Lepidoeperma Native of Australia and Tasmania, found in great abundance on the coast lands. May be cut annually from the bottom of the stem, and the roots will throw up fresh shoots. cut, it is partially bleached by alternate exposure to the sun and nightly dews. It is used by the natives for baskets and fishing-lines. Its only industrial use will probably be paper-making, for which purpose it is considered equal to esparto.
3 2 Linum usitatissimum—Flax (FE., Lin; GER., ; 20-40 in. Central Asia has been pointed out as the original home of the flax-plant, which, as now cultivated, is an annual, supposed to be a variety induced from the anciently grown L. angustifolium of the Mediterranean basin. Almost the whole of the flax now grown is produced by L. usitatissimum, and the very trifling quantities contributed by L. eathartieum, L. erepitans, and L. perenne, do not merit separate mention. The cultivation of flax has now almost a world-wide distribution, the temperate zone appearing to be best suited to its growth as a fibre-yielding plant. Belts of coast-land subject to moisture-laden winds possess the climate in which the plant attains greatest perfection ; and the littoral, from the south of Spain, northwards by France, Belgium, Holland, Scandinavia, the Baltic, and the White Sea, embracing also Great Britain and Ireland, comprise all the principal flax-growing districts.
The approximate area under flax, and the yield per acre and total yield, of the chief countries which grow it as a fibre-plant, in the order of their importance, are as follows : (1) Russia : 2,000,000 acres, at 20 stones an acre, total, 250,000 tons. Flax is largely raised in three widely distant portions of the Russian Empire—the north-west, the centre, and the south. The first is by far the most important, especially in the provinces of Pskov, Livonia, and Witepsk ; the second is much less productive ; and in the third, the plant is raised chiefly for seed. (2) Germany : 329,362 acres at stones, 57,432 tons. E. Prussia, Saxony, Westphalia, and Hanover are the principal contributors. (3) Austria : 232,494 acres, at stones. 40,367 tons ; chiefly in Bohemia and Moravia. (4) Italy : 201,023 acres, at 18.14 stones, 22,791 tons ; more than half of this total is contributed by Lombardy, the best coming from Avellino, Caltanissetta, and Trapani. (5) France : 187,451 acres, at 36.34 stones, 42,575 tons. The following Departments are the chief producers, in the order stated :—Nord, Pas de Calais, Somme, Fin isterre, Haute Garonne, Cotes du Nord, Manche, Landes, Loire Inferieure, Mayenne, and Gera. Others produce a good quality, but in small quantity. (6) Belgium : 140,901 acres, at 33.59 stones, 29,580 tons. The Belgian flax, particularly the Courtrai product, is unequalled by any in quality. (7) Ireland : 128,004 acres, at 24 • 51 stones, 19,611 tons. Almost the whole Irish growth is in the province of Ulster, the following counties being conspicuous—Down, Tyrone, Londonderry, Antrim, Monaghan, Armagh, Donegal. (8) Holland : 46,700 acres, at 31.77 stones, 9273 tons. The chief districts are Groningue, Rozen burg Island, Rotterdam, Pingjum, Werkendam, S. Holland, and SchOwen Island. The white flowered flax is produced in Brielle, Zealand, and Friesland ; the blue-flowered variety comes from a portion of the provinces of S. Holland, Guelder, and Brabant. (9) Sweden : 37,500 acres, at
20 stones, 4688 tons. (10) Hungary : 24,888 acres, at 20 stones, 3111 tons. (11) Denmark : 17,686 acres, at 20 stones, 2211 tons. (12) Egypt : 15,000 acres, at 20 stones, 1875 tons. (13) Great Britain : 7055 acres, at stones, 1081 tons. The English counties having more than 100 acres under flax in 1879 were :—Yorkshire, 3129 ; Lincoln, 818 ; Somerset, 616 ; Suffolk, 608 ; Cambridge, 506 ; Norfolk, 436 ; Essex, 361 ; Dorset, 272. Scotland, in the same year, had a total of 73 acres ; Wales, a total of 12. The total area for Great Britain in 1879 was 7055 acres ; in 1870, it was 23,957 acres. (14) Greece : 957 acres, at 20 stones, 119 tons. The return just issued by the Registrar General shows the Irish flax acreage in 1880 to be :—Ulster, 152,996 acres ; Leinster, 2157 acres ; Connaught, 1239 acres ; Munster, 1142 acres. This is equal to an increase of 29,513 acres, or 23.1 per cent , over the figures for 1879.
The countries above enumerated by no means exhaust the list. America grows very large quantities of flax, principally for the sake of the oil-yielding seed (see Oils—Linseed), but also for the manufacture of coarse fabrics from the fibre. Canada had 8000-10,000 acres of flax in 1864, and promises to furnish a considerable amount of the fibre ; some samples attracted attention at the Paris Exhibition. The plant has also been introduced into the French Colonies of Algeria and New Caledonia. In the former, about 14,000 acres of flax are cultivated, but the seed is the chief object. Natal also is encouraging the industry. In the Australian colonies, flax culture is destined to assume great importance ; there is a wide range of soil and climate suited to the plant, and samples of the fibre, particularly from W. Australia, have proved so good that buyers in this country are enquiring anxiously for it. In India, flax has been grown and manufactured from very early times ; but within the last 200 years, it has entirely lost its ground as a fibre-plant, being reduced to a stature of nowhere more than 18 in., and sown and cultivated in such a manner as to produce bushy, dwarfish plants, the sole object being the oleaginous seeds. The plant is grown very largely in Bengal, Behar, Oude, Bombay, the Punjab, the N.W. Provinces, and Madras. There is an abundance of land available ; but it is doubtful whether the heat of the climate would favour the production of fine fibre, and it is certain that the natives would not relinquish their present modes of culture for the sake of the seed, without assurance that the fibre would be equally remunerative. Portugal grows four varieties of flax : (1) Gallego, cultivated mostly in Braganza, Braga, Aveiro, Castello, Guarda, Coimbra, and especially Guimareas and d'Amarante ; receives special care, and produces the fine cambraia linen. (2) Mouriseo, grows chiefly in Alemtejo and d'Algarve, and yields a coarse thread. (3) Coimbrao, very common in Feira, Celorico, and other districts of Vienna; valued next to Gallego. (4) Riga, cultivated especially in the neighbourhood of Oporto. Servia is reported to bye about 3000 acres under flax.