The story of flax (90,00 руб.)

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INSTRUCTOR LITERATURE SERIES The Story of Flax BY Eva Mayne F. A. OWEN PUBLISHING COMPANY, DANSVILLE, N. Y.

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The Story of Flax I could take you to a spot in the country some day in the month of June, where you would see a most unusual sight. Over large fields reaching as far as the eye can see, are waves of beautiful blue. “A body of water!” you say. No; although it looks like a lake or sea at a distance it is not water. It is just a sea of blue blossoms. The plants are a delicate green with feathery leaves. At the top of each plant are dainty pale blue flowers, forming the sea of blue. Each blossom is single, with five petals. It is shaped something like a fruit blossom, and is about that size. This is the flax blossom. What a dear little flower it is! Not only is the blossom of this plant beautiful, but the whole plant is very useful to mankind. So useful, indeed, that everyone would miss the things it furnishes. It gives us cloth of various kinds, our table linen and towels, and a great deal of our writing paper. It furnishes a kind of medicine. It produces an oil used everywhere in paint and varnish. It provides us with twine and rope. This sounds like a fairy tale, but it is nevertheless true. I will tell you later just how all these things are obtained from a little plant. First let us see how it grows, and the care needed in raising it. In March the flax grower gets the land ready. It is cleared of every old root or weed. The ground is then harrowed and rolled. This clearing takes a great deal of work, as it must be done carefully. Next the seeds are planted. This is done in April. They are usually sown broadcast, but are sometimes put in by drills eight or ten inches apart. Soon the tiny plants peep above the earth. When they get to be an inch high the busy time begins. They must now be weeded. Weeds are bad for any crops, but they are especially so for flax. They cause a very irregular growth, and it is necessary to have the plants as even as possible. It is also harder to separate the weeds at harvest time than earlier. Of course some creep in even with the most careful 1

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The Story of Flax Eva Mayne weeding, but a great many would render the flax useless. The weeding has to be done very carefully, as it is easy to mistake weeds for plants. It would be hard indeed on the flax field if the baby plants were pulled instead of the weeds, yet it is very hard to tell which are flax and which weeds, at this time. When they are about six inches high, there is no longer any need for weeding. The plants grow to be two and a half or three feet high. The stalk is straight and slender, with narrow leaves. In June the blossoms appear, dainty and sweet, making the ”sea of blue.” A very pretty sight it is. But the blossoms do not last long. After they drop off, the seed-pod shows. It is round, with many seeds in it. The seeds are long and pointed. In many places the plant is raised for these seeds alone. Linseed oil is made from them. They are allowed to ripen, then they are gathered and laid by for four months. Lying for that length of time makes them yield more oil. Linseed oil is very useful. It is used in making printer’s ink, oil varnishes, paint, soap, and many other things. Even the refuse of the seed is useful after the oil is crushed out of it. It is called marc, and is used as food for cattle. It is said to be good food to fatten them on. The seeds are often ground into what is called linseed meal. This is sold as a medicine. Also the whole seeds themselves are used for medicinal purposes. In India flax is grown almost entirely for the seeds and, a great deal of linseed oil is sent to other countries. There is another part of the flax plant that is more useful than the seeds. That is the stalk. Do you wonder of what use the stem of a little plant can be? It does seem strange, but from the stalks of the flax plant are made linen cloth and paper, as well as many other things. You have seen linen many times. The clean white towel you used this morning when you washed, is linen. Your father’s cuffs and collars, so pure and white, are made from flax. Your mother's pretty white suit she wears in the summer came from the same plant. Linen is used in many ways. Where a soft, fine, clean material is wanted, it is always chosen. It is the oldest material we know anything about. It is spoken of many times in the Bible. You can read where it tells how Pharaoh arrayed Joseph in fine linen. Linen seems to have been worn by 2

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