EXPERIMENTS WITH FLAX.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13744, 8 May 1908, Page 6

EXPERIMENTS WITH FLAX.

' DR. COCKAYNE'S MISSION. . [UV. "J KX.KUr.APH. —OWN" CORRESPONDENT.] Wellington, Thursday. T;ik humble flax plant is an asset of increasing value to New Zealand. The export of pborniium fibre during 1906 was valued at/ £776,106, as- against £195.728 for 1901 an/ £32,985 for .1906. New Zealand phormiu/n at- present. ..however, is far front beim/ a perfect plant for flaxmiiling purposes. / It is, in fact, probably the only exanij/e of a wild plant used commercially on large scale. The neglected phr.rmium tawx i.s now to be taken in hand, and I)r. W. Cockayne. F.L.S., will in a fc-i/ weeks' time "visit '-he' Government exiterinicutal stations in the Auckland provin/e, in. connection with a series of experiments, whose object is the production of for/is of flax of a higher economic value than any now existing. I mg. J At the present time, Dr. tfoekayne states, nothing is accurately kncwi about the varieties of phonnium; in fact, the extremely important point as to Aether the wellmarked varieties comeytrue, from seed is quite unsettled. ExWimcnts will also be conducted in regard $>' the action of definite -oils upon fib:/ production and the like, and Dr. CockaVhe hopes to publish in the spring an up-t/date account of phormium tenax, dealing with its wild and cultivated varieties,/nd its variations under natural condition/.