AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 67, 26 April 1944, Page 7

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

CHINA'S GROWiNG INTEREST

"It lias been estimated that China's primary protraction could be increased by 50 per cent through use of improved methods based on modern sckmce," declared Dr. H. L. Richardson, M.Sc., Ph.D., F.1.C., a New Zealander who, after 11 srears5 r ears at Rothamsted Experimental Sta£!ion and six years with the. cultural Research Bureau in China, paid his. first visit to Massey Agricultural College recent]}'. He 1 added that Japan was well ahead of China in agricultural research, up till 1937, but had lapsed into routine work since the outbreak of the SinoJapanese conflict. Dr. Richardson, who is an authority on soil fertility, graduated at Victoria University College before gaining his doctor's degree at the London University. His; 11 years Rothamsted ended in 1937, when he joined the group of agricultural advisers asked for by the Chinese Central Government., Much of his voyage from Shanghai to Nanking was spent lin dodging Japanese dive bombers, and as the Invaders occupied Nanking, the Bureau transferred its operations l to North-west. China, where wheat, millet and maize were the chief crops. The research work was, according to Dr. Richardson, carried on very 'efficiently in spite of the war. The scientists, in retreating from Nanking, saved the country's soil-sur-vey records at the cost, of leaving their own personal belongings. Dr. Richardson left China last August for Endia, where at the Government's invitation, he discussed soil and fertility problems with special reference to that country. "China's awakening to the value of agricultural research dated from about 1930," added Dr. Richardson. He had reached China after the departure of Mr Brian Low, now on the tutorial staff of Massey Collegp, but had had occasion to refer to portions of Mr Low's work on land ■ utilisation in China." |