BOTANIC AND DOMAIN GARDENS. 
25 
varied temperature of climate coupled with choice of soils and situation, 
afford immense scope for the successful growth of foreign fibre plants ; 
thus while many parts of Victoria, are eminently adapted for the growth 
of the common Flax ( Linum usitatissimum), other districts will pro- 
duce the Hemp ( Canabis sativa ), the Jute ( Corchorus olitorius), the 
Rheea of India, better known as “ the Chinese Grasscloth plant” 
( Bcehmeria nivea ), which grows here with great luxuriance, the Toddy 
Lily {Agave americana , commonly known as the American aloe), the 
Fibre or Giant Lily of S. America ( Fourcroya gigantca ), the African 
Hemp ( Sparmannia Africana ), which produces a superior fibre, the 
Adam’s needle, and Dagger plant ( Yuccas gloriosa and aloefolicC), th© 
Dragon Tree ( Draccena Draco), and a host of others too numerous to 
mention, from all of which fibres have been prepared under my super- 
vision at the Melbourne Botanic Gardens. 
Next to India, New Zealand (as far as at present known) is perhaps 
the richest of all countries in fibre yielding plants. Commercially 
speaking, in her Liliacece alone a mine of wealth might be opened up ; 
and it is a matter for surprise (considering the quantity and quality of 
the fibre of the many species of Cordyline with which her different 
islands abound, not to speak of the various trees from which bast of 
the most beautiful lace-like texture can be obtained) that a brisk trade 
has not sprung up in this direction ere now. Although the palm must 
be awarded to the New Zealand Flax ( Phormium tenax) in point of 
fineness and adaptability in the manufacture of textile fabrics, &c.; yet- 
when we come to consider the amount of labor necessary in preparing 
the fibre for market, in comparison with that required in the preparation 
of the Cordylines, the advantages would be almost counterbalanced. It 
would appear, however, that the great difficulty experienced in removing 
the resin and silica from the phormium has of late years been overcome 
by the invention of elaborate machinery, and the following extracts 
taken from a work published by the patentee, J. H. Dickson, on the 
u Fibre plants of India, Africa, and our Colonies,” will serve to illus- 
trate the great commercial value of this almost inexhaustible plant.. 
At pages 23 and 24 ( Appendix ) he says: — “ This very extraordinary' 
plant, so difficult to do anything with, after giving many like myself 
great trouble to discover the way to make it marketable as an article for 
spinning purposes, I turned my attention to, after having dropped or 
left off all idea of touching it, after many trials in 1855 and 1856, but 
finding my improved machinery could make the article marketable 
without steeping I continued my course until I have done all that I 
