August i, 1881.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
227 
of flax and hemp commends itself for their immediate 
adoption. The fibre which each produces is iu constant 
demand both for home and foreign trade, and the 
prices usually ruling are highly remunerative. Besides 
the fibre, the seed of the flax yields a high price and 
if not exported as seed it can be pressed so as to 
produce oil, much used by painters, and the residue 
be sent Home as cake for cattle-feeding." 
And in the description of Auckland we read of : — 
" Phormium Fibre (N> ! io Zealand Flax). 
" There are scattered over the Province numerous 
mills for the preparation of this fibre, but in consequ- 
ence of the fall in price the quantity produced lias 
lately diminished considerably ; mill-owners finding 
that the present rate for good prepared Phormium 
(£13 lo £20 per ton) will not, remunerate. The chief 
cost in connection witli (lax-mills is the motive power 
The machines are all locally made simple of construe 
tion and cheap. The plant itself grows wild in nearly 
all parls of the Province, and the right to cut flax 
upon wasto lands may be purchased from the Govern- 
ment at a very low price. The building required for 
a flax mill need not be a large or expensive erection ; 
but it is necessary to have a good dry store-room 
and a press for packing the bales. The profits from 
flax preparation depend in a great measure upon the 
situation of the mill, and the cost of getting the 
green loaf to the mill and the prepared fibre to market. 
Boys and women are largely employed in these mills. 
The prepared Phormium, suitable for rope-making, ex- 
ported from the Province in the year 1873, was 1,497 
tons, valued at £27,783." 
" Pope Afaking. 
The manufacture of rope from prepared Phormium 
is now an industry of some importance in Auckland 
but might be more extensive. In consequence of the 
apposition of English rope makers to the use of 
Phormium or at least to paying for it a price pro- 
portionate to that given for Manila hemp, it, has been 
found more profitable to manufacture the ropes here 
than to export the fibre in bales, — Auckland-made 
rope generally meets with a ready market. The cord- 
age from Auckland manufactories has been tested on 
from the officers of an A 
vessel, which visited the 
It has also been put* to 
ordinary wear, and has con 
a late severe gale at Aucl 
rope, when subjected to 
remained unbroken, while 
industry is worthy of th< 
makers contemplating em 
plontifulncss of the mater; 
portanco, while the marke 
ing colonics is almost unlin 
to tho amount of 1,057 
was exported from Aucl 
course a largo quantity u 
sent to other parts of tho 
land rope in common wi 
English vessels trading to 
in. m circumference and 1 
placed on board the ship 
should be inspected by all ml 
London. " Sine.' giving 1 he 
have received the follow 
who origiually called utten 
ve been published, 
st trying tests in 
lately 
NEW PRODUCTS FOR THE HILLS: 
SEW ZEALAND flax. 
To the Editor, Cry Ion Observer. 
Dxad Sir, — Your correspondent in your issue of 
the 5th iiibt. asks some questions anent the cul- 
tivation of Phormium tenax in Ceylon. It i3 with 
a view to reply thereto and toother enquiries which 
I have received through the post that I again vent 
ure to trespass on your space. Flax seed can be 
got in any quantities, and almost at any time in the 
year, from New Zealand, and can be relied upon as 
fresh. Three months is about the time that will take 
a letter to reach New Zealand aud get a reply. 
" Mode of cultivation," is rather a difficult question for 
mo to answer. But I would advise that 1 he seed should, 
be sown in a small nursery sufficiently far apart to 
allow of a reasonable growth without the trouble of 
transplanting or picking out. After the flax is a drcent 
size, it can then be propagated from roots the snme 
as mana or quisna grasses. I have noticed in Now 
Zealand, that flax in warm hollows was more luxuriant in 
its growth than at higher elevations. This leads me 
to think it could be grown with greater success in 
Ceylon, where the climate is tropical and forcing, 
than in New Zealand, where there are tho seasons, 
spring, summer, autumn, and winter. There are very 
violent winds in New Zealand, stronger than any I have 
felt in Ceylon, not even excepting Maturate, and I 
cannot say that I ever saw any bad effect to the 
flax therefrom. The very formation of the leaf is sug- 
gestive that nature intended it to withstand i.he strong- 
est of winds. I see your correspondent "J. Hawke" 
asks for information about aloe fibre. The cultiva- 
tion of this cannot in any way be compared 
to flax. The former is nearly all pulp and "little 
fibre. The latter has little pulp and is nearly all 
fibre. In this particular I challenge contradiction. 
The Maori used to make neat fancy basketwork 
from flax before their land was settled by Europeans. 
The Maori name of the clean fibre is "juto." 
In New Zealand very little flax was ever raised from 
seed ; the popular and best way was to cultivate from 
roots. I cannot go into particularsof cost of cultiva- 
tion and opening an acreage. Any planter can form 
an approximal e estimate. 4x41 would suggest as about 
the correct thiDg to plant out. After planting, weed- 
ing is all that is required till such time as the flax 
is old enough to take care of itself. There is not 
auy pruning, handling, or euckering required. 
In harvesting, the outer or oldest leaves only ought 
to be cut ; the centre one or shoot should be left 
untouched. The flax leaves are not unlike a man's 
hand when open, and the fingers extended, the 
middle finger representing the shoot, and the outer 
ones the older leaves. In regard to soil, I" don't 
think that it requires a rich one, but fancy it would take 
more kindly to an open and free than to a clayey 
soil. It does not take much from the ground, and unlike 
coffee it has not any crop to bear. Flax blossoms 
once in three years— I think that is the time, but 
am not quite sure. At this time a stick grows 
from the centre of the bush with great rapidity to a 
height of about ten feet. After blossoming and shed- 
ding its seed, the stick becomes dried up aud withered, 
at which time, if split in half, the inside makes a 
capital razor strap. Tho Maori name for tho flax 
stick is " kaladdi." 
The Lokomariro and Sairiri plains in tho middle 
island are not much above sea level : so low 
in fact that the sea flows a long way up 
the rivers of the same name anfl overflows a '.'rent 
deal of low-lying land. Accordingly, if a very heavy 
and continuous fall of rain takes pin e at a spring tide, 
a great deal of damage is done by ll tiding the 
plains. Tho Maori have » tradition that, if tho 
kaladdi begin to grow too early in Iheir blosomming 
season, it is a sure indication of a ho ivy 'lood. 
Whether it is true or not I cannot toll, but stranga 
to tay the last two Hoods I remember were both 
predicted by tho Maori. 
I cannot auswor "11. It." 'a fourth question as to 
