FLAX CULTURE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXII, Issue 2711, 26 March 1866, Page 5

FLAX CULTURE.

Wjs exhibit, at our publishing office, Queens street, a specimea of Irish flax, grown and prepared by Y Mr. J. Whitley, in the county Tipperary, Ireland, when residing in that diBtrict, together with samples of the cloth manufactured from a portion of the crop in question. The lint exhibited is worth 7s. 6d.per stone, in the Irish market, and therefore is not more than a middling sample. To show what may be done by the cultivation and preparation of lint, we take Mr. Whitley's specimen as an example. That gentleman took two stones of lint, grown by himself, and sent it for manufacture to Mr. Eussell, of Limerick. The flax produced 61 yards of cloth, worth 12£d. per yard, samples of which, as we have said, are in our office. The two stones of prepared flax hackled down to 91b.,' giving 41b. of tow, at one shilling per pound, and lib. of waste. The gross value of the flax, as it left Mr. Whitley's hands, was 13s. 6d.; the cloth was worth £3 5s. Id. ; thus leaving a clear margin of profit to the manufacturer, on two stones of flax, of £2 11s. 7d. This fact is worth knowing. It shows plainly what might be done in this country) by setting resolutely to work to cultivate the soil and create manufactures. California has its cloth manufactures now ; so hare Now South Wales and Victoria. N elson has set an example to the other provinces of New Zealand in this respect. When we consider the fact that European flax will ripen every month in the twelve in this country, and that it would be worth growing for the flax seed alone, we think an effort ought to be made to promote its growth.