The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1869. SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 207, 3 September 1869, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1869. SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION.

DR. -WILLIAMS ON FLAX. At the last meeting of the Scientific Association a highly interesting paper on Flax was read by Dr. Williams who has evidently devoted very great attention to a subject, the importance of which is now recognised in nearly all parts of the colony, and which we hope, ere long, to see as warmly taken up in Nelson as it has been in most of the other provinces. What added greatly to the interest of Dr. Williams' lecture was that he had on the table a large number of microscopic . specimens of flax in all stages of preparation, and was thus enabled, to give illustrations of the various descriptions of the fibre together with their comparative value. After enumerating some of the numerous resources of the province and showing how some of them bad already been turned to account, Dr. Williams produced leaves of the three descriptions of flax — black, brown, and orange colored, which, he tells ns, were all obtained from one patch ; it is therefore difficult to say whether tbey are really different species, as the Maoris suppose, or whether the color depends upon the accidental presence of certain constituents of the soil which may, in changing the color of the fibres, also possess the power to improve their quality together with that of tbe whole mass of fibres situated in the leaf elsewhere. I quite imagine this to be the case, for, from very careful inspection, I have observed that the colors so arbitrarily particularised gradually merge into each other. The soils which appear most suitable for producing strength and fineness of fibre are, it is said — Ist. That found on hill sides, composed of stones (which to some extent retain •moisture) and the debris of decayed trees and other vegetable matter. 2nd. Well- drained land that has been swampy. 3rd. Scoriaceous soils, resulting from volcanic action and long exposure to the atmosphere, which possess in a high degree the property of absorbing moisture. In sandy soils and where the flax is grown in undrained swamps the fibre is said to be deficient in strength, whereas the hill flax yields a fibre four or five times more valuable than that found on more level ground, but whether this arises from the particular species of plant or the accident of its situation in more elevated ground does not seem certain. One of the most important manufactures for which it would appear to be very suitable is as a paper material; for a specimen dressed for this purpose and sent to the Exhibition of 1862, Mr. Nattrass of this town was awarded a prize medal. Two uses have also been suggested for the green refuse of the leaves; — as medicine, and as food for cattle. The analysis of the leaf proves that it contains in its substance the materials of which 'bones and teeth are composed, and many of the constituents of all animal bodies, and of several vegetable substances used for food I by man and other animals.

The following isa list of home prices for fibrous substances:— •_ ■ Russian hemp ... £44 to £75 per ton. Manila hemp ..*. .£sl £52' „ Russian hemp ... £39 £45 „ Cob- yarn £23 £45 „ Phorraium Tenax £20 £38 „ Cotton lOJd. to 2s. 7d. per S3. The following defects are alleged as belonging to the Phormium Tenax fibre: — Ist. That the New Zealand fibre is brittle and harsh, and therefore has not sufficiently soft texture, and is on that account liable to break at a knot more readily than other rope. 2ud. That it will not take tar, and therefore cannot resist wet, but is liable to rot from alternate dryness and exposure. 3rd. Its too easy decomposition under the action of alkaline solutions, which might perhaps make it unsafe to attempt to bleach it by the same means employed for linen. With these objections Dr. Williams proceeded to deal seriatim, and by several quotations from Mr. Charley, an authority on these subjects, successfully rebutted them. "" What appears chiefly to have militated against the successful introduction of New Zealand flax into England has been its small, intermittent, and uncertain reply, but if a large and constant export can be maintained there is no doubt that it will meet with a ready sale, and that in time many new uses will be found for it. There is reason to hope that this will now be the case, as is shown by the following statistics: — £ Value of flax exported in 1866 ... 996 „ 1867 .... 4136 „ 1868 ... 8137 And for the first quarter of 1869 ... 7614 Or at the rate of over £30,000 per annum. A new flax dressing machine recently imported from Auckland, suitable either - for water or other power, effects the process by divesting the green leaf of its refuse in the following manner : — The leaf is first passed between two revolving rollers, one fluted and the other plain, these squeeze it and loosen the green matter ; it is then further separated by passing under a much larger iron cylinder, or drum, with ridges or beaters, also of iron, set diagonally upon its circumference, the interstices between which are nearly filled up level with these beaters j with pieces of wood made to fit the hollows. This cylinder or drum in its rapid revolutions — from four to six times the speed of the rollers — beats the leaf as it passes along against a fixed edge of iron. It is then carried, by means of a shoot made of wood, out at the back of the machine, the green matter is then washed away by rinsing in water, and the fibre is afterwards bleached, dried, and scutched, when it is ready for the market. We have now given some of* the main features of Dr, Williams' lecture ; unfortunately our space forbids our giving it in its entirety, but should there be any i points on which any of our readers are desirous of obtaining information, we shall have great pleasure in supplying it upon application being made to us.