MW ZEALAND FLAX. 
(Communicated by Mr. Jm. Diore.) 
This plant is indigenous to New Zealand, and was known 
from the time Tasman discovered these islands in 1642. This 
fact is so true, that the New Zealand Flax is to be found 
throughout the land, both in the North and in the South. It 
is employed by the Natives (Maories) for the manufacture of 
their garments as well as for various packages in which they 
make up the Wheat, Gum, Potatoes, &c., which they grow 
for their bartery with the European settlers. 
The Natives equally make use of it for “ fishing Nets” and 
tc fishing Lines,” and is frequently exported to Europe where 
it is mixed with Hemp for the purpose of making Ropes. 
I have no doubt that this plant would be well adapted for 
making bags in which Sugar could be packed ; it being much 
stronger and more supple than the Vacoa, the brittleness of 
which is sometimes the cause of heavy losses to shippers and 
exporters. 
The New Zealand Flax will grow in any middling good soil, 
provided it be pretty well watered. 
The ordinary mode of planting it is to place three or four 
seeds in a hole of about eight inches in diameter and four in 
depth, covering the same with not more than one inch of soil, 
taking care, at the same time, to place the holes at a distance 
of three feet one from the other. When the shoot is suffi- 
ciently long, it should be earthed up in order to give it sup- 
port. 
The plant attains the height of seven feet two years after 
the sowing of the seed, at which time the leaves are fit to 
be cut; — and, after the first crop, every eighteen months; — 
but different from the Vacoa, it does not grow any branches, 
the leaves shooting from the stem out of the earth ; these 
leaves grow in a bushy (touffu) form and are abundant. 
When the leaves are cut, they are split like the Vacoa into 
