NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3693, 20 September 1927, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

PROBLEMS OF BREEDING AND SELECTION.

A grant of £IOO has been made by the Government to enable Dr. J. S. Yeates, a former Victoria University College student, who has just completed a distinguished course at Cambridge, to investigate problems affecting breeding and selection of New Zealand flax varieties (says the Dominion). Dr. Yeates has extensively studied cytology, a division of biology which provides most useful fundamental information in regard to breeding and selection of economic plants, and Dr. Yeates’s knowledge will be used for this purpose in connection with flax varieties. Experiments already carried out in New Zealand have drawn attention to the possibilities New Zealand phormjum offers, and the extension by Dr. Yeates of these activities is expected to have an important result on flax yields. Hr. Yeates’s work will be carried out principally in the Wellington province. SILK FROM FLAX. EXPERIMENTS IN DUNEDIN. PROSPECTS PROMISING. Dunedin, September 17. A Dunedin scientist, who recently has been carrying out research work involving the possibility of using New Zealand flax in the manufacture of wool bales, has been engaged in the last few days in making a substitute for silk from the Dominion’s native fibre. A specimen of the work accomplished was shown to a reporter.

The material lacks the sheen of artificial silk but its general appearance is identical with that of pure silk, and inasmuch as it is very like the silk as it comes direct from the cocoon, this flax substitute in its raw state compares very favourably with the real thing. The threads are much coarser than those of ordinary silk, but it is understood that by a process of carding this disadvantage will be overcome . The experimenter stated that it was too soon yet to make a definite statement concerning the future of the substance, but it was certain that the) cost of producing it would not be prohibitive.