Phermium or Grass?

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 110, 5 November 1925, Page 16

Phermium or Grass?

I : ' In Lower Mauawatu Areas ■■

n Flax as Regular Farm Crop I M ■ ■ ■ ■—; ■ . ■ ■ ■ ' ■ - ■sk

II . Higher Return Than Dairying J|

. The' vast- areW of.flax swamp-'ia the lower ilanawatu are visible to the train-traveller ail along- the Manawatu section of the Main Trunk railway from KoputaToa, nearly as far as the Longburn Bridge- over the Manawatu Eiver, and it has no doubt been a source of wonderment to many people why these swamps have not been drained and the land turned into rich , pasture for 'dairying,-:as has, indeed,, ; taken the place of those: northward of Tokomaru. . The reason is quite 'simple. It pays better to grow flax. Few people/would believe that a bigger return per acre in cash can be got , from the growing.and milling of the i Phormium plait ; --the. : sb-called; :: .Kew:';■ Zealand flax—for fibre in the shape of hemp than from dairying. Yet such is the case; there are few mow profitable crops per acre than-Phor-mium tenax when prices are all right, and oven on the average price for hump over a longish period of -years ■ the figures show an advantage over : the return from dairying- ** was not : the failure of the flax industry m ltself that caused many acres to bo , turned into pasture land, but,the..eii- I croachment of'a disease-which played c liavoc with the plants in the swamps ■ a few years ago, aud led some owners j to go in for a root-and-branch policy - " of superseding ono blade of flax with ' a good many of grass, :md: of; setting about draining the swamps thoroughly. . \. CENTRE OF FLAX INDUSTRY The two great swamps of the lower Munawa'tu —the Makerua and the iloutoa —on each side of the river, constitute the largest area in phormium in all the ... Dominion, nearly 50,000 acres in alt. Not .all of.--this., > acreage is in flax to-day, for th<S fell yellow-leaf disease between 1915 and 1923 wiped out large areas, but flax still stands as the main. crop. "While not nearly so many strippers are at worlc in the preparation of the leaf in iis first stage before becoming the Mew Zealand hemp of commerce aa were being operated before the war, the industry is still paying-its way,, and may come back again into full swing with a rise in price for the fibre. This may happen any time. In ( the high tide of its prosperity the flax swamp has, been a quick way. to fortune for its lucky owners, and the j flax industry has its captains and magnates, just.as the pastoral calling hiis its sheep barons; and wool kings. Since it was first milled, the flax area j of the lower.• Manawatu has been-.a , fruitful aiid, Abundant factor '.jn :t,h6 | prosperity" of th'o district, and 'it I would bo deemed disastrous, .if, through the ravages of yellow-leaf, or any other disease or cause, the,industry declined and decayed away to nothing. However, luckily, there is not much chance of that fate, as those interestel in the flax industry are too keenly alive,,to its.advantages to lose a grip, of the situation. v. ITS{C.HEO.UE.R£Q CAREER :lf To recount the history of. the-flax 1 ■ industry would need a whole special issue of "The; Post", for itself.. It. appears here. as. a..very important factor' in the river -control scheme for ■ the whole of the lower -Mauawatu. Suffice it to say briefly that the flax industry, is the earliest of. all. New Zealand's industries, for the Maoris manufactured the fifjio from the leaf long before the -Europeans, came to the shores of these islands, aud in the parly days of the last century there was quite a considerable export of prepared flax to Sydney for further ,trfnismission.*J:o Europe. t-The first shipment to;EYiglanft-was iifltSlS, when 60 toiis'were soiit there via' Sydney. Between 1828 and 1833 over £50,000 worth of fibre was sold in Sydney alone. Erotn, .1.832 '■ .to . .1871.; the trade was fluctuating and unimportant on tho average, -biit-there-was a boom in-ihe 6arty~ 'seventies, when there/were some 300 mills employing ,"J2OO hands and producing fibre to the value of £140,000 aimually. , < The boom of tho 'seventies was short-lived, and a long period of depression foliowod. There was another boom, during tho Spanish-American., war of 1898, in consequence of ..thostoppage of supply of manila-hemp from the Philippines, and in 1901 Government grading was established.' Then followed a period; of remarkable prosperity, culminating iv 1907, when 24,547 tons of fibre- wore exported at an an average price-'of £29 "3 lid.' Prices were low until tho outbreak of the war, but then they commenced to soar, reaching in 1918 an average of £s£i iis lOd a ton, with an output of •Ji'.lGl tons—it total value of approaching a million and a half sterling. Since then both output find prices have declined.- "Within the hist few years," says Mr,. E. H. Atkinson, of the Biological Laboratory, Wellington, from, whoso authoritativebulletin of tho Department, of Agriculturo on "I'll Mini urn Tenax'' much information hust Ih-ou gleaned, "a serious menace to tho industry has appeared in tlio ullage of a disease of doubtful origin' known "'an" "yellowloiiJ:.' . . . This disease is perhaps the greatest problem confronting tho miller to-day." Tho advent and ravages of the yellow-leaf diseaso hav.o, had much to. dd; with the subsequent recent developments-an the lov.'-lying lands of the Mauawatu, the drainage of the Makerua swamp, aiicV the big scheme for the control of tho waters of the Mauawatu Bivor itself, . \■.•• •- - . THE YELLOW-LEAF DISEASE Tho yel'.ow-loaf disease .appears to . have entered the Alanav.-atu swamp area from tho upper parts eari./ in the war period. According to Mr. C. E. Taylor, of Messrs.. Taylor and Poyntoii, engineers, Pnimerston ICorth, formerly nmiuiger for the fjeifcrt C'onipan'y, the largest flaxuiillers in Xew Xealfind, I.lio disease moved across Sir. Hugh Akers's property on the higher l:i!iil along the luniks ut' thu Minijiwiitu Rirer.-'nirii tlieii ivorki.'il its wity (Uiwit to the lower levels. .Swamps milk-1 'by Messrs.-Broad 'unrf Ingi-.'im, by Mr. 1/. Wfifoii. by the Opui Company, the Tani ilcmp Company, the Tokoimiru Company, and

otherS] were progressively affected to such am extent that some went o^it of business. „, 'The' Asiiiea Hemp Company erased operations when the disease practically ruined the swamp it was milling. The Temukanui Co., though badly hit as to its swamps,'' carried on. The effect of the disease ia shown by the fact that the A. and L. Seifert'Faxniillihg Co,, with its great mill at Miranui, the largest in New Zealand, could only work two I strippers instead of the usual nine. About ! 30' per; cant, of' their swamp: area went before the onset, of the'disease. Most of the people whose flax swamps were first, devastated by yellow-leaf proceeded to root out the phormium plant alto- ( gether and convert their land into pasI tare: This explains the striking increase i in recent years of good grass land north of Tokomaru aiong the railway, on the side where there was formerly swamp. iMessr*.: Seifert, however, instead of des--Itroyingthe remaining area of their flax under the assumption that it would be infected like the rest, proceeded to investigate the disease and to devise means to combat its inroadß. SIDE-LEAF CUTTING One of the results of this investigation was the adoption by the firm of the now famous method of side-leaf cutting. Everybody knows that the phormium plant produces its leaves in fans of about eight blades, the youngest in the centre, hhe oldest oiuthe outsi.des. The method of catting in the past was to take the whole fan by cutting the leaves'across at a distance of from 6in to Bin above the point of. their insertion on the crown !of tho rootstock. This operation was carried out every four years, the inter- ! val being left'for the plant to recuperate and produce a fresh crop. By taking the outside mature leaves and leaving the less mature leaves inside to come on, the side-leaf system left the plant much, stronger and able to draw its nourishment from the air as well as from the ground. In consequence cutting on the side-leaf principle can go on all the year-round with a.regular output of leaf, '-instead .of operations ■'' ceasing for six weeks in April and May as under the old system. Though' cutting is taking place on the Seifert Company's property on only about 60 per cent, of the area that used to be milled before _the advent i of the yellow-leaf disease the output of j fibre from the mill is greater than ever t before in its history. This ia.due to the 1 method of cutting. There is, however, ' a possible drawback recognised in the 1 lack of green manure to the plant pro- 1 vided under the old method by the decay i ,of leaves about the roots. There is no 1 1 such wastage under the present system. 1 Experiments are being tried as to the ] I possibility of manuring the soil by the j 1 refuse left in the process of manufacture I ( of the fibre, for it takes about eight 1 tons of the green phormium leaf to make ] la ton of hemp. .Incidentally it may be ] ' mentioned',that the possibilities of con- 1 'Verting the waste";;of.the industry- into I commercial- alcohol are"; also' being irivesti- 1 gated. : i .'SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT ; In the early years of the flax industry ; ..rough-and-reiidy methods were employed of cutting out existing swamps and mov- [ ing on to the next, but some twenty-five ' years ago the importance of more businesslike and scientific methods began to be recognised, and the need for. good swamp '.management became apparent. It was discovered, for instance, that the drainage of swampa made a remarkable difference to their yield in flax. The . removal of stagnant .water from swamps ,by drainage led to the replacement of auclr-pla.^ts-as'rnupo-by phormium on practically a wholesale scale. "It is estimated,"'says Mr. Atkinson in his bul- ; letin, "that fully 50,000 acres have by this means (drainage) . been converted from unprofitable swamps into good phor-mium-producing areas." He adds, how--1 ever, that we'ods such as toe-toe, long i fescue grass, and blackberry are troublesome. Drainage has also tended enor- . mously to increase insect and other pests of-the flnx' plants and has- also increased , Hie S'isK bjC fiie. J -jfearly'i 400-acres of ■ flax "were .burnt- dutiu'the dry summer 1 of 1910 in the Makerua. TO THE FARMER—GROW FLAX ,'T" As the fruit of a lifelong experience . in the flax industry, Mr. Alfred Seifert -has come to the. conclusion .that phor- ; Vhium "tenax '.may be successfully 'grown ; as a farm ..crop on suitable land and . provide a much greater return per acre ' than the same land would do if used 1 for dairying. Thu. idea of Mr. Sej--1 fert's was set out in an article of hia in the "N.Z. Journal of Agriculture" a y few years ago, of which what follows '■", isa" brief ' summary. ' 1 ' "It is unfortunate," writes Mr. Sei- • fevf, "that farmers have not yet real- •'. ised what an' extremely valuable plant 1 i we have ip'our New Zealand flax (phort rhium tenax). lam confident that suit- ; able land growing phormium systematic-, .' ally will" yield a greater return than :';i when used for any other method of > farming that can be carried on in a '. [ fairly large way. I am looking forward :' ! to the day when New Zealand will ex- ■ port ,an average of 50,000 tons of phor- . ' mium fibre a year. This quantity of i I hemp could be produced from about! > , 47.000 acres of land." i . j Mr. Seifert submits the following comparative estimate of returns from !, land growing 1 fln.v and from tho same ' ! class of land used for dairying:— 1 "Return from 100 Acres growing Vlax. I ' . Solfl at highest ■ ■ .- price durinjt Sold at aver- . I lust ten years, age price, ■ t . . - £3 per tun if 1 per ton .H ■■ - - ' ■ -royalty. royalty. 1 £ 6il £ s(I 1 3 ■ Flax-leaf sold on roy--3 1 alty, 900 tons 2700 0 0 900 0 0 . Additional if flax out ' mk! delivered .to a 3-i .' mill l)y grower ... 900 0 0 900 0 0 , j .-.';'' .Totals , £8600 0 0 £1800 0 0 3 I Return from 100 Acreß used for Dairying. ,! ■ ■ -■•' Sold at 2s ed Sold at 1b Sd ».l '■'. -■■- per 1b for but- per lb for but--3 / ter-fat, plus ter-fat, plus 3d. for by- 3d for bj products. products. £»d £ s d Return to landowner (leas amount for •> sliare milking), at » ) 1401b of butterp. fat per aero ...- 1284 0 0 700 0 fl , Amount for share milking 041 0 0 350 0 0 ■",.-/ Totals £1925 0 0 £1050 0 0 t NO MOHE LABOUR THAN IN '{ DAIRYiNG II Incidentally the writer states that the £ labour involved in -cutting and deliver- • ing the flax would be just about- equal 5. to the labour. o£ .dairying. The labour rl and expense of planting the fia.v would c lie less than that of planting potatoes. 1- I Cutting and handling planted flax would J be much less than doing the same work

in the present flax areas. In the first j place the flax would be in iows and the 3 bottom would be good for those engaged j in the work of cutting and carrying. ; f "When we consider the returns from j t land growing flax," he says, "and the i c little labour required to keep the crop £ in order, it is evident that farmers who have suitable land near a mill or railway station would be well advised to ( plant an area for their own benefit as » well as that of the Dominion. The crop would afford some relief from the labour of dairying. The flax could be planted in such a way that it would provide shelter, which all agree is so necessary for stock." No difficulty aa to a reasonable average price is anticipated by . Mr. Seifert, who gives a decided opinion that hemp will continue to be sold at a payable .price in the future. He gives a sketch of the world position in the hemp market and a forecast of the future trend. The prospects are further outlined in the following passage: "Tho cost of planting an area of, say, 100 acres in flax would not be as much as the cost of buying a dairy herd and plant for milking. The return from dairying would be quicker, but the much larger return derivable from flax would more than compensate for its slower arrival at profit. In order to encourage I farmers to grow flax, cheap and- reliable plants must be readily obtainable. In nearly all areas planted up to the present the plants have been taken from other flax areas. One acre of a fair flax area grubbed up will provide plants for about six acres, which is a very expensive way to get plants.,ln order to' get over the difficulty the seed from the beat varieties should be sown in nur- j ■ series, and the plants sold to farmers at moderate prices after having been | brought well forward. Those farmers j who intend planting in a fairly large j way could grow their own plants from seed. LIVING ON TWENTY-FIVE ACRES "It is demonstrable that by growing j flax a family could make a good living : on a 25-acre farm. Supposing that 20 acres were planted in flax and five acres kept for grazing cows, the cows would help to keep down the cost of living, and the farmer could grow* his own vegetables. Of the flax area, five acres could be cut each year, which would yield 180 tons of flax. Should the farmer cut and deliver his. own flax to a mill he should receive on an average £2 per ton for it—that is a total of £369 per annum. Flaxmills could be worked on the co-operative system if the growers found that millers would not pay a | fair price for the raw material. | "At the present time, all flax crops are j menaced by 'yellow-leaf,' but though the j disease is doing great damage it is un- i wise to be pessimistic. Practically all j animals and plants are attacked by dis- j ease at times, yet with few exceptions i the trouble is shaken off sooner or later. , ' I consider that by working up to the <! selection of flax plants that have immunity, and by keeping up fhe vitality of the flax with suitable fertilisers, growers need, have little fear that their planted flax will be destroyed. "I estimate that 50,000 acres of good *l;ind growing flax will yield per annum 450,000 tons of leaf, giving the following production when milled:— £ ' s. d. Hemp, 52,940 tons i\t £30 .... 1,588,200 0 0 Tnw, 8823 tons at .69 79,407 0 0 i Stripper-sliijii, 4000 tons at £7... 28,000 0 0 •£l,fi»s,tio7 0 0 ' "O]i this basis tho value of the fini iahed article per acre is £33 16s. Taking the value of the hemp and tow produced, at the highest price during the last few years the return would be over 1 £3,000,000. In these calculations it is estimated that an acre will yield 36 tons I every four years, and that 8^- tons of leaf will vproduce one ton of fibre. "Having regard to these returns, it is evident that the cultivation of phor- ' mium should be encouraged, and that ) systematic work should be carried out ' to find and breed plants that will yield good fibre and resist disease." There is an immense quantity of laud suitable for flax-growing in New Zealand, including all the-swamps recently » drained or now being drained, an area . totalling several hundred thousand acres. 1 Of all areas none is more suitable than : the Manawatu, which has been and still 1 is the centre and home of the flax in- . dustry in New Zealand. It is quite pos--1 uible that it will pay lo plant with flnx ; jut least a portion of thoeo areas beuriiij

phormium in its natural state before yellow-lenf made milling just here unprofitable. The idea of. photmium as a farm crop certainly recommends itself to those who would like the Dominion to carry her eggs in as many baskets as are reasonably possible.