556 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



The plant forms large tufts, and lias sword-shaped leaves, growing in 

 opposite rows, and clasping each other at the base. One variety forms 

 leaves 5 and feet long, while another is not more than half the length. 

 Mr. Salesbnry, of the botanic garden, Chelsea, found that plants three 

 years old will produce on an average 36 leaves, besides a number of off- 

 sets. Six- leaves have produced one ounce of dry, available fiber after 

 having been scutched and cleaned, at which rate an acre of land croi)ped 

 with these plants, growing 3 feet apart, would yield more than GOO 

 jjounds of dressed fiber. The leaves being cut in the autumn, others 

 spring up anew the following summer. It is said that the i)lant may bo 

 shorn of its leaves in the morning, and before the sun has set be ready 

 for weaving into cloth. Koyle states the leaves are cut when fall grown, 

 macerated in water for a few days, and then passed under a weighted 

 roller. 



The principal operation is scraping and then separating the fibers with 

 the thumb-nail, after which combs are employed for a more minute sep- 

 aration. The fibers are subsequently dried in the sun, and are perfectly 

 white — some short and strong, others fine and silky. According to the 

 reports published by the Kew Zealand commissioner at the Exhibition 

 of 1876, the Maoris (or natives) only use a portion of the fiber upon one 

 side of the leaf, the leaves being selected with great care. They scrape 

 the leaf with a muscle-shell, or piece of hoop-iron, on the thigh, after 

 which it is soaked in water and then dried. Their finest samples are 

 obtained from particular varieties of the plant, only the youngest and 

 best leaves being used, and careful attention being paid to the ma- 

 nipulation. " This native-dressed fiber, however, constitutes but a small 

 portion of the fiber actually prepared on the island, as large manufac- 

 tories have been erected, where the fiber is stripped by machinery." Two 

 modes of dressing the fiber are practiced, known as the " cold" and the 

 "warm" water dressing. The leaves of the flax are fed to a machine 

 called a stripper at the rate of 100 to 120 feet per minute. The drums 

 of these stripping-machines are driven at the rate of 1,000 to 2,000 rev- 

 olutions per minute, their diameter being from 14 to 20 inches. After 

 passing through the strijipers, the partially-cleaned fiber is hand -washed 

 in bundles of about 20 leaves ; these bundles are suspended in water, 

 and are allowed to soak for al)out t*f0 hours ; the fiber is then spread 

 out on the bleaching-ground for a time, which varies according to the 

 weather, and then hung on lines to dry. It is then either scutched or 

 hackled, or both, packed in bales, and pressed for shipment. When the 

 stripper is in good order, and the fiber has been fairly cleaned, the loss 

 in scutching amounts to from 3 to 5 cwt.. per ton, and in hackling from 

 2 to 3 cwt. In the warm-water dressing the same operations are gone 

 through with, with the exception that the fiber is washed and placed to 

 soak from six to twenty-four hours in tanks filled with warm water, 

 which is either kept lieated by means of fire or a steam-pipe. 



]S'ew Zealand fiax fiber is almost white in color, flexible, soft, and of 

 a silky luster. The bundles of fibers form filaments of unequal size 

 which are easily separated by friction. It has considerable elasticity, 

 but readily cuts v/ith the nail. I\Iicroscopically examined, according to 

 Vetillart, the fibers are remarkable for their slight adherence. The in- 

 dividual fibers seem very regular, having a uniform thickness, and the 

 surface is smooth ; they are stiff, straiglit, and very fine, and the cen- 

 tral cavity is very apparent. 



As to tenacity, Eoyle gives the breaking point of New Zealand flax, 

 compared with flax and hemp, as 23.7 to 11.75 and 16.75, respectively. 

 In the oijicial hand-book of iSTew Zealand it is stated that "during a 



