Linseed in Dairying

Tuapeka Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 5966, 3 August 1912, Page 4

Linseed in Dairying

■ An appeal to the dairy farmers oi the United Kingdom to grow ikeir own linseed is being .made ';>y the English Department oi Agriculture. The Circular says : " .Soine iiiim- a*.'" the cultivation of Uax or Uns-jcd ionned a regular crop. bomeihuiJ like 100,000 acres were grown in the United Kingdom ; ;at the present time about '50,000 acres are, given to tIM <rop, almost entirely in Ireland. Importations from abroad brought ruductions'iu the price oi linseed. Now, however, the .pendulum is swing'iiig back to higher prices, as buyers 01 linseed know to their cost, and this fact has raised the question whether the crip is not worth grown _ ... tliv present time as a valuable lording supply for home use. The crop thrives best 011 a medium soil, clean, n iid in good condition. In the rotation it would lake lii.- place of a grain crop, coining after roots or clover, a uid littly expense for direei manuring is nectisaari. A good seed bed is important, and particular attention' should be paid to the quality of the seed, which must be plump, well matured and not from stock stored in talk for nnv length of time. About 70 to pounds of seed is ample.; it must not ibe buried too deeply, not more than half an inch to an inch below the surface, and it is imperative that the growing- crop shc-uld 'be kept free from weeds, hand that is foul and .liable to grow weeds should not.ibe selected for the crop. '"The yield viaries accortHn to the tests carried out, in spile of unfavorable circumstances, lOcwt of seed were obtained per , a crc ; a t one centre the yield was as high as lficwt 1 per acre; probably under good average conditions two tpiarters' of seed or 8321b may be jjxpect.ed per acre, and a ton and a-half 0 f straw in addilion. This is worth obtaining, and we -would recommend. farmers to try the crop on a few a o "* to see how it answers."