Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 76

Washington

Washington.

This beautiful city was reached on Saturday evening, the 24th September. Armed with your kind letter of introduction, I called upon Mr. Wilson, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, who expressed great pleasure on hearing of the general prosperity of New Zealand. In answer to my inquiries as to the results of the department's progress in the cultivation of various fibre plants, I was astonished to learn that the experimental operations were discontinued in Washington, but the Department of Agriculture were assisting in similar operations in California.

From the printed reports kindly furnished by Mr. Wilson I find that Phormium tenax has been grown in California for several years, and thrives in many localities; in some cases its green leaves are used instead of rope for tying vines. This, however, is of limited extent, and, so far-as I could understand, the cultivation of the plant is on a very restricted scale.

Among other uses to which New Zealand dressed fibre has been put, Mr. Charles Richard Dodge, in reporting, on the 9th February, 1893, to the United States Department of Agriculture, states, "The New Zealand flax fibre has been used in the construction of the 'staff' or outer covering of the principal World's Fair Buildings at Chicago. It is used to toughen and hold together the plaster and other materials which, when combined, form this building material."

The cultivation in America of Phormium tenax is not likely to develop into any commercial value, and no competition in that direction need be considered.