FLAX IN IRELAND.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2092, 19 February 1920, Page 2

FLAX IN IRELAND.

EXPERIMENT WITH PMORMIUM

TENAX

A recent bulletin of the lloyal Botanical Gardens at Kcav coni aid's an interesting account, of Iho experimonl in the* cultivaiion of Now Zealand llax in Ireland.

At Dingle, in County Kerry, Lord \ entry Ims made extensive plantings, “which have proved that a New Zealand (lax industry in IhaC county, and possibly also in County Cork, has (‘very prospect of sue-' ees:-.”' In May, It) 14, Lord Veilin'. divided some ohl plants of Phonuinm Umax, and set them up in “an old neglected grass Held,’’ which he had ploughed up. 'ln February, 1018, they Aver:* from ()•!■■ to 8 feet high, ami were killing the coarse grass (hat had checked their growth. There were then 31 acres tinder cultivation, and preparations were being made to plant 30 or 35 acres more Avith seedlings. The fibre is slated not (o' lie of the best, but some Irish paper-makers in 1017 made 1(5 lons of the leaves into brown av rapping paper, and were quite satisfied with the quality of the imperial, apart from its price. The Jvcav authorities issue, a warning against assuming that New Zealand flax is a very hardy plant, or that it can easily he acclimatised in the United Kingdom. They lost many plants in the winter, and their experimental planting in 1014-15 at Askdalenmir, just over the Border, was a, complete failure. - Lord Venlry expects to obtain more than a, ton per acre, and possibly two tons, and he is convinced that New Zealand flax can be profitably grown by farmers’ it) the southAvest of Ireland. *