PHORMIUM TENAX.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2224, 8 January 1921, Page 3

PHORMIUM TENAX.

“11.H.T." writing to the Dominion, says that the prediction of a drv summer due lo the prnliise flowering of the cabbage palms, is .-onicwhat confirmed by the remarkable number of flower slnlks of the New Zealand ilax (Phonuium (max). All the way to and from Wellington to Mew Plymouth, and particularly between Wnikanuo and Tokomaru, the abundance of (lower -talks was most* remarkable. The correspondent was particularly interested when passing the large areas of (lax to he seen between Wnikanae and Tokomaru, in noticing Dm very great quantity that was affected by the blight which turns the leaves vellow-and destroys them, the result will he the closing of the liaxmilling industry. In various places along the line where the Ilax is plentiful, and particularly near Wnikanae, there were clamps and patches of considerable size that were not affected by the disease, though surrounded bv the diseased forms. It would bo interesting to examine, into the cause of: the noudisease.'with a view lo experimenting bv transplanting some of the unaffected plants to other localities, even where they are affected, in eider to ascertain whether they would become so or not. lake human beings: Smallpox, for example, is deadly to a large number of persons in populated areas, while others are immune. A\ by should 9ax plants, immune where others are affected, if transplanted still he immune? Not only is the flax affected, hat two species of the covdv(jnes, or, as they are called, cabbage trees, viz., inlivisa and Banksii, arc affected, but 1 have not noticed the common one, c-aiisiralis, lo he.