New Zealand Flax.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12463, 12 February 1909, Page 2

New Zealand Flax.

New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) has not yet taken that position among commercial fibre plants to which it: is unquestionably entitled (says '-'The Field," London).- If is unrivalled for its yield of fibre, no less than 15 per cent of its; fresh leaves being pure fibre of excellent- quality, ; and the plant is as tenacious of life as a dock if the conditions as 'regards climate and soil are suitable. In New Zealand it is of more economic importance than any native plant, except, perhaps, the kauri pine.aUd theMaorisare very clever in extracting the fibre by hand. The only obstacle to the plant becoming of first importance among the vegetable fibres of the world is the difficulty so far' experienced in constructing a machine or hitting upon a process that will extract the fibre at a : reasonable cost. The New Zealand Government, aware of the importance of their flax indu stry, have collected together all the. forms or varieties, and are cultivating them side by side, with the object of testing their respective qualities. They also insist on all exported -fibre being inspected »_<_ graded for _the security of traders; The prospect of labour in New Zealand being more costly than in other countries where this phormium can be cultivated is likely to widen the field of this particular industry. In Ireland, for example, there are many districts where the plant would grow well ; in fact it is already represented in many of the gardens there by examples equal to any that New Zealand could show. It is also quite at home in the open air in some parts of Devon and Cornwall, "and in the Scilly Isles it has become naturalised. Attempts are being made to establish the phormium industry in the United States, and for. years there have heen plantations of it in St. Helena. There the plants are raised from off-sets planted six feet apart, or 1250 to the acre, tho first crop of learves being taken from them four years afterwards } and they continue to yield a crop every year for an indefinite period.. The cultivation of . the plant therefore presents .no difficulty, and the fibre obtained from it being soft, white, silky, with a breaking strain than either hemp or flax, would be certain of a market if the supply were to be inincreased a hundredfold ph what it is at present. .