DISEASE IN FLAX SWAMPS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1791, 19 February 1918, Page 3

DISEASE IN FLAX SWAMPS.

Speaking at the Opui Mill on Thursday last, Dr. Cockayne, F.R.S., said they must not expect him, at the present stage, to make any definite statement on the matter, He remarked, however, that to. the flaxmillers belonged the distinction of being the first to adopt what was urged throughout the British Empire to-day —i.e., the practice of calling on the services of the scientific man. He might say that his scientific friends throughout the Dominion were extremely pleased that the flaxmillers were the first to choose a scientist to help them solve an industrial problem. He hoped within a comparatively brief period to tell them something definite about the disease —if it really was a disease —and, wlnft they most wanted to know, whether it was going to get better or' worse. That lie would endeavour to answer. This so-called disease, it should be remembered, came after two successive extremely wet winters and extremely dry summers. If a plant had,its roots in stagnant water for too long a period, it would die, and if it had no water at all it would die. The so-chlled disease had come under certain peculiar conditions, which made him feel that those conditions were at the root of the whole matter —namely, excessive dryness and excessive water. That was as far is he could go at the present time. He was, however, conducting a series of experiments in various swamps with individual plants under different conditions.