1T0 



extensive cultivation is that the variety with drooping leaves, 

 usually grown in gardens, is not the form which gives the best 

 yield of fibre. The other and more weighty reason is that 



le to grow New Zealand Flax in places 

 for which it is not suited. In such places it may grow, but the 



ma 



growth is so slow that, as a commercial undert alang, there could 

 be no possibility of success. 



In order to overcome the first difficulty the Director of Kew 

 approached the High Commissioner for New Zealand some years 

 ago with the request that plants of the best fibre-yielding 

 varieties of Phormium might be sent over from New Zealan 

 for experimental cultivation in the British Isles. 



The first consignment of plants from New Zealand reached 

 Kew in September, 1914, and consisted of eighteen named 

 varieties, and the following list of their names was supplied by 

 the High Commissioner: — 



o 



Awanga Putaiore 



Pare Tarewha Ngatanui 



Arero Whara Whara Pare Kori 



Tutaemanu Tamatea 



Parakawariki - Tupari 



Mukama Hutero 



& 





Oene 



Itautamoa 



r 



Katirawkawa . Matukaroimata 



U Tihore Kopupungawa. 



Sets of these plants were distributed to the Scottish Board of 



k ■ *■ _ W -— i "* mam ■ a ^ am _ mm mm 



-, r , M_^ 



ol Lansdowne, Derreen, Co. Kerry, and to the late Mr. T. A. 

 Dorrien-Smitli, Tresco, Isles of Scilly. * The four plants which 

 survived at Kew were sent for trial to the Magnetic Observatory, 



gnolni 



varieties are growing well at Tresco Abbey. One is a strong- 



growing, long-leaved form with leaves some 8 ft. long, curved 

 over at the top, glaucous in colour with a brown mid-rib, the 

 other is a dwarf form of spreading habit with erect pale green 

 leaves. The names have unfortunately been lost. The plants 

 sent to Eskdalemuir succumbed to the severe frost in the winter 

 of 1915, so that the higher moorland of Scotland does not 

 appear to be suitable to the growth of New Zealand Flax. 



Thanks to the kind offices of the High Commissioner a further 

 consignment of Phormium tenax was received at Kew from New 

 Zealand in July, 1915, but of these only six arrived in a living 

 condition and at the present time there is only one survivor, the 

 others having succumbed to the cold of the winter at Kew. 



In December, 1918, another consignment of seventeen named 

 varieties was sent over from New Zealand at the request of the 

 High Commissioner, and arrived in very good condition. 



In order to test the suitability of these plants for British 

 conditions they have all been sent to the Rt. Hon. Lord Ventry, 

 at Burnham. Dingle, Co. Kerrv, for trial under conditions most 



growth and the experim 



TTl 



* 



t 



r 





I 



We learn from Maior A. A. Dorrien-Sniith that two of the * 





' 





