CULTIVATION OF PHORMIUM TENAX.

Otago Witness, Issue 1957, 23 May 1889, Page 9

CULTIVATION OF PHORMIUM TENAX.

As a good deal of discussion ia going, on amongst those interested in the flax industry, as to the future supply of the raw material and as to the time that must elapse before a second cutting can be got, or as to the possibility of growing the plants like other farm crops, are* porter of the Southland News collected the following information from Mr T. Waugh, corporation gardener :— Mr Waugh says there are some phormium plants growing in the Corporation Nursery which were raised from seed and are now eight or nine years old. They might have been cut two years ago, which would make the time from the .seed sowing to tbe 'cutting 1 at least six years. The seed' would have to be sown in nursery rows, in the same w&y as tree seeds, July or August being the time. Light soil is best for it, as for other seeds, and rows are better than beds, because they can be more easily weeded. Tbe young plants would stand two' years in the seed rows, and the quantity required to plant an acre would, for these two years, occupy a very 'small piece of ground. When taken up they would still be too small to plant out permanently,' but should be transplanted into other nursery rows, and a few inches between each plant allowed. The 1 plants would occupy these rows during the third and fourth seasons, and would then be ready to plant out ia their permanent stations. Allowing other two years for the plants to reach maturity would make them six years old, as before stated, at the first cutting. Sowing phormium where it was intended to grow permanently would never do at all, the expensed keepfog the ground clean would be so great, and if the weeds were not kept down they would choke the plants). During the time the young plants were' in the nursery rows, the land ultimately to foe occupied by them could be cropped and thus made fib to receive the plants, and if the' permanent rows were made five or six feet apart, •some kind of root crop could be grown between them, so as, to pay for keeping the land tilled and free from weeds. Even at the end of six |years the crop would, not be a large one—certainly not two tons of dressed flax to the acre, as some people say they get ; but even one ton at present prices makes it worth considering whether phormium could not be grown as a farm crop. £30 even per acre would pay a good ,many years' rent, and during the first four years the. plants, 'as shown above, would not occupy much ground. Of course tbe second cutting would be greater, the plants by that time having stooled out and taken up the whole of the ground, and completely suppressed the weeds. The second cutting would be got in two, three, or four years according to circumstances, but very little ' is known bow the plants would act in a cultivated state. One cannot judge by phormium growing in a wild state. Some old established plants < growing by the side of a creek might produce a second crop within two years, but it is not likely that a whole paddock would, unless it was manured or irrigated. Old flax roots could be chopped up like rhubarb, and planted to form a new plantation, but that system of planting wquld be very uncertain, a great many of the pieces would not grpw, and the expense of planting and replanting would be far greater than by plants raised •from seed. There is no difficulty about sowiDg the seed — anyone could do it, and the expense of looking after the young planks for four years would be very little for the quantity required for [an acre, if a clean piece of ground is chosen for the nnrsery rows. Seed could easily be . got — , everyone knows what it is like and when it is ripe— that is, just when the pods are beginning to open. The land devoted to phormium would have to be' well fenced, for the plants will not stand the treading of cattle, and that, is the very reason that much of the flax growing in a wild state will never yield a second crop. The coat of ijhe planting of an acre is not very easily estimated. The ground would, of course, have to be well ploughed and harrowed to begin with, but the intermediate root crop ought to nearly pay for that. Tben the furrows in which to put the plants would be made with the single-furrow plough and a marker. Two boys wonld then put in the plants, one laying them down and the other covering them with a spade nr hoe. The number of plants per acre at rows 6ft apart and plants 2ft apa^t in the rows would be 3630, and two boys would put io that number in less than two days. The cost of the four-year-old once transplanted plants wouM be considerably under £1 per thousand. It altogether depends on tbe quantity grown and the sort of ground chosen for the nursery rows. If dressed flax should be £30 per ton in six years' time after this, there is no doubt it would pay to raise it from the seed. If the industry has to be kept going, something mnst be don*i, for the wild flax which is accessible will 3oon get cut, and much of it will never produce a second crop, or if it does, too many years will elapse between the first and second cuttings to make it worth while to protect the plants. Much of the land on our river flats which is subject to occasional floodings would be suitable for flex growing.

The premises and plant of the Ashburton Woollen Manufacturing Company (in liquidation) have been sold to the Mosgiel Company. The latter have agreed to carry on the factory for at least three years. There is every proßpect of the credifcprs of the Ashburton Company having their claims paid in full.

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