reason we wish
to again emphasize the early seeding
and good preparation OF the seed bed.
The treatment OF flax seed with for
maldehyde Is indeed very valuable in
destroying some of the bacteria tina.
are found upon the grain. A great
deal of care is necessary in treating
the fax seed with this solution. If
the grain is placed in IL gunny sack
and immersed in a barrel of the solu.
ton, 1t will form into compact mass
that will be almost impossible to
break up so that the seed will run
through the drill. The for,raldehyde
solution is, perhaps. not quite as
strong as that used in the treatment
| of wheat and oats for smut A mix.
ture of one pound of formaldehyde
with forty gallons of water is very
desirable. This solution is sprayed
with force pump upon the seed,
which is scattered in thin LAYER upon
the floor. BY the use of the force
pump each seed will be wet With a
very fine spray. After each seed is
we'll saturated the entire mass should
be covered with blanket or tarpaul
in and allowed to remain for a short
time, not over two hours. after which
the covering can be removed and the
grain stirred with a garden rake until
1t is thoroughly dry.
The thing to be kept in mind III
treating the fax seed with tornado
hyde is to so treat the grain TINT hard
masses will not form. In this connec.
ton, again, We might state that the
treatment Of the seed with iormalde-
hyde will not entirely rid the farmer
Of fax wilt. The bacteria that cause
this disease live over winter not only
on the grain but in the soil and on the
weeds and grasses in the field For
this reason the formaldehyde treat.
ment should be supplemented by the
selection of clean land.