CULTIVATION OF PHORMIUM TENAY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 4548, 25 May 1889, Page 3

CULTIVATION OF PHORMIUM TENAY.

As a good deal of discussion is going on amongst those interested m tho flax industry, as to the future supply of the raw material and v to the time that mast olapie before a aetond cutting con be (jot, or as to tho possibility of growipg Iho plants liko olljer farm crops, a reporter of the Southland Nem* collected the following information from llr T. Waugh, corporation gardener : — Mr Waugh say» there aro some phormium plants growing m the Corporation Nursery which were raised from seed and are now eight or nine yeara old. They might bava been cut two years ngo, which would make the time from the seed sowing to the catting at least six years. The seed would bare to be sown m nursery rows, m the same way as tree seeds, July or August being the time. Light soil is best for it, as for other seeds, and rows aro better than beds, because they fan be more easily weeded. Tho young planta would stand two years m the seed rows, and the quantity pequjred to piling an acre |would, for these two yearr, oocupy a very emsll piece of ground. Whan taken up they would be too small to plant out permanently, but should be transplanted into other nursery rows, and a few inches between esch plant nllowed. The plants would occupy these rows during tho third and fourth seasons, and would then be ready to plant out m their permanent jU^ions, Allowing other two t^rm for the plants to roaoh n|iUurlty would nialto them six years old, as before stated, at the first cutting. Sowing phormium whero it wai intended to grow permanently would nevor do at all, I ho oipenso of keeping the ground clean would bo so great, and if tho weeds wore not kept down they would choke tho plants. During tho time tho young plants were m tho nursery rows/ the land ultimately to be occupied by tliqm could bp cropped ai)d thns mad.c lit to receivo tho plants, and if tub permanent rows wore made live or six foct apart, some kind of root crop could be grown between them, so as to pay for keoping the land tilled and free from weeds. Even at the end of six yeuts the crop would not be a large ono— certainly not two torn of dressed (hi f,y (h.n a^r?, !U some peoplo «ny lh"y L'ct ;

js | but even one ton at present prices makes it worth considering whether phormium could not ba grown us a farm crop. £30 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 tho second cutting would bo greater the plants by that time having stooled out and taken up the whole of the ground, and completely suppressed the weeds. Ihe second cutting would be got m two, three, or four years according to circumstances, but very little is known how tho plants would act m a cultivated state. One cannot judgo by phormium growing m a wild etaio. Some old established plants growing by the side of a creek might produce a seeoad 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 liko rhubarb, and planted to form a new plantation, but that system of planting would be very uncertain, a great'many of the pieces would not grow and the expense of planting and replanting would he far greater than by plants raised from seed. There is no difficulty about sowing tho seed— anyone could do it, and the expense of looking after the young plants for four years would be Tery little for the quantity required for an acre, if a clean piece of ground is chosen for the nursery rows. Seed could easily be got — everyone knows what it is like and when it is rips —that is, just when the pods are beginning to open. llie land devoted to phormium would have to be well fenced, for the plants will not ttind the treading of cattle, and that is tho very reason that much of the (lax growing m a wild state will never yield a second orop. Tho cost of tho planting of an acre is not very easily estimated. The ground would, of course, liayo to be well ploughed and harrowed to begin with, but the intermediate root crop ought to nearly pay for that. Then tho furrows m which to put the plants would bo made with the single fuwow plough and a marker. Two boys would then put m the plants, one laying them down and the other covering them with a spade or hoe. The number of plants per acre at rows 6ft apart and plants 2ft apart m the rows would be3S3o,and two boys would put m that number m loss than two dayß. The cost of the four year old once transplanted plants would be considerably under £ I a thousand. It altogether depends on the quantity grown and the sort of ground chosen for the nursery rows. If dressed flax should be £30 per ton m six years' time after this, there is no doubt it would pay to raise it from the iced. If the industry has to be kept going, something must be done, for the while tlax which is accessible will soon 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 Hats which is subject to occasional floodings would be suitable for flax growing.