636 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. [Sep. 2, 1920. 



Flax-growing in Victoria** 



R. G. DOWNING, B.Sc. (Agr.), Acting Senior Experimentalist. 



The growing of flax for seed alone has been attended with very similar 

 results in Victoria to those obtained in New South Wales, and the Common- 

 wealth Flax Committee does not recommend the crop for districts with a 

 rainfall under 30 inches per annum. • 



It has been found possible, under such conditions, however, to obtain 

 yields of botli seed and dax fibre from the same crop, and in 1918 this 

 rasulted in an average yield of about 2 tons per acre on land with a capital 

 value of about £25 per acre. 



The system by which the Commonwealth Government takes over the crop 

 from the gr<)wer, guaranteeing him a price ])er ton about three months 

 before sowing time, means that the Government has to estimate the probable 

 movement of the market at least two years ahead. Consequently the 

 estimate has to be based on a somewhat conservative valuation, bonuses 

 being paid in respect of any excess price that is realised. Thus fibre from 

 the 1918 crop, when recently marketed in England, realised £.325 per ton. 

 The growers were paid the original guaranteed price of £5 per ton, but 

 have also been paid one bonus of £2 per ton, and it is expected that at least 

 another £2 per ton will be distributed. 



It might be explained that from 1 ton of flax straw, as it leaves the farmers 

 only 1 cwt. of fibre is usually obtained by the flax miller, though in some 

 years the proportion is higher — 1 cwt. of fibre being obtained from 15 cwt. 

 of straw. 



Mr. G. Wolff, who, besides planting about 20 acres with flax, runs a flax 

 mill in Drouin, and who has been connected with the flax industry in 

 Victoria for the last twentj'^-six years as both grower and miller, informed me 

 that he considered the Government would have been quite safe in 

 guaranteeing £10 instead of £6 per acre to the grower. 



It is estimated that about 2,500 acres will be put under flax in Victoria 

 this year. One of the most successful Victorian growers plants from 20 

 to 30 acres with flax each year, and in one year obtained 77 tons from 

 25 acres. This gentleman stresses thorough preparation of the land and 

 early sowing in order to obtain any success. The c;rop should be at least 

 3 inches high bifore winter sets in, as the growth is checked very much by 

 cold weather in the early stages. He recommends sowing at the rate of 

 60 lb. per acre, and prefers a fertiliser consisting of equal parts of bonedust 

 and .superphosphate, at about 1 cwt. per acre, ratlier than superphosphate 

 alone, as heavy applications of tlie latter seem to encourage weeds in the 

 early stages of the crop's growth. 



Although continual growing of the crop on the same land is not recom- 

 mended, one fanner in Gippsland has grown thirteen crops in fifteen years 

 and the second last crop averaged 2.^ tons per acre. A rotation is desirable, 

 for most land tends to become dirty after one crop, and a fungus disease 

 similar to " take-all " in wheat is liable to occur, when land is said to be 

 "flax sick." 



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* Eixtracted from a report on a visit to the flax-growing districts of Victoria. 



