98 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



country in which it was first discovered, and to pro- 

 mote its culture in Australia, and while the constant 

 and repeated failures of the imported seed have been 

 matter of regret, the identical plant has been recently 

 discovered flourishing luxuriantly in the south of 

 Ireland. 



It appears that this plant was brought to Ireland 

 by Mr. Underwood in the year 1798, where it has 

 been cultivated as an ornamental plant ever since. 

 Mr. Salisbury *, of the Botanical Garden, Chelsea, 

 found in his researches six years ago, that the 

 phormium tenax was then growing in the open 

 ground in gardens in Waterford, Cork, Limerick, 

 Louth, Dublin, and Wicklow counties, it being a 

 perfectly hardy plant ; on one estate it has been 

 cultivated for thirty years successively, during which 

 time it was only once or twice triflingly affected by 

 frost in the tops of the leaves. Some of these plants 

 are likewise growing at the seat of Lord Cawdor in 

 Pembrokeshire, and at several places near to Exeter. 

 It is not yet cultivated to any extent in Ireland for 

 purposes of utility, but since the climate has been 

 proved to be so congenial to it, there can be little 

 doubt that public spirited individuals will be found 

 who will promote the home production of so valuable 

 a plant. 



Mr. Salisbury gives, as the result of his experi- 

 ments and observations, many useful hints for its 

 culture and preparation. He found that plants of 

 three years old will, on an average, yield thirty-six 

 leaves, besides a very considerable increase of off- 

 sets, which leaves being cut down in the autumn 

 others spring up anew in the ensuing summer. Six 

 leaves have produced one ounce of dry available 

 fibres, having been previously scutched and cleansed ; 

 at which rate an acre of land cropped with these 



* Trans, of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c. 

 42d vol. 



