xlii Reports of Committees. 



EEPOKT. 



Melbourne Botanic and Zoological Gardens, 

 October, 1860. 



Sir — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, 

 dated 15th October, accompanied by a copy of a despatch from the 

 Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, desiring information on 

 such plants, yielding textile fibre, as are indigenous to the colony of 

 Victoria, and are likely to supply a want of raw material for British 

 manufactures. 



Whilst in compliance with his Excellency the Governor's request, 

 I beg to submit such information as I possess on indigenous vegetable 

 fibres, I regret that I cannot point to any native plant extensively 

 available for the desired purpose, or holding out the prospect of suc- 

 cessful introduction into British manufactures. 



But it appears to me that the two varieties of New Zealand flax 

 (Fhorminm tenacc) are deserving of especial attention, as likely to 

 supply the wanting material to British weavers, the strength of the 

 l^hormium fibre being almost equal to that of silk, and little 

 doubt being entertained that finally the genius of invention will 

 overcome the hitherto experienced difficulty of separating by 'an 

 easy method, without sacrifice of the material's strength, the fibre 

 from the leaves. 



I beg further to draw attention to the extreme facility with which 

 this plant might be reared on places not available for any other culti- 

 vation (such as margins of swamps, periodically inundated banks of 

 lakes, &c.); further, to its great vigor of growth, to the probability of 

 its proving quite hardy in the southern parts of England and Ireland, 

 and to the certainty of its cultivation being attended with full success 

 in Soiith Europe, and therefore in proximity to the British market, 

 and under the advantage of cheap labor. 



Specimens for experiment on this promising, and moreover highly 

 ornamental plant will be readily available in Europe, where the plant 

 has been introduced already, in the beginning of the year 1788, 



The fibre of the less prolific Doryantlits excelsa, or Giant Lily, of 

 New South Wales, greatly resembles that of the phormium. 



The fibre of various of our native plants is employed by the abori- 

 gines for making their nets and fishing lines, and indiscriminately 

 called by them " Carryong." Still it remains yet a subject of inquiiy 

 whether the i^roducts of these plants can be brought into cjuahtative 

 competition with other textile fibres hitherto dra\vn into universal 

 use, admitted even that the respective plants could be found all in 

 sufficient abundance, or cultivated with a prospect of remunerative 

 yield. 



The Pimelea axiflora (Ferd. Mueller) was recently observed in 

 great frequency near Twofold Bay, whence it extends to Port Phillip, 

 and I shall have no difficulty, therefore, to obtain of its tough bark, 



