CANTERBURY FLAX ASSOCIATION.

Waikato Times, Volume I, Issue 49, 22 August 1872, Page 3

CANTERBURY FLAX ASSOCIATION.

Trn: following is the report of the manager of the association's machine '' The association's plantation ia in Antigua-street. The extent of ground itnder cultivation comprises about oue acre, the,suhsoil being clay, with j a rich peatv soil oh tho top. Although only planted ! during the months of September and October last i yeai., the whole of the plants exhibit signs of vigoi- j oqs growth. j; Over 3000 plants were put out, and j were planted in clumps of-three. The leaves, as j measured now, vary in length, from 2ft. Gin. to 4ft. j Gin. . That portipn. of the ground which his been ' kept clear from wefcds'is found 'to b<* more favour- j able to the plants stooling-but than that which has ! not basn similarly treated. Several; of the plants; | which were put out as late as November exhibit a"; more stun ted. appearance, but still show signs of • having taken good holT "of the soil. The plants ' forwarded. by the General Government from Mr. i Halke's nursery at New Plymouth, have not grown • in the same proportion as tlie Canterbury plants, ! This, howover. may partly be accounted for from j the length, of time they had been lifted, and the > state in Avhio.h most of them were received, and they j had, morejver, to contend against an unusually dry i summer. - j In reference to cultivation* the following is given ! as ;the result of experiments :-• r . - v \ The; .plantation, iri the Domain is under the j charge; of Mr. Armstrong, , gaiy\ener. The plants j here, indigenous to the province, are growing in a ! n>w^-4tvKu«ou3-. : cQaclitiQU._.. JlppA_.naeasuring."sornß j of the leaves, thev were found to have reached a j height of fronirsix io'seven feet; 'abd are remarkably J clean aiid smqoitli frpm tip to stem, which is-awne- ' thing considering that the plants'Tiave | not been, in^the^ground quite two years, and so |

(tense arc some of them that a man of average height is lost to view. The plants from the North Island appear to he less rapid in the growth. alth6ugh showing signs of great vigour, but the " tihore " and" tapeto"' varieties show the mo3t marked improvement in this res poet. " Soma of the Canterbury plants have been cut, the bushes yielding half a hundredweight; of sound loaves to each plant. The sub-committeo strongly redbrninen. I tho growing of the Canterbury ilax, as it is found, in two years time, a first-rat'; crop could be cut, yielding on an axerage 'lo tons or more to the acre, which would be worth, say at fis per. ton, £0 f« per acre, the only expense attainting which would 1)0 the first planting of the stool*, and subsequent occasional clearing of the groun I until such time as the plants appeared to be fully established. The soil in the Domain is of a sandy nature on a shingly bottom. In the courso of another year a correct record can be made of the further growth of those plants which have been but recently cut

down." The letter we print below was addressed to i,he chairman of the association, and will no doubt be interesting to our readers : — Hereford, street, Christchurch. August 3, 1372.

S'r,—Observm? from time to time in the loe il papers an account of various attempts to make cloth of flax, or j New Zealan 1 hemp, ns it is now called, and as you seem | to take grr>at interest in the matter, I beg to subjoin an j account of an o <l American invention. which, it strikes < me, might b 1 ? utilised :— . I " About thirty or forty years ago, an African patented a mode of making cloth by a pneiunatc process, without spinning, weaving, or any analogous machinery. The mo le is as follows —Into an air-tight chamber is put a quantity of fioeculent particles of wool which, by a kind <>f winnowing wheel are kept Moating equally | on one side, of the chamber is a nct-wor*, or gauze of metal, communicating with another chamber, from which the air can bo abstracted hy an exhausting syringe, or air pimvi, and on the communication between the chambers being opened, the air rushes with great force to supply the partial vacuum in the exhausted chamber, carrying the tloceulent particles against the netting, and so interlacing the fibre, that a cloth of beautiful fabric and close texture is instantaneously made. The onlv objection to cloth of this kind was its rawness, or liability to shrink after being wetted. I do not know whether tlax cloth would shi ink ; I should imagine not. Cloth made under the above process would perhaps be more eorrsttly described as felt. Your obedient servant, Fliei). (i. liIOBCIW.