Page:Notes on New Zealand (1892).pdf/206

196 ; after that it is "scutched" to remove rough fibres, etc., and then baled and is ready for the market.

The cause of the great fall in price before mentioned in the London market was owing a great deal to the folly of the exporters, who did not keep the quality of their stuff up to the samples originally sent; thus buyers lost faith and regarded the commodity with suspicion.

The flax is ready to be cut from the same root every three years, and thus it will go on growing for any length of time at the rate of about eighteen inches in the year.