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sugar grown in the colony. I hope that beet-sugar production 
will oA much longer be with us a dream of the future, but that it 
will speedily become a well-developed source of wealth. 
Fisre Pants. 
Spasmodie attempts have been made from time to time to grow 
fibre plants here, but, although flax and hemp will in some parts 
of the colony do as well as in any part of the world, we can point 
to no results of which to be proud. Mr. Guilfoyle, Director of 
our Botanic Gardens, has on several occasions exhibited splendid 
collections of fibres, which, although very interesting from a 
scientific point of view, were not of much use to the practical 
man who might be anxious to cultivate for profit. ‘To be of any 
real service 2 few acres of each should be grown, an account of 
the cost of the same to be kept, and then the value of the fibre 
produced estimated ; but-even this would be difficult, different 
fibres require different treatment and machinery. 
The three principal fibres are flax, hemp, and jute; the latter 
we may abandon ali thought of growing ; our climate is too cold, 
the plants producing jute will only thrive in a warm and humid 
climate. — 
Of flax (Linum usitatissimum) we had last year, according to 
Hayter, the prodigious area of thirteen acres under this crop, pro- 
ducing 15 ewt. of fibre and 267 bushels of linseed. In the same 
year we imported 373,392 gallons of linseed oil, valued at £44,000. 
Surely in the flax we have a plant we should be able to grow 
enough of to supply our own requirements at any rate. Now, what 
is the reason it is not cultivated in quantity? We have in many 
parts of the colony the very soil and climate most suitablef or it; 
we have also among us plenty of men who have grown it in 
Ireland and in Scotland, and who know all about its culture, and 
also some who understand the manufacturing the fibre, and the 
expressing the oil from the seed. Mr. Miller, the rope manufac- 
turer, informs me that his firm is prepared to purchase pretty well 
any quantity of fibre for manufacturing into cordage and.twine 
purposes, and that if they could buy plenty of flax they had all 
the necessary appliances for making canvas, and that with a little 
extra outlay they would be able to manufacture other linen goods. 
Hayter says that last year we imported fibres to the value of 
£67,050, and this independent of jute and cocoa-nut fibre, which 
we cannot produce here. I am informed that in Gippsland a few 
farmers have grown this last season a few patches of flax, and 
have been well pleased at the result. One farmer particularly has 
gone to some expense in getting machinery to prepare the plant 
for market, and intends to go extensively into the cultivation of 
flax next season. The only obstacle I can see in the way to 
a profitable cultivation of this valuable plant is the high price of 
