Seeds From Antarctic For Tests At Lincoln

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28267, 3 May 1957, Page 12

Seeds From Antarctic For Tests At Lincoln

Fertility experiments with oats and maize frozen in the Antarctic for more than 45 years are to be carried out by the Crop Research Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research at Lincoln.

The oats come from a small amount brought back from a heap of horse fodder outside Captain Scott’s hut at Cape Evans by Mr A. S. Helm, secretary of the Ross Sea Committee. Mr Helm was the administrator at New Zealand’s polar base last summer. “After having been outside in the cold temperature for 45 years, it may not germinate,” said Mr Helm yesterday. “However, should it grow and produce seed, this could be of two-fold interest: first, it may be more frostresistant than other strains; and second, this seed would have missed any new germs which other oats may have encountered in the ensuing decades and thus an interesting comparison can be made.”

The experiments at Lincoln will be carried out by Mr L. G. Copp, of the Crop Research Division. Mr Copp said yesterday that the division was very pleased to have an opportunity of testing the seed. It would be sown in a glasshouse together with a similar type of oat —an old English garden variety—for comparison. He said it would be suprising if the Scott oats showed very much germination capacity.

Lime reacts chemically in the soil making insoluble agents available as plant foods. That is one of its chief attributes. (2) Humus is rich in nitrogen, which can be liberated too quickly by lime, unless the process occurs in a compost heap. (3) Lime does its best work in breaking down raw materials. such as green matter and insoluble chemicals, and by direct action on heavy soils. It is not a manure, rather an agent in providing acceptable plant foods. “Potato,” Opawa.—Had you burned rubbish on the part where the potatoes were afterwards planted? That would account for the .scabby patches on the tubers. These scabs are only skin deep and can be peeled off for cooking but do not keep any of them for seed.

The maize which the division will experiment with comes from Cape Royds, a few miles from Cape Evans, where Shackleton established his winter quarters in 1907—four years before the last Scott expedition. It was orginally feed for Manchurian ponies and before being brought to the Dominion by “The Press” correspondent with the United States Navy last summer had been frozen in the ice for nearly half a century. Some grains have germinated in kitchen gardens in Dallington and Sumner, and at least one American has germinated three grains on a farm in Pennsylvania. Soil Experiment

With the rare exception of a few mosses and lichens, the Antarctic does not have any flora, but Mr Helm is anxious to find out whether some of the volcanic soil which is found on Ross Island (where the New Zealand base is established on Pram Point) will grow plants in temperate climates. Shortly before the last party left Scott Base to return to the Endeavour, Mr Helm salvaged a four-gallon chocolate tin, seized a shovel, and scraped up enough of what passes for soil at Scott Base to fill the tin. He also gathered a soil sample from the expedition’s earlier proposed site at Butter Point on the continent itself.

“The soil returned to Wellington with the Endeavour, and Dick Barwick, when he collected all his biological specimens, kindly took it around to the Soil Bureau in Wellington for me.” said Mr Helm. “There it will be analysed to see what deficiencies must be met before it will grow plants.

“I have in mind obtaining from as high up in the Southern Alps as possible, the hardiest of grasses or tussocks, sending them down to Scott base with the necessary soil ingredients and trying to grow them outside. “The sheep will follow later, but it would be just as well to put in your application now for ‘desirable farmlands with a northerly aspect,’ ” Mr Helm said. The chief guide at The Hermitage, Mount Cook (Mr M. Bowie), has been approached by Mr Helm for advice concerning the best type of grass or tussock to attempt to grow in the Antarctic.