A 1917 agricultural monograph by Dr. A. W. Thornton, formerly a U.S. Department of Agriculture fiber agent in Washington State, proposing an 'Americanized' system of flax culture for Puget Sound and the Pacific Northwest. It surveys European flax practice (Belgium, Holland, Ireland, Germany, Austria) and then covers soil and crop rotation, seed selection, sowing, pulling or machine cutting, rippling, retting, drying, braking and scutching, with costs and yields per acre. Shorter sections treat hemp, roselle, Indian mallow, milkweed and nettle as other fiber plants. Illustrations include a flax ripple, seed grader, retting ponds, hand brake and scutching board.