May i, 1885.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



869 



of February there has been no growth of stems on the 

 plants not watered, while on the adjoining plants that 

 have been irrigated the stems are four feet long. The 

 unwatered plants, though not growing, are alive and 

 strong, and appear to have made root freely, although 

 not so strongly as those watered. There is also very 

 great difference in the growth of plants in the hollows 

 and on the ridges, showing their appreciation of good 

 soil and moisture, and the plants in the open have 

 apparently done better than those under shade. Three 

 of the original roots, which have not been cut up 

 for propagation, and which were planted in a nursery 

 in February 1884, have now over 20 stems each, which 

 will shortly be tit for cutting. It is not until the third 

 year after planting that the normal crop can be 

 expected. Two hundred and fifty acres of forest land 

 have been prepared for planting with rhea here. 



The largest trees have been left standing for shade, 

 at distances of about 50 feet. The site selected is on 

 the slopes of a valley surrounding the mill-house, 

 the top of the range being about 600 feet above the 

 mill. Three streams of water are available for irrig- 

 ation, and three main channels carrying the water 

 round the hill-sides have been made at about 200 feet 

 in elevation apart. The jungle is lopped, heaped and 

 burnt, so as to save the standing shade trees from 

 fire. The soil is then thoroughly dug over to a depth 

 of twelve inches and all roots run over. It is then laid 

 out in beds, on the slope of the hill, with intervening 

 water channels, at distances of 6 and 12 feet, according 

 ing to the lay of the land. In China and in 

 Algeria the plants are put down at a distance of 18 

 inches from each other, which on level land with- 

 out drains or obstacles would give 16,000 plants to 

 the acre ; but it is generally found necessary to 

 remove the alternate plants in the Eecond or third 

 year. Aa tillage is very necessary, and on 18 

 inches there is no room for even a pick to turn 

 the soil, while, from our present short experience, 

 the ground is covered at 18 inches apart in one 

 year, we have decided on planting the rows three 

 feet apart, and the plants 18 inches apart in the rows ; 

 this, with allowance for drains, trees and stumps, 

 gives about 7,000 plants to the acre. 



As the produce is of a very bulky nature, a cart- 

 road has been made to tap the main fields, and 

 numerous foot-paths to facilitate work. It is also 

 proposed to lay wire ropes from the principal ridges 

 to the mill to shoot down the raw stems. 



For exogenous fibre plants like rhea the decortic- 

 ation process by steam of Monsieur Favier is most 

 useful. Steam generators or boilers have been made, 

 to weigh wheu empty about 6 cwt., which can be 

 wheeled along estate roads and the stems carried to 

 them and skinned in the field, saving the carriage of 

 the weighty stems to the mill. " 



This process as well as the machines of Messrs. 

 Death & Ellwood;will be thoroughly tried, so that 

 the comparative cost and value of the results by the two 

 processes can be tested. The Btcaming process has been 

 tried on the young shoots of the conocephalus satis- 

 factorily, but not on a sufficient scale to judge of the cost. 

 But we are satisfied as to the successful growth of 

 the rhea, and that it can be treated by either the 

 Death & Ellwood machines or by M. Favier's steam- 

 ing process, and in the course of another twelve months 

 commercial results will be obtained. 



The Gleurock Company are also erecting mills for the 

 treatment of the indigenous moorva fibre in the 

 Bhowani Valley under the auspices of Mr. H. P. 

 Hodgson and Mr. C. A. I'aterson, and are laying 

 down fields of rhea and fourcroya. 



The water channel some 3£ miles long to bring water 

 for the turbine there is a b'g business, but extensive 

 operations will shortly be carried on there. — Yours 

 faithfully, .T.W. MINCHIN. 



NEW ZEALAND FLAX— IS CEYLON SUITED 

 FOR ITS CULTIVATION? 



Matara, 15th April 1S85. 

 Deak Sir.,— I send you some papers connected with 

 the cultivation of the Phormium leiinx for any use 

 you may care to put them to. 



It appears to me that the rich alluvial land along 

 the banks of the Mahaweliganga near Trincomalee 

 would be admirably suited to the cultivation of this 

 flax. I thought at one time that the swamps in the 

 Matara district could be utilized for the new pro- 

 duct, but Mr. Halcombe's replies to my queries have 

 quite knocked this idea on the head. — Yours faithfully 

 C. J. R. LE MESURIER. 



Lichfield, Auckland, New Zealand, 12th Feb. 1885. 

 O. J. R. Le Mesurier, Esq., Ceylon. 



My dear Sir, — Mrs. Halcombe has given me your letter 

 of the 12th Oct. 1S84 to reply to, and as I happened to 

 be a member of a Commission appointed by our New 

 Zealand Government to enquire and report on the in- 

 dustries connected with the Phormium Tenax, I am sup- 

 posed, though possibly erroneously, to know something 

 about it. 



As perhaps you are aware, some years ago New Zealand 

 was a little mad upon the subject, everyone who had a 

 few acres of flax (Phormium tenax) if he was wise sold it 

 at a very high rate, but if he were a lunatic, as most of 

 us were, bought machinery and expected to make a fort- 

 une, and very many thousands of pounds were spent in 

 starting flax-mills all of which came to utter grief. There 

 were two grand reasons for the failure. 1st, that the self- 

 grown supply had been in every case enormously over- 

 rated, and 2nd, that it could not stand the high rate of 

 wages which obtain in New Zealand. 



With cultivation and with cheap labor I believe it would 

 pay. But before putting money into it I would very 

 strongly advise you to find out all about the cultivation 

 of the Manila hemp (also a species of aloe, I believe) as 

 its fibre commands a better prioe in the market, and I 

 am under the impression that it is more easily cleaned. 



You know, I presume, the appearance of the Phormium 

 Tenax plant and the general character of its growth ; if 

 you do not, I shall probably have a difficulty in making 

 myself understood. 



I and my fellow-Commissioners came to the conclusion 

 that only under cultivation was the .Phormium Tenax 

 likely to become a staple article of commerce. Growing 

 wild as it does so freely in New Zealand, the person col- 

 lecting the raw material has many disadvantages to 

 contend against; the plants are spread on perhaps 20 

 times the area which the same number of plants really 

 require for their growth, and a lot of rubbish of various 

 kinds has to be cleared away by the collector. Then the 

 facilities of getting at the Phormium Tenax when bundled 

 were in most cases anything but good. Then, and wcrst 

 of all, the system of cutting was always reckless in the 

 extreme, only the outer leaves of each palmated frond 

 were mature, but the whole frond was cut off including 

 two sets of leaves both immature and both useless, which 

 should have been left for future supply, and their cutting 

 bled the plant to death. 



As fully three tons of green leaf are required to pro- 

 duce one ton of fibre, the importance of reducing the cost 

 of collection and carriage of raw material is, you will see, 

 very great. This expense, in fact, with our high price of 

 labor, and the bad quantity of it into the bargain, killed 

 the industry, and the only mills which are at work now, 

 aud they are doing well, are some small ones which get 

 their raw material cut by Maories and carried by water 

 to the mill, and where the proprietor of the mill does all 

 the work without hired labor. 



I feel aware that the climate of Ceylon is admirably 

 adapted for P. T., and when I was at Point de Galle a 

 few years ago, I saw plenty of patches of ground where 

 it would have grown to perfectiou. It is a mistake to 

 suppose that the P. T. likes swamps. It grows in swamps 

 cei-tainly, but it does best on really well-drained, rich, 

 light, alluvial sod -vhich gets an occasional overflow of 

 I water, but it will do very well without tho overflow if tho 



