26 



profitably brought into culture on patches of spare ground of good 

 quality, especially in swampy country, if -well drained. In the 

 latter the drains should be open and the water therein should 

 flow about 12 inches below the surface. Most of the varieties of 

 Phormium thrive best in rich moist soil, but dislike superfluous 

 moisture or stagnant marshes. The ground should be well 

 ploughed and harrowed, and the seedling plants or young offsets 

 arranged in rows, say 5 feet apart and 3 feet between each plant 

 in a row. 



A recent writer in Chambers' Journal says that the fibre is- 

 susceptible of being woven into tissues of the most delicate 

 description, and may be made into lace, or it may be wrought as 

 a substitute for silk into tapestry or damask, with a lustre not 

 much inferior to that of silk itself. On the other hand, it can be 

 manufactured into materials of the strongest and coarsest kind, 

 such as cables, running rigging, floor mats, carriage and railway 

 mats, sail-cloth, twine, yarn, sacking, and bed-tick. 



Of the nine species of Cordyline or " Palm Lily" (vide Fig. 

 No. VII.) from which we have extracted fibre five are indigenous 

 to New Zealand, three to New South Wales and Queensland, and 

 one to Norfolk Island. The most common in the Botanical and other 

 gardens of this city is "Forster's Palm Lily" (Cordyline Australis), 

 one of the New Zealand species. Under favorable circumstances 

 it grows to a height of 30 to 40 feet, and the leaves aiford a large 

 percentage of excellent strong fibre. With proper attention this 

 plant will yield a good crop of leafage in its fourth or fifth year ; 

 and, as it will grow vigorously in land subject to partial inunda- 

 tion, it can be utilized in places otherwise comparatively useless. 

 It seeds freely, and can therefore be extensively propagated, so 

 that a young plantation may be always coming on to supersede 

 the old one when the latter becomes unprofitable. 



Cordyline Banksii, " Sir Joseph Banks' Palm Lily " (vide Fig. 

 No. VIII.) also from New Zealand, attains a height of about 10 feet, 

 and throws out leaves of 3 or 4 feet in length. The fibre is long in 

 staple and of great strength. Like the first-named species, the seeds 

 are produced in great abundance, and especially on irrigated land 

 will it grow rapidly in this colony, as under these conditions two of 

 even three strippings of the outer leaves might be made in a year. 

 Professor Dodge, in his report to the Commissioner of Agricul- 

 ture, New York, on the fibres sent from here to the late Phila- 

 delphia Exhibition, thus speaks of a sample of this fibre, which 

 by mistake was named Cordyline pumilio : — " It is convertible 

 into a good quality of paper. The fibre is from 2\ to 3 feet in 

 length, straight, white, and glossy, but very stiff, resembling fibre 



