SCIENTIFIC FLAX CULTIVATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3917, 12 March 1929, Page 3

SCIENTIFIC FLAX CULTIVATION.

Tihe pioneering work in this connection is at present being carried out by the Motuiti Flax Co., Ltd., at whose head is J\lr. Alfred ,Seifert who has devoted his life to research work in connection with the flax industry. As the name implies, the company is prosecuting the possibilities of this Country for flax cultivation and now, after eleven months of operation, is able to point the way to more successful development of the areas along this coast while, through its activities, the company is opening up great possibilities in connection 1 with the flax industry. Recently our representative was privileged to make an inspection of the Motuiti Flax Co’s, property and was conducted over the area at present under cultivation by Mr. A. Seifert and Mr. Val Croon (manager) . The property comprises some 1200 acres, which were acquired by the company last April, arid which was formerly .occupied by Mr. Cooper, being located albout three miles north of Foxton on the Fox-ton-Himatangi road. The whole area is sandy country, low-lying in places-with patches of peaty soil and was originally covered with scrub, nigger heads, toi toi, and flax. The condition of the property to-day presents a striking contrast to the surrounding country and shows what science and aptitude can do with this class of land. The whole area is at present in the process of being converted into a flax plantation but the areas not

yet in flax are being used to graze sheep and cattle while some is cropped for winter feed. One hundred and thirty-six acres are down in turnips, 16 acres in rape, while 30 acres have been sown in blue and white lupin for seed purposes. The nursery occupies 10 acres and the seed’ beds another acre. The property, which is a long, narrow block, is roughly divided into three longitudinal sections by sand hills about a chain and a-half wide running its entire length, and has been subdivided by survey into 30 chain blocks, while an accurate contour map of the whole area was prepared by surveyors for drainage purposes prior to work being commenced. THE SEEDBEDS.

The tour ctf inspection commenced at the seedbeds, which are located about a mile inland from the road, at the (manager’s home. Here are growing in beds about a million flax plants which have been grown fro|m se_ed collected from various parts of N.Z. They all look particularly healthy and are in what Mr. Seifert terms the “seed bed” stage. Practically ,every variety of New Zealand flax is to be found here, and carefully set out and labelted and showing a remarkable range in leaf colour. The seeds were sown in the natural soil of the property, and a sixty per cent, strike resulted. The seeds, all carefully selected, were sown in July. The seedlings remain in .the seed bed for twelve months when they are transplanted into ,TOE NURSERY. The nursery is located over a ridge on a flat unprotected by any shelter belts. The land is of a sandy nature with one or two patches of peat and has been well drained. Here again-, the range of plants is very remarkable. Most of them have come from Mr. Seifert’s Miranui nursery but a large number are natives of the locality, having been collected on the property by Mr. Croon. They all look particularly well and do not show any signs .of distress fro|m the prolonged dry spell. They have received no attention except for weeding. The plants in the nursery are set out in rows from 20 inches to two feet apart with seven to eight inches between the individual plants. A description of each individual variety in the nursery would be impossible but brief reference to one or two varieties is interesting. The A.S.M. (Alfred Seifert, Miranui) Mr. Seifert has had under observation for about 15 years. It has a wonderful commercial leaf. It is more th'an probable that the flbre from this plant will be selected for manufacturing hessian, scrim .and wool packs. It is immiine from Yellow Leaf Disease. The S.’S. (Seiferts Superior) is another interesting plant and one of the best commercial varieties. It is a strange thing that it is the only plant in Mr. Seifert’s Nursery of which he has no complete record. FLAX FROM ALL PARTS OF NEW ZEALAND. Some years ago Mr. Seifert collected flax plants from various parts of New Zealand. These were set out at Miranui but no record was kept. In time the Yellow Leaf Disease .appeared and destroyed a number-of varieties surrounding this plant. It was .noticed that this plant had absolute immunity from the disease, so Mr. Seifert then decided to test the leaf for its fibre contents, and found that it possessed the highest quality fibre he had ever seen. Further tests were carried out with the

WILL REVOLUTIONISE HEMP INDUSTRY. INSPECTION OF MOTUITI OPERATIONS. SANDY COUNTRY BECOMES FERTILE. Two factors which are going to play an important part in the future prosperity of Foxton are the flax industry and the cultivation and improvement of the sandy land which extends for miles both north and south of the town. At the present time Foxton is almost entirely dependent on the flax industry, birt it possesses a great undeveloped asset in the sandy country to the north of the town, the development of which on scientific lines by reason of its situation, must be reflected upon Foxton.

■Scott’s plantation is situated in front of the house and here again the area is practically devoid of any shelter but the plants which were transplanted into this “home” last July are looking particularly well and the only attention they have received has been an occasional weeding. Here the rows are lift, apart and there is 3ft. between the individual plants. Between the row crops of blue or white lupin were sown and turned in for food for the plants. Flax in the cultivated plantations will be ready for cutting .within three years from the time of planting out. A VALUABLE AREA.

same result. The plant was then given pride of place in the Nursery. Sttrange to say, however, it did not produce any seed stalks until two years ago. The plant is very upright, grows plenty of leaf and is dose and dense. Now Mr.-Seifert has many thousands seedling plants from this highly valued flax plant. Mrs Seifert planted the first plant in the nursery on the 25th April last year when it was seven inches in height. To-day it is 3ft. 6in. The plants in the nursery grow at the astounding rate of an inch a clay until they reach maturity when the growth is retarded to a, considerable extent. There .is a striking difference in the growth of the plants on sandy soil and those on the peaty soil of the nursery. Every two chains down the nursery are cross drain but despite tho fact that the area has been well drained the plants on the sand are a long way ahead of those on the foot of peat soil while they are far easier to weed on the lighter soil. The difference between the cultivated selected and! local grown • plants is most marked. The selected plants .are all uniform white the wild plants present a great variety of colour and margin in the edge's of their leaves. But even in the most carefully selected plants one notices now and again a dark hybrid plant. After twelve months in the nursery the plants are set out in a plantation, or final “home.” THE PLANTATIONS.

In the heart of the property is situated a particularly valuable nursery of highly selected plants. There is not a plant in this area, the history of which is not fully known. A careful watch is being maintained over the whole nursery and the growth of each individual plant is carefully noted and a record kept of it. An interesting specimen is a plant which Mr. Seifert obtained from his brother, Mr. George Seifert, of Hamilton, last year. It was planted in the nursery on the 15th October when it had ten fans and ,was 2ft. Gin. in height. It is now well over sft. in height. It was pointed out by Mr. Seifert that the plant was evidently a hybrid as its seed had produced several different varieties of plants. The fibre content of this species is particularly good. OLD THEORY EXPLODED. Mr. Croon dreiw our representative’s attention to the construction of a leaf of. a sample of “S.S.” flax which was .canoe shaped and tipped. “This,” said Mi’. Croon, “explodes the old theory that flax is a water lover.” Flax, lie said, did not require swampy ground, in fact it did far better on sandy soil. The leaf in .question was shaped like a caiioe, the bottom portion giving protection to a sucker. Winter was fed down the leaf to ,the sucker and the surplus water carried away from the plant. It was raining at the time and the manner in which the flax hush protected itself from the rain was very evident. “If some arrangement can be come to, for cutting flax on the ‘A’ method, it is going to assist the grower immensely,” said Mr. Croon, “because the suckers are going to lie given the protection they need.” LUPIN CROPS. Proceeding further down the property excellent crops of rape aud turnips were to be seen, one turnip paddock producing its second crop this season. The car passed through a wonderful growth of white lupin which is almost ready for harvesting, and which was about six feet high. It was not possible :to discern the top of the hood of the car when it was passing through the paddock. The paddock had been divided in half, one half, already harvested, having been planted in blue lupin, a quicker ripening crop. Four large stacks had been gathered in and it Avas estimated that the crop would produce 45 bushels of seed to the acre. Great care had to be exercised in handling the harvest as the seed drop very easily. Mr. Croon however, devised an ingenious method of handling the crop. After it was cut it was placed on sledges which had a sacking covering. When the stack was reached a rope under the sacking was attached to the hoist and the sacking and its contents hoisted to the top and de-. posited. In this manner scarcely . any seed was lost. Calculated by

oat 'measurement thei’e is 49 tons in the four stacks already erected. Below the lupin paddock are 40 acres of “A.S.M.” This flax was planted late and had no rain and suffered severely from' heavy Avinds, but despite these setbacks it is making steady progress. A trial was carried out in this paddock last year when rye corn was planted as shelter belts and to plough in for manure the experiment proring highly successful. It is intended to make more use of rye icorn as a cover crop. Rye corn soAvn in this paddock last year reached a height of over '6ft. The property comprises 1200 acres of which 900 acres are ploughable. The method of cleaning adopted is to smooth down the growth with tractors hauling heavy bridge girders until the area is ploughable. Approximately 300 acres of undulated land will remain in pasture. MATURITY REACHED IN FOUR YEARS.

Once the flax is planted out the plants are expected to reach maturity in less than four years. One advantage to be derived from cultivated flax, is that the strippers can be adjusted to suit each variety and thus produce a higher grade of fibre. t

Mr. Seifert said that he. intended to erect a mill to handle the flax at present being planted but he had noij yet decided whether the mill Avould be ’at Motuiti or Foxton. Milling on the property would reduce the cost of haulage of the raiw material and also enable the vegetation, Avhich is a valuable fertiliser, to be returned to the land. “Plantation flax can be compared Avith rubber plantations,” said Mr. Seifert. “At one time all the supplies of rubber came from naturally groAvn trees. It was about fifty years ago that planting rubber trees was first taken up, and after a few years it Avas found that rubber could be produced much more cheaply from plantation rubber trees than from naturally grown, due to the fact that in the plantation t'he rubbish Avas all cleared away. Only rubber trees grew, so tapping and transportation was remarkably cheap, whereas the natural trees grew in inaccessible places and mixed in Avith a lot of other trees which made tapping .extremely costly and transportation most difficult.

“With flax the same theory obtained. A crop systematically set out will be much easier to. cut and haul than naturally grown. The yield on the average will be much heavier than naturally grown and the varieties will be more uniform and produce a higher, quality fibre. Further, the position of the plantation flax should be suitable to cheap milling because those planting will naturally think of this. These aitoantages Avill materially reduce the cost r.f production, and will enable the N.Z. Flax Industry to compete very .successfully Avith competitive fibres, such as Manila g.nd Sisal.”