FLAX INDUSTRY

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 60, 8 September 1931, Page 3

FLAX INDUSTRY

VALUABLE REPORT

THE BEST VARIETIES

In cider tv make available to the public the general situation in regard to phonnium research in relation to commercial flax planting, the report prepared by Dr. J. S. Yeates, botanist at Massey Agricultural College, has been released by the Phormium Committee of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Dr. Yeatos has been carrying on research for over throe years at Massey College on this important work. Interviewed on the subject, the chairman of the Phormium Committee, Mr. Alfred Seifcrt, said that a large number of ilax plants of different varieties had been collected, and these had been kept under observation to find out the ability of the plant to resist disease, yield abundant leaf, and produce high quality fibre. Before anything definite could be stated a great deal of preliminary work had to be carried out. Plants and seed were collected from all parts of New Zealand. The most promising plants were kept, and the useless varieties would bo destroyed. Some of the best strains had been crossed, with very promising results, and the work had now reached a stage where the information gained was of value to those firms planting flax. "Tho Phormium Committee," Mr. Seifert concluded, "have always felt that too much attention could not be given to developing suitable raw material. The basis of any industry is the raw material. _ If this is abundant and of good quality, the industry will prosper. Wo have the land and the climate to develop the plants, and if by selection and breeding we can get plants far superior to the average plant growing wild, then the industry will be in a fair way to be prosperous." Dr. Yeatcs's report points out that the only safe method for those going in for flax cultivation on a commercial scale is to use for planting seedlings or fans which have proved their cropping power and quality of fibre under the conditions of the projected scheme ! of planting. At the present stage of phormium growing, undue haste in planting largo areas is likely to lie disastrous. The use of hybrid seedling, plants provided the best method of developing high-yielding strains of good quality. The report discusses the pros and eons of planting seedlinges or fans on large areas, and gives valuable hints on soil conditions necessary for best results and on cultivation.