FLAX IN IRELAND.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2068, 16 December 1919, Page 3

FLAX IN IRELAND.

EXPERIMENT WITH PHOKMHLM TENAX. London, October 10. A recent bulletin of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew contains an interesting account of the experiment in the cultivation of New Zealand flax in Ireland. At Dingle, in County Kerry, Lord Yen try has made extensive plantings, “which have proved that a New Zealand flax industry in that county, and possibly also in County Cork, has every prospect of success.” In May, 1914, Lord Ventry divided some old plants of Phormium tenax, and set them up in “tin old neglected grass field,” which., he had ploughed up. In February, 1918, they were from Of to 8 feet high) and were killing the coarse grass that had cheeked their growth. .There' were then 31 acres under cultivation, ami preparations were being made to plant 30 or 35 acres more with seedlings. The fibre is stated not to be of the best, but some Irish paper-makers in 1917 made 10 tuns of the leaves into brown wrapping paper, and were quite satisfied with the quality of the material, apart from its price. Lord Ventry expects to obtain more than a ton per acre, and possibly two tons, and he is convinced that New Zealand Ilax can be profitably grown by farmers in the southwest of Ireland. The Kew authorities issue a warning against assuming that New Zealand llax is a very hardy plant, or that it can easily be acclimatised in the United Kingdom. They lost many plants in the winter, and their experimental planting in 1914-15 at Eskdalemuir, just over the Border, was a complete failure.