CULTURE OF EUROPEAN FLAX.

PUBLIC NOTIFICATION.

Superintendent’s Office,
Auckland, 25th April, 1867.

THE following correspondence relative to the culture of European Flax (Linum Usitatissimum), together with a Lecture delivered by Mr. James Macadam, Jun., “Secretary to the Royal Society, for the Promotion and Improvement of the Growth of Flax in Ireland,” are published for general information.

J. WILLIAMSON,
Superintendent.

Waste Lands Commissioner’s Office,
Auckland, 17th April, 1867.

DEAR SIR,—As I have reason to know that you were well acquainted, in Ireland, with the several processes connected with the cultivation and preparation of European Flax, as well as with its commercial value in that country; and as I am led to believe that the culture of it extensively throughout this Province would very materially conduce to the public advantage and prosperity, I am anxious to avail myself of the valuable aid and advice which your experience and judgment qualify you to afford, in bringing this question before the public for consideration.

With this view, I have the honour to submit to you the following queries, and to request that you will have the goodness to favour me with replies thereto at your convenience.—I am, &c.,

J. WILLIAMSON.

Thos. A. Kidd, Esq.,
Auckland.

QUERIES.

1. Are the soil and climate of the Province of Auckland suitable for the culture of European Flax?

2. Is there at present a class of settlers in this Province who have been accustomed to the culture of Flax?

3. Would such culture afford profitable employment to a large class of settlers, and be ultimately beneficial to the Province?

4. What encouragement would be sufficient to induce qualified persons to commence this culture in the first instance?

5. What would be the probable cost of growing the flax and preparing it for market?

6. Would there be a continuous demand for flax at such prices as would make the culture profitable?

Auckland, 20th April, 1867.

SIR,—I am in receipt of your letter of the 17th instant, relative to the culture of European Flax in this Province.

To your queries therein proposed, I beg leave most respectfully to reply as follows:—

1st Query.—Are the soil and climate of the Province of Auckland suitable for the culture of European Flax?

Much of the soil of this Province appears very suitable for flax growing. Strong deep loams on clay subsoil, rich alluvial deposits, and all lands that are suitable for wheat, are not only suitable, but should be exceedingly productive under European Flax.

The climate of this Province possesses in a high degree the essentials for the growth of flax,—moderate heat, moderate moisture, freedom from frost and drought. In the United Kingdom, and in Holland, Flax can only be sown at one season of the year, viz., April, or immediately after danger from late spring frosts is past; if later, a dry summer might prove injurious to the growing crop, both in quantity and quality, a dropping season being the most profitable for the grower. Flax, when grown for fibre, comes to maturity in little more than three months. When grown for seed it must remain longer in the ground to ripen: this, however, injures the fibre.

I have reason to believe, from the mildness of this climate, that flax might be sown during several months, and good yields of fibre obtained. Should experience confirm this opinion, the advantages of Flax culture in this Province would be enormously increased. There is an abundant supply of water throughout the Province for the purpose of steeping flax, and also for supplying power to numerous scutching mills that may ultimately be required.

2nd Query.—Is there at present a class of settlers in this Province who have been accustomed to the culture of flax?

I know of many settlers from the north of Ireland who were regular flax growers at home; and I believe nearly all settlers from the north of Ireland, and many from Germany, have been accustomed to the culture and preparation of flax, having had full experience from the ploughing of the land and the sowing of the seed, to the finishing of the flax for market. Should it become desirable to spread the knowledge of flax culture throughout the Province, I believe men could be selected thoroughly qualified to become practical instructors. If the result of practical experience be that this Province is suited for the growth of European flax, the cultivation would speedily become very important. I am sanguine enough to believe that the natives would adopt the culture. There is nothing uncongenial to native habits in the labour or in the manipulation of flax. The land which they at present cultivate around their dwellings is very suitable for growing European flax. The requisite knowledge would be soon picked up from seeing others handle the flax crop; and though each native cultivation might be small in extent, ere many years the aggregate amount of flax produced by natives would be astounding. It has been said by the chairman at a meeting of the Royal Society for the Promotion and Improvement of the Growth of Flax in Ireland, that “Flax is essentially the poor man’s crop. Flax can be cultivated in small quantities with much greater profit to the growers, and to the manufacturers who have subsequently to convert it into linen, than on a large scale. The careful preparation of the land, the large amount of labour necessary for its production, and the labour which its manipulation in the straw necessitates, are all reasons why the poor man should be able to cultivate it with a greater profit than the large farmer.”

3rd Query.—Would such culture afford profitable employment to a large class of settlers, and be ultimately beneficial to the Province.

The amount of employment in the cultivation of flax is large, but of a nature requiring more the dexterity of women and children than the strength of able-bodied men. To clear bush, or break up some new ground, will employ a man more profitably than weeding flax, which his child can do quicker, and better, and with less injury to the delicate flax plant, than he could possibly do himself.

A great bulk of the flax grown in Ireland is grown by the smallest farmers, with the assistance of their families alone, the only money outlay being for purchase of seed and the hire of the scutch mill. The large farmer, who hires labour, estimates the cost at from six to ten pounds per acre, which is mostly earned by the families of the small grower.

The ultimate benefit to the Province would be incalculable. The prosperity of the north of Ireland is mainly to be attributed to flax production. It possesses no advantage in soil or climate. The land is divided into very small holdings, thirty