AS OTHERS SEE US.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 10 January 1890, Page 2

AS OTHERS SEE US.

■"♦-"■ ' As an illustration of the traat of information that exists in England about this colony, the following re* print from the London Standard ol a late date will afford a fair example. It is satisfactory however to find that some glimmering of the importance and value of out latest industry is now dawning on the leading English papers : — " An extraordinary demand for New Zealand flax (Plumnium tenai) has recently set in, chietly in the United States, and farmers in the Colony are thinking of cu'ti atinjj the plant, instead of relyit g upon the supply of wild flax, which ha* heretofore tsen more than sufficient, The plant, which belongs to a different genus from the common fla' (Liuum usitatissimum) is known in this country as a foliage plant (hough it c'oes not flourish iu the colder districts, and grows best in the s >u l h- western pnrtg of England an! Ireland. Attempts havt been made to cultivate it as a field crop in Australia and elsewhere, as well as in Europe, but not with substantial success. It is a native of New Zealand, where it flourishes luxuriantly, its leaves commonly attaining the length of six feet. It is perennial, but will not stand a col i Winter. An- oxc/.lonfc flbte is obtained from the leaves, and it if sa'd

tiro stand a strain of 281b., as comiparecl with lllb. for European flax. The yield of New Zea'and flax is 'very much greater than that of •common flax. Some owners of rich lafld in New Zealand, it is reported, have obtained as much as two tons of dressed fibre to the acr« ; but this seems almost incredible, about nine tons of green leaves being required to produce one ton of the fibre, tf even ona ton of fibre per acre can be obtained by cultivation it will pay handsomely Aa a drained bog is particularly suitable for the crop, it might be tried as a field srop in the warmer parts of Ireland. At Glengariffe it grows with the utmost 1 uxiiriaiKje.