Ill 



is the improvement in the colour. For this last statement I am indebted to 

 the manager of the Sehvyn Flax Company, who has been making experiments 

 on the washing of the fibre. 



If the beating of the green leaf is effected under water, the resulting fibre 

 is quite white. 



If the green leaf is half dried, so that the juices may not flow freely in 

 very minute tubes, and the fibre is then prepared by beating and subsequent 

 washing, the fibre is much whiter than if prepared from the fresh-cut leaf in 

 the ordinary manner, but the difficulty of separating the fibre from the cellular 

 tissue is greatly increased. 



Such are my views on the above subject, and the chief reasons which, have 

 led me to adopt them. It will be seen that the question goes far beyond the 

 mere discoloration of the fibre. The green colour of the juices, if absorbed as I 

 have suggested, might, no doubt, be removed by bleaching, so as to stain the 

 fibi'e a light brown colour only ; but the juices could not be washed out, and 

 when dried up wo\ild leave a residuum by which the interior of each tubular 

 cell would be coated, and thereby to some extent rendered harsh and brittle, 

 the ultimate fibres of each bundle would be glued together so as greatly to 

 increase the difficulty of adapting the fibre for textile purposes, and this 

 residuum, when exposed to air and moisture, would probably be subject to 

 chemical changes which might have a most injurious effect on the fibre. 



I have alluded to the spiral vessels found in the centre of each bundle of 

 fibre, in the leaf of the Phormium tenax. This spiral tissue is found in all 

 phcenogamous plants and ferns, and from the careful manner in which it is 

 generally protected, I suspect that it serves some very important purpose in 

 the economy of the plant, but physiologists do not agree as to its precise 

 function. It is found most abundantly on the inner bark, in the veins of the 

 leaves, and immediately round the pith in the centre of the stem of exogenous 

 trees. It is very abundant in the Musa textilis, a species of banana, from 

 which the Manilla fibre is obtained, and it is from the uncoiled spii-al threads 

 of this vascular tissue that textile fabrics are manufactured, not from the true 

 fibre known as Manilla, and used for rope. I mention this, because from 

 ignorance of this fact it has been suggested that the process, by which fibre 

 from the Musa textilis is prepared for fine textile fabrics, might be applicable 

 to the fibre of the Phormium tenax. 



My principal object in writing this paper was to give publicity to my 

 views. Even if my theory is shown to be erroneous, I hope that it may lead 

 to further experiments, and provoke discussions tending to the improvement 

 of the manufacture of New Zealand Flax. 



Art. XXII. — On the Structure of the Leaf of Phormium Tenax. By 

 Captain F. W. Htjtton, F.G.S. 



(With Illustrations.) 



{Read before the Auckland Institute, October 18, 1869.) 



In the present paper an attempt has been made to describe the structure 

 of the leaf of our native Flax, so as to form a basis for the examination 

 and comparison of the manufactured fibre, as dressed by different machines, 

 and prepared by different processes, on which subject I hope we shall receive 

 communications from many of our members. I have also added some observa- 

 tions on the gum secreted by the leaf, and which is generally looked upon as 

 the bete noire of the manufacturer, but which I believe not to be so black as it 

 is painted. While it was in progress, I saw in the newspapers a short abstract 



