OBSTACLES TO THE UTILIZATION OF NEW ZEALAND FLAX. 343 
The Maoris, hitherto the only flax-dressers, are disappearing, only 
more slowly, though not less surely, than much of the indigenous ve- 
getation ; and at present the colonial population is comparatively so 
limited, and the demand for labour in connection with the gold-fields 
and the agricultural and pastoral interests so all-absorbing, that none 
is available for a field that doe3 not at once offer a high rate of remu- 
neration. The shrewd and observant Maoris have long recognized the 
superiority of the produce of cultivation, and have given themselves 
the trouble of cultivating, solely for its fibre, the New Zealand flax- 
plant, as carefully as they do their Maize or Potato as food-plants. 
Their methods of cultivation are, however, comparatively rude ; and it 
remains for colonists to determine, by experiment on the large scale, 
what are the most suitable forms and circumstances of cultivation, in 
reference especially to such practical and important points as the kind 
of soil, or the artificial aids to growth. 
■ 
II. Quality of the fibre. 
Hitherto, almost exclusively, experiment has been made on the wild 
or native plant. But, as has been already stated, the Maoris have 
long been familiar with the fact, that the produce of the cultivated 
plant is superior ; and they recognize, moreover, different varieties of 
the plant as yielding different qualities of fibre. Experiment and ob- 
servation have, however, yet to determine, — 
1. What are the botanical varieties or species, which yield the 
best qualities of fibre, whether in the 
A. Cultivated, or 
B. Wild plant. 
2. What are the best methods of cultivating the preferable varie- 
ties or species. 
3. What is the best time for cutting down and preparing the leaf. 
The colonist has yet also to imitate or rival (before he surpasses), on 
the large scale, the primitive means by which the Maori prepares the 
fibre so as to preserve its characteristic properties undamaged ; he has 
vet to contrive suitable processes, chemical and mechanical,— more 
especially the latter— for dressing, bleaching, and dyeing the fibre. It 
has been obviously a common error of experimentalists to conclude 
that the processes and machinery, which have proved successful in pre- 
paring other fibres, should be equally suitable and successful here. 
But we are yet, I think, so far from knowing what are the best methods 
