870 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May i, 1885. 



(r 



land is fairly moist. The kind of flax grown by the 

 Maories in old days for their fine mats, fish-lines, &c., is that 

 called "Tihore," and they always planted it on ground 

 such as I describe. 



Mrs. Halcombe some mouths ago sent you a bag of flax 

 T.) seed through General Fielding. It would be 



ou"h to try the experiment of cultivation with this at first. 

 T believe, that it would do well with you, hut you will, 

 I expect, have to use machinery for working it, unless the 

 Sinhalese are like our Maories of old days, utterly careless 

 of the value of time 



The information I am able to give you as to the results 

 or the cost of cultivation is very scant, for no one does 

 cultivate it methodically. The plant when cultivated will 

 last very many years, so the cost of planting would bo 

 debited to a great many years cutting, and the produce 

 of green leaf per acre from land properly cultivated and 

 properly cut plants I have no means of estimating, but 



1 am quite sure that I am within the mark in saying 

 that you would get three tons of mature leaves the third 

 vear which would give a ton of clean fibre. 



J A. Foixett Halcombe. 



p <y 1 aee foy the Government return that last year 



2 013 tons of Phormium Tenax valued at £ 30,667 were ex- 

 ported from New Zealand. So the process of cleaning 

 must pay where the supply of the raw material is 

 plentiful. 



QUESTIONS. 



I Does the cultivation of Phormium Tenax by itself 

 pay anywhere? and if so, what are generally the essentials 

 to its profitable cultivation? 



What would be considered a fair average return per 

 acre over an extent of, say, 50 acres exclusive of cost of 



° P 3 What should be the ordinary cost of labor per head 

 per' diem under such circumstances? 



4 What soil does it flourish in best ? 



5' Will it grow profitably under a tropical sun 110° to 

 (?) ' 120 Fahr. and in a temperature of from 80° to 90° Fahr. 



lI> 6 Will it grow profitably on land that is under water 

 part of the year and parched up with drought at another ? 



7 Will it grow profitably in swamps or in land that is 

 almost, if not entirely, under water all the year round ? And 



8 How should it be planted in such land? 



9 How is an ordinary clearing of it planted up ? 



10 Is it propagated from seed (or bulbs) or plants, and 

 if the former, should the seed be planted in a nursery or 

 at stake or broadcast, and if planted from the nursery, at 

 what distance apart should the plants be put out? 



II Do the young plants ever require shade? 

 lo' Does the clearing require weeding? 



13' Where can seed be obtained and at what cost ? 



14 How much seed does it take to plant an acre ? 



15 Does it require any particular care after it is once 

 planted out until it comes to maturity ? 



16. Does it require manuring ? ■_ •' 



17. How long does it take from time of sowing to first 



Cr 18. How many times a year can a plant be cropped ? 

 IP - How and when is it cropped? 

 20' How manj days' labor of one man does an acre re- 



"1? Vris'urfla^prepared for the market ? ai inido 

 and in detail, please. 1st by hand, and if machinery is used 

 2nd by machinery. N. B.-A* an enterprise for the natives 

 machinery would be out of the question here, at the begm- 



"' 2! Where is the best market first? and what is the pre- 



P af n toSto™AeU limited one or would demand increase 



with supply? 



REPLIES 

 ' Plwrmimn Tenax," its Cultivation, $c., 

 h,i Mr. Le Mesurier. 



1 In New Zealand the P. T. has never been cultivated 

 except in very small quantities by the natives and as a 

 garden plant by Europeans. 



to Questions re 



2. We have no experience in New Zealand sufficient to 

 give a reply to this. 



3. The cost of labour in New Zealand is from 4s to 

 6s per diem. 



4. The P. T. does best on a rich, well-drained, alluvial 

 soil which is subject to occasional inundation, such as 

 low-lying flats by the sides of rivers. 



5. It will, I think, grow profitably under a hotter sun 

 than New Zealaud. In the northern extreme of New 

 Zealand it flourishes well under a summer heat quite as 

 great as suggested. 



6. I do not think the P. T. would flourish uuder a 

 very loug drought, but in -such a soil as that suggested ' 

 in para 4th it would stand several months drought 

 when once fairly established. 



7. The P. T. will grow in swamps, but the fibre from 

 the swamp flax is not as valuable as an article of cuin- 

 merce, and the cost of collection wonld be greatly in- 

 creased by the difficulty of working in mud and water. 



8. It should not be planted at all in such land; 



9. The plauts should be four feet apart, in rows five 

 feet apart. With an extra space about every tenth row- 

 sufficient for a native cart to move for collection of the ■ 

 leaves. 



10. The P. T. is propagated by seed, which should be 

 planted in a nursery, and planted out at a twelvemonth 

 old, as detailed in para 9th. 



11. The young plants are very hardy and would not 

 require shade unless transplanted in very dry hot weather 

 which would not be advisable. 



12. The plantation would require to be kept clean 

 until the Phormium Tenax plants has taken full possession 

 of the ground which would be in the third year from the 

 sowing of the seed, if the ground were rich. 



13. The best way to get seed would be to apply to the 

 New Zealaud Government through your Government; Dr. 

 Hector who is curator of the Government Gardens in 

 Wellington and an enthusiast on all such matters would 

 get it for you ; the cost would be a mere bagatelle. 



14. I do not know, but from J to i lb. would I think 

 be sufficient. 



15. No, except that like all other plants it does better 

 to be kept clean and the surface of the soil between the 

 plauts occasionally stirred. 



16. I have never heard of manure being used, but doubt- 

 less the soil should be kept in heart to enable it to yield 

 some three or four tons of green leaf containing more 

 than a ton of fibre every year. I think that at least the 

 refuse vegetable matter should be returned to the soil. 

 Of course a periodical inundation would be a manuring. 



17. The second year after planting the plant should be 

 sufficiently grown to commence the cutting, but the crop 

 should be increased in quantity year by year for some years 

 afterwards. 



18. The process of cropping is continuous ; as the outer 

 leaves of each section grow to maturity they are trimmed 

 oil' and leave room for the immature leaves in the centre of 

 section to grow. 



19. The cropping would go on in Ceylon, I should think, 

 nearly or quite the whole year round. 



20. I do not know, and if a horse-hoe or scraper were 

 used for weeding the manual labor would be very small. 



21. The Phormium Tenax which is prepared for market 

 for Europeans is dressed by machinery. The machinery 

 is very simple, viz. revolving scrapers against which the 

 Phormium Tenax is held by spring plates. The native pro- 

 cess by hand is maceration in running water. The Maories 

 prepare the best Phormium Tenax by a very tedious process : 

 they take half leaf of the Phormium Tenax, cut through the 

 layer of fibres lying in the inner part of the leaf with a sharp 

 shell, leaving the outer layer of fibres (which are the finest 

 and most free from gum) intact, then pressing the back of the 

 leaf upon and over a bit of hoop iron, the inner layer of fibre 

 is run off and thrown away, leaving the outer layer of 

 fibre with fine epidermis of the leaf upon it. When this 

 is dry the skin is easily knocked off from the fibre, and in 

 this way the most valuable fibre only is secured, which is 

 less than half of the fibre, the leaf contains. For the Sin- 

 halese the separation of the fibre from the vegetable matter 

 surrounding it would best be done by beating in running 

 water. 



