CULTIVATION OF NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXV, Issue 3007, 16 June 1870, Page 4

CULTIVATION OF NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

4» (to the editor or the independent.) Sib, — I beg to hand you for publicatioa the following hints on the cultivation of Now Zealand flax from seedß and plants. — I am, &c, W. Dalrymple. Port Chalmers, sth June. The experienced farmer collects his seeds of the best variety and quality, and with a green end, which shows it had been imperfectly ripened, and from a soil and locality different from hjs own. Dead ripe Beed is liable to burst if much rain fall immediately after it is sown. If scods have the desired appearance and smell sweetly, they may be reckoned good. Flax seed may be further tested as onion and tree seeds are, by being cut with a sharp knife, when the color of the kernel will tell the quality. Flax may bo sown after the onions, in beds or rows, in Autumn or in Spring, in rich ground with a fine mould ; keep these clean and thin gradually till three or four inches are left between the plonta. For the Spring or Autumn following dig up with potatoe grape, and, in land well prepared, plant in rows fifteen inches apart and sixty inches between the rows, keep them clean till plants are thirty inches high, when they will take care of themselves. To save transplanting — your land being ready — plump the seed as you would turnip seed, fifteen incheß apart, with bone dust, Peruvian guano, super-phosphate of lime, hen pen, or cubic nitre, eight bushels of bone dust, two cwt Peruvian guano, two cwt of phosphate of lime, two cwb hen pen, and one and one-half cwt cubic nitre. The quantity of either will manure an acre. One and one-half pound of seed will do. It is possible that cubic nitre might be collected on some of the Fiji Islands. I never knew of floricultural or agricultural Beads being soaked in boiling water, or being boiled in water, unless by certuin trades, and that only in large towns, as Liverpool and London, the seed so boiled was known as Try. A, meaning Beed whose power of vegetation had been destroyed. Professional gardeners do use hot water and other stimulants to start vegetation sometimes. To do this requires exceeding care, and knowledge, that heat, light, darkness, sun shade, and shelter, have over plants, with the use of forcing, beds, green-houso and watering-pan. Many wonderful things have been accomplished by the skill of the scientific gardener. Wise agriclturalists only take a leaf from his book, ■which their convenience -will allow them to put in practice. As a corrective of the consequences of over production and want of care in the selecting and growing seed wheat, it is wetted with a ' a solution of sulphate of copper, afterwards bailed up in a heap, till the liquid is soaked in, then sown. If the season is wet, the experienced farmer will Bpread out the heap and have the grain perfectly dry before he sows, for if ever sown very damply, and rain follow quickly, a large portion of the seed will be burst and lost. I have known serious losses from soaking in water Beeds before they were planted, nor am I aware of it being in practice, or it being necessary to give a previous preparation to seeds of any kind before they are sown, tree and shrub seeds oxoepted. Flax seeds are subject to tfho same laws that regulate other seeds. If the land has a fine mould, and damp enough only, and dry enough only, to allow the rake or harrow to perform its office freely, and the weather favorable, sow away. Generally, it "will take three years to boing flax from seed to full- bearing plants, while its roots are planted, it will yield one or two crops yearly, depending on the season, locality, and richness of the land. To prepare it for planting, clear away scrub, tree roots, &c, and 32 in. from the fence, turn over four furrows, Bft wide by 7in. deep; let a second plough, deprived of its mouldboard, but with rather a larger sock, follow the first plough, stirring the ground 7 in. deep below the first furrow. Pass over the next 32 in., and the succeeding 32 in. plough and subsoil as the first, and so on till your field is finished. Thus, ten acres of a twenty acre field, need only to be prepared. On the ploughed land becoming rather dry, stir it well up to the depth of the

first furrow with a drill grubber, cast tussock roots &c, on the unbilled land, niid continue the I grubbing till the land is completely pulverised. Follow with the subsoiling plough, making five furrows in the 32 inches as before, and to the full depth of the first ; and should be so prepared for j seed or seedlings. Subsoiling, or the breaking up of the under soil, is of vast importance, as inincreasing the productive powers of overy kind of crop and land. Find the number of plants required, select the strong well rooted plants, that have not been seed bearers, and from an aspect and soil different from yours, cut away the leaves an inch or two over the fan, cart them to the head ridge of the field, lay a row close together, cover their roots with earth ; lay another row and cover them, and so on till all are covered up from the weather. With a double moulded plough, the ordinary plough will do a second turning 5 make drills as deep as first ploughing at least, and as many only as you think will be planted that day, a line having been drawn at the end of the drills. If your land is rich aud in fine order, you may not manure, but if you can afford the outlay it will pay you. Flax is like celery, the more muck the better. Kelp or other manure wili suit ; if you have to buy, the kinds and quantities per aero already noticed will suit, manure bein<i 1 put in drills, as may suit your views. On the ! line drawn, plant three plants, at every 32 inches another three ; 16 inches within the second line in second drill, plant three plants, and so on every 32 inches ; you first plant on third drill, deep in lino with the plants in fh'at drill, your fourth drill in line with the plants on the second drill and so on. This system of planting is reckoned of much consequence, whon planting out forest trees ; it appears to be more so in the planting of flax. Let a man follow the planter ; firm the plants with his foot, and with a hoe, draw the earth well round them ; 80 or 46 days after planting, earth up with a hoe ; when seed stalk appears, cut it off. Ifc would be well before doing this, if the owner would take a sharp look | over his crop ; he might have some plants of a better kind than the others, which he would mark — theirseedsto be saved and rootsto bo propagated from. When leaves eeem firm and slightly are changing their color, and getting split at the point, secure the crop by cutting a little over the fan, throw the cuttings over the cut plant, and leave for a day or two : they will protect it from bleeding till the wounds heals. Crop being removed, draw the surface earth from the plant, apply manure if you have it, dung or no dungj draw fresh earth— you have plenty of that- -well up on the old plants and young shoots : this earthing up and manuring every time a crop is removed. If the land gets flax-sick, it may be renovated by ploughing up the 32 inches left between the drills, as the portion under crop was done. After the first ploughing, lay on two tons of anslacked limo per acre, follow immediately with the grubber as before, then the second Bubsoiling, open your drills, apply your manure, choose your plants from the old drill and plant as before. Or fill a cask with -water and sulphuric acid, one pound of the acid to sixteen pounds of \ ivater— to the tap in the cask add an iron tube perforated, to allow the liquid to escape at the given time for the application of the lime ; let the drill harrow pass twice over the land, throw aside all rubbish, then apply the liquid two cwt of the acid to an acre ; harrow away until the ground is perfectly broken, and finish as with the lime ; these instructions followed, your land will continue ' flax growing. The Messrs Tenant, in Britain, sold this acid for the making of super-phosphate of lime at 95s to 105s per ton ; they imported their materiul. It could bo made at a low price here, sulphur being plentiful in the colony. Land that will produce wheat will produce flax ; both must have musk. The mosb profitable land to grow flax on is on river sides, within flood marks, where other crops are liable to be injured or destroyed bj floods. I have observed that flax is nothing the worse for water settling round and on it for a time. On the 19th February I planted some in various ways ; in a month some grew thirteen inches, with young shoots from the root ; another way, only two or three inches ; and. yet another, plants healthy only; and yet another, plants seem in a state of decay. When Spring comes, the appearance of all may change, which changes I may report. My reasons for writing the letter are many — one especially, to offer and elicit information. I will be highly pleased if it calls into field men of moro practical knowledge, who may kindly point to errors I may have fallen into, and their remedy.