November i, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



.V9 



referred to a " cause of much natioual loss to agriculture," 

 existing iu the " immense mass of fertilising matter which 

 runs to waste from all the largo tovfns of the kingdom." 

 It is useless enlarging on this loss here, intimately con- 

 nected though it be with the cost of manuring the land, 

 aud I will, therefore, only add that the best remedy for 

 the waste lies iu the economical manufacture of farmyanl 

 dung by skilful stock farming, and in the continued 

 supply of •' artificial manures " at a moderate price. — T 

 QViCKLI.— Field. 



CULTIVATION OF FLAX IN NEW ZEALAND. 



Consul Griffin states that Phormium texa.v is by f.ar the 

 most valuable fibrous plant indigenous to New Zealand, 

 and since 180!), it has been an article of export. The 

 attention of Europeans was first directed to it by Oaptain 

 Cook, ivho described it as something superior to either 

 flax or hemp. The Maories have for many years used it 

 for binding together the frame-work of their houses, and 

 for making clothing, baskets, fine mats, fishing nets aud 

 lines, and sails for their boats and canoes. Phoi-mimn tenax 

 is sometimes called the flax lily. The leaf varies in size 

 from three to fourteen feet in length, and from half-au-inch 

 to five inches in breadth at the widest part. It grows iu 

 bimches or groups of plants, each shoot has five leaves, 

 and, ou an average, about ten of these shoots form a 

 bunch. The leaves are perennial, hard and sword-shaped, 

 with a stalk rising five or six feet above them, bearing 

 a profusion of yellow, and sometimes red flowers, followed 

 by triangular pods filled with flat and thin black shining 

 seed. The plant attains its full growth in three years, 

 when the leaves generally split at the end, and it first 

 comes into flower. It is said that in rich soil the flower 

 rises to a height of twenty feet. The leaves are smaller 

 than those of European flax and hemp plants, being com- 

 posed of cellular trusses running the whole length of the 

 leaf iucased iu a green substance. The trusses consist of 

 two parts wood aud bast, the latter forming the fibre so 

 higldy prized. The vascular bundles compose the inner 

 bark of the plant, aud serve to circulate the juices which 

 are taken from the soil by the roots ; these consist of 

 exceedingly fine threads, one over-lapping the other in 



, such a manner as to give a free circulation throughout 

 the leaf. The plant is indigenous to New Zealand and 

 Norfolk Island, although it has been transplanted in India 

 and other countries. It grows best in rich, moist, and 



i well-drained grounds, and attains its maximum growth on 

 the banks of running streams. "When the leaves are full 

 growu the natives gather them when green, and separate 

 the fibres ; they scrape the leaves mth a shell, and then 

 divide them with a comb. They are then put in the sun 

 to dry, and when dry are perfectly white, soft and silky 

 to the touch. It takes only a very short time to prepare 

 the fibre, and about one ton of fibre is produced by the 

 natives out nf four and a half tons of green leaves A 

 full-grown plant will produce on au average about thirty- 

 six leaves, besides shoots from the roots, and it takes 

 about six leaves to yield one ounce of fibre. At tliis 

 estimate an acre of ground planted three feet apart would 

 yield about sixteen hundredweight of fibre. There are 

 very many varieties of the Phormium tenn,r, among them 

 being ihe aonga, a variegated flax ; atewhiki, a very white ' 

 fibre, used for making fine mats aud garments, the leaf is 

 narrow with a reddish tinge and bright scarlet lines ; 

 sapoto, cultivated at Ooromaudel, Kawhia, aud Waikata, 

 glossy leaves rather red at the edge, having a general 

 orange green appearance; sararik-i, a species of very fine 

 and soft texture u.sed for making ornamental mats, the 

 leaves tapering, of a dull olive green. There are several 

 flax mills in New Zealand, principally in Auckland, used 

 chiefly for dressing the flax for rope making. Here the 

 green leaves are stripped by revolving rollers with project- 

 ing beaters travelling at a high rate of speed, these crush 

 the epidermis against a fixed jjlate so arranged as to allow 

 room for the fibre to remain intact. The fibre thus freed 

 from the leaf of the plant is washed by various methods, 

 put on the ground or on hues to dry and bleach, finished 

 by an arm or barrel scutch, aud when boiled is ready for 

 market. All the machines used are identical iu principle, 

 aud vary only in the details by which the principle is 

 carri.-d out. This principle is that the leaf is held between 

 00 



horizontal feed rollers, revolving at a certain speed, while 

 as the leaf passes out from them, a drum, armed in its 

 circumference with iron beaters, aud revolving more rapidly 

 tlian the feed rollers, strips the epidermis aud tissues 

 away from the fibre, means being provided for adjusting 

 the beating drum to a proper distance from the roller 

 or bar against which the phormium leaf is stripjied, so 

 that the leaf may neither, on the one liand, pass through 

 without being crushed, nor, on the other, have the fibres 

 cut. The method of preparing fibre by machinery is a 

 great improvement over that pursued by the Maoris, 

 as regards the quantity produced, as they do not obtain 

 from each leaf one-fourth of the <puintity which is obtained 

 in machine dressing. The natives cut oH" the leaves about 

 six inches below the point where the two blades adhere 

 together, and reject the coloured edges; they also take 

 much time and pains in preparing the leaf, often soaking 

 it for fum* or five days in running water, and then beat 

 it with a stone or mallet. This process is repeated over 

 and over again for four or five weeks. Consul Griffin 

 states, however, th.at the fibre dressed by the natives is 

 far more valuable and beautiful than that prepared by 

 machinery. The principal competing fibre with Pkvnniicm 

 ti-iuix is Manilla hemp. This is made from a species of 

 plantain, called J/usa hwlilis, which is planted generally 

 on the slopes of hills, and requires shade and plenty of 

 moisture. The trees are planted about eight feet apart, 

 and are cut down at the end of the third year, and made 

 into fibre. A full-grown tree is estimated to yield about 

 one pound and a-half of hemp. The process of manu- 

 facture is as follows : — The tree is cut down and stripped 

 of its linings ; these are then cut into pieces three or 

 four inches wide, after which they are drawn underneath 

 an instrument resembling a saw fixed iu a block of wood. 

 The fleshy part of the cortex is scraped off, and the 

 fibre alone remains, which is then placed in the sun to 

 dry. Two persons, one engaged in cutting do^vn the trees 

 and stripping them, and the other in extracting the fibre, 

 can work up about 25 pounds of hemp in one day. The 

 value of Plwrmiiin tenax exported from New Zealand, 

 iu the year 1880, amounted to £16,267. — Juiirmd of the 

 Societi/ of Arts. 



FARMING IN JAPAN. 



GK.ilN TEA SILK AND SCO.^H. 



Consul Van Buren, in a report upon the laws, religion, 

 government, &c., of Japan, has given some details respecting 

 the condition of the agricultural classes in that couutiy. 

 He states that the Japanese farmer, under the old system 

 of classes, ranked next to the " Sanuirai," or governing 

 class ; in the new order, he holds the same position iu 

 public opinion and general estimation. He is now owner 

 of the soil he tills, and is taxed according to its producing 

 capacity. The " Kocho," or village officer in all agricult- 

 ural villages, has always been a leading farmer, and some 

 villages had and still have the right to choose this oflicor. 

 His duties were to settle petty disputes, maintain the 

 peace, keep a register of the inhabitants, grant travelling 

 permits, arrest thieves, and to be a general adviser for 

 the whole village. Within the last two years the position 

 and influence of the landholder has been greatly enhanced, 

 a decree having been promulgated, by which local election 

 assemblies have been created, the electors to which are 

 confined to those landholders who pay at least a land 

 tax of 40s. Farmers in Japan have no seasons of nst, 

 as in colder climates, for the climate in nearly all pjirts 

 of the country is so mild in winter as to admit of raising 

 the hardier crops. A considerable percentage of the land- 

 owners are not workers, large numbers of the tea, silk, 

 rice, tobacco, and sugar producers being able to employ 

 labourers. Almost every farmer can read, write, and keep 

 his farm accounts. He sends his sous to school, and his 

 daughters are taught music and needlework at home. Ail 

 labour on a farm is mere hand-work, a plough being seldom 

 seen. Sometimes, in the lowland rice-fields, an implement, 

 five feet in length, with a wooden cross-piece, aud depending 

 iron teeth, twenty inches in length, set four or five inches 

 apart, is used, with a horse, as a pulveriser of the soil, 

 after thf' latter has been thoroughly dug up and worked 

 over with a mattock. Ninety-nino per cent, however, of 

 all labour is still manual. In 'l87S, the number of farmers. 



