Flax Growing—Local Mill.

Patea Mail, 8 May 1882, Page 3

Flax Growing—Local Mill.

At the Patea District Farmers’ Club meeting on Saturday, an interesting discussion took place on a paper read by Mr G. F. advocating thb extension of flax culture in this district, and the starting of, a: local .mill for ccushihg tho seed to obtain oil, also the preparation of flax for export, and possibly the manufacture of oil cake. A practical turn,was given •to" the discussion by carrying a resolution to call a public meeting. ; : ' The’ members present were Messrs Horner (in . the chair) Jacob, Palmer,' Barker, Ball, J, Risely, J.‘ Gibson, Gower Brothers, Shield, Honeyfield, Houghton, and the Secretary. Mr Chapman was not abl^to remain. Mr Matin; surveyor, was present as a visitor. . , 7 .

The Culture and Manufacture of European Flax.

Mr Barker’s paper (prepared, with much labor, and of a practical character) began by’ urging preparation o£ a linseed crop for the coming season, as follows: The interest which has recently-been awakened throughout New Zealand on th e subject of the introduction of linseed as an additional /farm crop . encourages me to draw special ■ attention to the subject a this particular time;' when preparations should be commenced for the crop of the coming season.

The best, soil for its growth is a rich alluvial loam, which is exactly what yon would describe of the land Upon this coast. Good crops have been raised upon medium land well manured, but it should never be sown upon foul land. : Mr Ladbrook, of Rebbleton, Canterbury, has grown 'flax for a number of years in large quantities, and finds that it thrives best upon strong grass land turned up the previous He sows the crop in September, using 301bs of seed per acre, lightly: drilled: in. This is' a very small quantity, and unless the seed be of the: best quality and carefully distributed, it will in many instances result in comparative failure. The usual quantity sown when the crop is for fibre only is three bushels per statute acre, and one and a half bushels when intended for seed. /;

The crop ripens in ; January, and Mr Ladbrook has his cut with a side-delivery reaping machine. It is not: lied, ;hut allowed to- remain a short time on the ground ;' when, choosing a, hot day for the purpose, it is threshed out. flis crop of, 30 acres last year- yielded 23 bushels per acre. Thirteen or 14 bushels iaconsidered a good crop in Europe. This crop of 23 bushels must have produced at least 2 tons of straw, but it was burned as useless. Further on we will find that the destruction of the fibre entailed a loss of at l§ast £4 per acre.

The opinion prevails that flax is an exhausting crop; particularly so if allowed to ripen its seed. Mr liadbrOok findsthat wheat, .oats, and barley thrive well after flax ;. and Mr Bull, of Bangitikei, says that,a piece of land, in the middle of a field of wheat on which he had grown flax the previous year, produced 25 per cent; more grain than the other portions of| the field. .A crop of wheat; averaging 30 bushels per acre is skid 1 to remove the following most important food constituents from the soil;— acid 23 lbs Potash 20 lbs Nitrogen 51 lbs

An average crop of flax in l good soil would produce 2 tons of dried straw and 13 bushels of i seed per acre, which would remove the following : ; , Phosphoric acid 70 lbs ... ' Potash 110 lbs Nitrogen -• 40 lbs

; Thus you see that flax robs tKfe soil of less nitrogen than wheat, while it takes up; more] potash, and; phosphoric acid—, valuable mineral plant food which we find most abundant in the soil of this district.; But neither the fine fibre nor the oil contain any of these mineral constituents. The inorganic matter of the seed remains in the cake, which if used to feed cattle may be returned to the soil as manure.

I A favorable circumstance in connection with... ,the growth of this Crop is that it only occupies the .ground for about four months of the year, and can be cleared away in ample time for a turnip crop \ hence it may almost be considered a stolen crop-i.i . 7 : ■. '■ : ■ '

Clover and other grass seed are frequently sown with flax, and the plan has been found to answer very well. The preparation of Ihe ground for the ’ tion of flax seed is similar to that required fot barley,' viz., reducing the soil to a fine tilth. No plant is more partial to a solid seed bed than flax. ’ The ground should therefore ;be rolledprevious to sowing, and the seed may either be sown, broadcast or drilled in at'the raft? of 2£ bushels" per acre. , k

The remainder of the paper (dealing with methods of culture, yield per acre, prices obtainable, ’and 1 prospects'of an oil and flax mill being profitably worked in Patea) will appear in, Wednesday’s issue

DISCUSSION; AND RESULT.

: A lengthy discussion' f6l lowed dhe reading of the paper. After various remarks', " \ Mr Riseley moved “That in tbeopinion of this meeting it is desirable to form a . company for extracting" oil from linseed and preparing the fibre for export.” He said : I have seen linseed tried in other countries, but I have not seen anything to equal the crops already grown in this district/ T am sure it would be a profitable industry. It is.desirable for this Club to encourage any project that is calculated to benefit farmers in the district; and by showing that members of the Club are willing to take up . this' matter heartily there will be inducement given to others who may be desirous to come in as outsiders and take up this project as a speculation. I don’t think there would be much difficulty in raising sufficient money for establishing a local factory. It may be desirable to arrange with settlers to grow a certain quantity as a guarantee for the' first year. lam certain there is no other crop so profitable to grow; on fhis Coast as linseed. - ; / ■ ■ : v - . Mr Jacob seconded the motion.

; Mr Barker, who showed a sample ;pf local linseed, arid also flax prepared from the . straw, said : Mr George Id’.Lean, pf Hawera, is so satisfied of the chance for a local mill, that ho authorised me to put his name down for shares ill a company, if formed.; No doubt other settlers in the district at some distance from us Would be also willing -to join in so useful and beneficial an undertaking. Mr Sheild : The question is what jprice can we grow linseed at ? Can. we .grow itito pay at £lO a ton ? Mr Barker :. I have no doubt about it;

Mr Sheild : Would it pay yon better to grow linseed at that price than to grow oats at 2s 6d a bushel. Mr Barker : Iso doubt about,, especially if you use the fibre .as well., K

;Mr Sheild : But the .straw should go back on the land. You must .put some-: thing back, or there will be exhaustion; ; Mr. Barker : Eut 1 your;, oil-cake back by feeding your stock with it. Mr Sheild; Which you have to' pay £ll per ton for. ‘ ' |Mr Barker : No, five guineas if locally manufactured. At Dunedin they are offering 6b a bushel,for linseed delivered there. ■Mr Sheild : If we can only get up a company to guarantee,' people to produce the seed, we are right. But it is worth more than 5s a bushel to a manufacturing company, and its a shame they dont offer more.'

Mr Barker : It is worth 8s a bushel, but they may want a very large profit in Dunedin by offering ss.

Mr .Sheild : The Home price is £lB a ton,/and they offer us only £l2 for it in this colony. That’s not'fair, ;Mr Riseley: The object of forming a company would be to give you a by raising the price to, a fair/level, arid erisuring a sale for what is produced .locally. Mr:Sheild : I am on .for accompany..at £lO a ton to buy, but I won’t produce to sell at that price. Mr Oibson : By forming a company, (it gives to a farmer who has shares in-the company not merely £lO a ton for producing the seed, but he gets the full value of whatever can be made out of trianu-

facture. .He'gets profit as a grower, and profit as a member of the company. Mr..Barkerwh can start -this locfd. industryy we s are • raore /likely to attract .population her;e than; by; standing still. Why should.we pay 30s adon for.' freight to ship to this place, when we can produce and manufacture in the place ? Mr Horner : Something 'like £50,000 is paid every year for various oils imported into the coldhy. That shows there is a large market in the.,colony,, for 1 all the oil we could produce. Mr Barker : If .you can get £lB a ton at Home, it;would ' pay to - -ship the seed Home in the rough state. Promoters of this, Ought, to /’offer tgrbwers/a .better value,-;.but, at, any,.,rate,, growers will get fall value' of every’ atom of this ;produc’e, by taking shares in the If we form a company here, it will create a market for the stuff;' ‘ 1

Mr-Palmer : : Yoii want to be prepared by next September to offer a fair price, ; Mr Barker:.! expected Mr.,Gowern would have.been here with information he ;has collected as to the price of machinery for a‘mill. If another meeting be held, he could lay that information ,before you. I believe £2OO would • cover the whole cost of machinery. ' > Mr Horh^r: I Mr Coiyern has. spent a dealdf lime in getting information about an oil mill.

Mr Barker.: A sample of locally'grown seed r was sent'-to the secretary of the Agricultural Society at Christchurch, . and he pronounced it better than any he had seen in the colony. It was grown atWaverley.

Mr Horner shoWdd a sample of crushed |inseed, which He said was fine enough to make into cake. It was crushed at Mr Payne’srniil], tvyith ordinary, stones.

i Mr .Sheild : I raised 23: bushels of . clean seed to the acre, from four acres.

; Mr Horner : Old turf gives the best crop: : " ’ V '. ■

■ Mr Barker : Mr Fairweather’s crop from old turf will average 30 bushels ,to the acre, . s. ■ ; :

Mr Horner : The chaff is as valuable for horses as any,oats grown. They get quite dainty on the chaff .

Mr Barker : Linseed as a crop does not run the same risk of rust and bad weather as cereals do. I; reckon .that I3lnd.sp.wn' with linseed will: yield £9. to £lO an acre, getting value for the seed, the fibre, and the chaff. • '

The motion was then: carried .unaminously. '' ; A committee was also appointed, on the. motion of Mr Barker, comprising Messrs Horner, Gibson,;Cowern, Riseley, and the mover; to obtain ; information as to machinery for a mill, &c. ; and with power to call a public meeting in the Harmonic Hall for Saturday next at 3-30. Thanks to Mr Barker for his interesting, paper, and to the .Chairman closed the proceedings.