Haultain. — On the Growth of Phormium tenax. 350 



a fresh growth of from four to six leaves within a twelvemonth ; and they 

 found that there was no constant difference of strength and quantity of the 

 fibre procured from the various leaves of the same plant ; but they were not 

 able to determine what was the normal rate of growth of leaves in uncut 

 plants, nor when each leaf had arrived at maturity. The opinions of 

 manufacturers varied very considerably on these points — some supposing that 

 the leaf required several years to reach its full growth, at all events that it did 

 not commence to decay until it had remained for a long time in a state fit for 

 manufacture. 



For the purpose of settling this question, in the month of May, 1871, 

 thirteen months ago, I marked the young centre leaves just shooting up in a 

 number of the plants at St. John's College, and found that by September, 

 during the four winter months of the year, in every instance at least one fresh 

 leaf had made its appearance and taken the others' place, and in November, 

 two months afterwards, these had again been replaced by fresh leaves. I 

 found a more rapid growth in the summer months, so that in the course of the 

 year generally six, or at least five, fresh leaves had been produced in every 

 instance. I have two of the fans that I marked in this manner. One leaf 

 marked "May, 1871," was the centre leaf thirteen months ago, it is now the 

 seventh, and has already begun to decay ; and the other leaves were marked 

 at intervals, giving an average of two months for the growth of each leaf. 



Tu two other fans I cut all the leaves at the same height from the ground 

 on the 5th April last, and now observe that only the three centre ones in each 

 plant have made any further growth, showing that the others were fully 

 developed and had reached their full size, and that this maturity has been 

 attained within six months of the first appearance of each leaf. 



As to the age of a plant, or of any portion of it at the time of flowering, I 

 cannot speak positively, and I believe it varies very much. Many of the 

 tihores flower very sparsely, and often fail to perfect seed. 



In large Phormiuni fields in certain years (it is generally supposed every 

 third) there is a profusion of flower stalks (in 1871 in the Wairau plains 

 there was a perfect forest of them), and in other years comparatively few, but 

 we must not conclude that each fan flowers at the end of three years. On 

 one rhizome there are the cicatrices of more than fifty leaves, which at the 

 rate of six per annum would make it eight years old, and on another which 

 flowered the year before there are only twenty-five or twenty-six. It will 

 require several years of close observation to determine this point, but I do not 

 think it is one of any practical importance, as the decay of one fan does not 

 seem to interfere with the growth of the remainder of the bush, which 

 increases as it gets older, the rate depending of course on the soil and locality 

 in which it is found. We have found that with transplanted sets the increase 



