April 2, 190b.'\ Agricultural Gazette of N.S.TF, 297 



(luring 190(5, to the value of .£3,552,359 ; tow, under ilie same head, to the 

 value of £159,808. Jute, during the same period, was imported to the value 

 ot" £8,341 268. The grand total of importations of flax, hen)p, and jute,, 

 being £15,012,002. 



Australian Imports. 



The importations of fibre into Australia for th^; 3'ear 1906, under the 

 head of Flax and Hemp, am lunted to 87,954 ewt., valued at £167,281 ; 

 other fibre being also imported valued at £12,400. 



Linseed and linseed meal was imported to the value of £5,700. 



Linseed cake and oil cake valued at £1,388, and the value of linseed oil 

 imported amounted to £105,309, the quantity being 1,032,118 gallons. 



The importation of fibre* from New Zealand amounted to £77,374, and 

 linseed grain to the value of £480. 



Tlie countries where flax is mostly produced are British India, Russia. 

 Ar-;entine, and the United States. 



The United States Department of Agriculture has devoted a considerable 

 amount of attention to flax culture, and in 1903 Professor H. L. Bolley was 

 sent to European countries to investigate the conditions of flax culture, and a 

 very useful bulletin by Mr W. L. Marcey, being extracts from Professor 

 Policy's report, was issued in 1907. 



The following information given under separate heads will be of value to 

 intending flax-growers in this State : — 



Climatic Conditions. 



The regions in which the flax crop has been successfully grown, either for 

 fibre or for seed, cover a wide latitude, being within the 10th and 65 ch 

 parallels of north latitude. New culture areas in southern latitudes also 

 show the crop successfully grown under similar climatic conditions. As at 

 present cultivated in Europe, the limitations as to climate are rather sharply 

 defined. These are probably matters of variety and strain, which have 

 become established because of unintelligent cultivation rather than because 

 of any definite attempts which growers have made to obtain new and suited 

 strains or varieties. 



Temperature, rainfall, atmospheric humidity, and soil type directly govern 

 plant distribution. Generally speaking, the flax crop may be said to grow 

 best in the colder parts of the temperate region. 



As far as the growth of the seed crop is concerned, its region of culture 

 may be stated to be similar to that of successful spring wheat cultivation, 

 while the fibre crop is at })resent produced in regions of heavier rainfall and 

 somewhat cooler and more cloudy skies than those in which spring wheat is 

 usually grown with success. The crop may also be said to possess either 

 general capabilities or varieties and strains, which allow of the production of 

 fair crops of seed flax at least to the southern limits of winter-wheat 

 producing regions. 



" Flax ami hemp. 



