REEORT OE THE ELAX COMMISSIONERS.

D.—No. 14.

27

The cells of the cellular tissue are, for the most part, filled with the greenish fluid juices of the plant; the grains of chlorophyll —the waxy, green colouring matter of the leaf —being very conspicuous in the cells near the upper surface. In the lower or butt ends of the leaf, the ultimate fibres are much coarser, tho bundles are cylindrical or oval, there is a great thickness of cellular tissue in which the bundles of fibre are imbedded, and the cells surrounding each bundle are filled with some reddish colouring matter, which, in some cases, seems to pervade the whole cellular tissue. The fibre appears to be quite white and colourless in every part of the leaf, until the cells in its neighbourhood are ruptured. From the above microscopic examination of the leaf and fibre, I have come to the conclusion that an erroneous opinion is prevalent on the following points, which are important: —■ 1. There is no woody matter to be separated from tho fibre; the spiral tissue cannot, I think, be considered as woody matter ; and from direct examination of the so-called woody matter, on imperfectly cleaned fibre, I have found it to consist of cellular tissue, and portions of the cuticle or skin of the leaf, stiffened and glued to the fibre by the dried sticky juices of the plant. 2. The fibre cannot be indefinitely divided, the cells of the pleurenchyma or woody tissue showing no tendency to tear longitudinally into filaments. 3. The ultimate fibres are shorter than is commonly supposed—probably not more than two inches in length, but on this point I am unable at present to speak definitely. I have observed that in most of the returns of the sale of New Zealand flax in England, the discoloration of the fibre is alluded to as an objection, and cause of a diminution in price. From the above microscopic examination of the fibre, and certain other experiments to which I shall allude, I think I have discovered the chief cause of the discolouration of the fibre, as now prepared, and also a means by which that discoloration may be, to a great extent, avoided. I have formed this opinion from the following considerations : — Tho fibre, as it exists in the uninjured leaf, is white, and this is the case, even in the thick buttends of the leaves. Any person may satisfy himself on this point by carefully dissecting out a bundle of fibre, with as little injury as possible to the surrounding cellular tissue. The fibre consists of elongated tubular cells containing air, or perhaps a colourless liquid. In each bundle of fibre, very minute canals are formed by the interspaces between the separate fibres. The bundles of fibre are imbedded in, and surrounded by, the cellular tissue of the leaf. The cells of the cellular tissue are for the most part filled with sticky juices of the plant, containing chlorophyll, albumen, fibrin, pectine, starch, gluten, sugar, all that is popularly called gum, and in the butt-ends of the leaf, the cells immediately surrounding the fibres contain a red fluid (probably altered chlorophyll). In the process of manufacture, the leaf is beaten or bruised, the cellular tissue is completely broken up, the fluid contents of the cells are set free, and, by the same cause, openings would be forced in the tubular cells of the fibre, whether those cells contained fluid or air; and if they contained fluid, some of that fluid would be pressed out. The result is obvious : the fluid juices would bo drawn into the tubular fibres and into the mlnuto canals between the ultimate fibres, by capillary attraction; and the tubes being so minute, the capillary attraction would act very rapidly, and with great force. The remedy that I would suggest is simple. It is to dilute the juices of the plant with water the very instant they are set free, so that the tubes may absorb a mixture of juice and water, tho more dilute tho better, instead of the pure juice. The following facts tend to show that the above views are to a great extent correct: — The fibre, as it leaves the beating or stripping machines, is green in colour, and this green colour cannot be removed by mere washing. When the moist fibre, washed so as no longer to tinge water green, is passed between powerful rollers, a large quantity of green fluid is expressed. The colour is improved by passing the moist fibre between rollers, or through a beating machine, under a stream of water, and the sooner the water is applied after the fibre has passed through the stripping machine, the greater is the improvement in the colour. For this last statement lam indebted to the manager of the Selwyn Flax Company, who has been making experiments on the washing of the fibre. If the beating of the green leaf is effected under water, the resulting fibre is quite white. If the green leaf is half-dried, so that the juices may not flow freely in very minute tubes, and the fibre is then prepared by beating and subsequent washing, the fibre is much whiter than if prepared from the fresh-cut leaf in the ordinary manner, but the difficulty of separating the fibre from the cellular tissue is greatly increased. Such are my views on the above subject, and the chief reasons which have led me to adopt them. It will be seen that the question goes far beyond the mere discoloration of the fibre. Tho green colour of the juices, if absorbed as I have suggested, might, no doubt, be removed by bleaching, so as to stain the fibre a light-brown colour only ; but the juices could not be washed out, and when dried up would leave a residuum by which the interior of each tubular cell would be coated, and thereby to some extent rendered harsh and brittle, the ultimate fibres of each bundle would be glued together so as greatly to increase the difficulty of adapting the fibre for textile purposes, and this residuum, when exposed to air and moisture, would probably be subject to chemical changes which might have a most injurious effect on the fibre. I have alluded to tho spiral vessels found in the centre of each bundle of fibre, in the leaf of the Phormium tenax. This spiral tissue is found in all phamogamous plants and ferns, and from the careful manner in which it is generally protected, I suspect that it serves some very important purpose in the economy of the plant, but physiologists do not agree as to its precise function. It is found most abundantly on the inner bark, in the veins of the leaves, and immediately round the pith in the centre of the stem of exogenous trees. It is very abundant in the Musa textilis, a species of banana, from