Extending the Range of Farm Products

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 51, 23 November 1937, Page 7

Extending the Range of Farm Products

h. e.

feench

Sir, — Will rice thrive in New Zealand? Sure. So lvill a nurnber of other things. It is simply stupid that wo have so many men witliolit jobsj when so much could be attempted. It almost seems as though otlr wonderful climate^ because it relieves the landworker of so many of the tasks farmers in other lands have to perfoi'm in the housing and hand-feedmg of stock, and the great per capita production of wealth enabling the Government to do so much for so liiaiiy, tend to sap our iuitiative and push, while we complain that more is not done for us. Tfiere are millions of land-uSers in countries lilce India and China whose yearly ineoUre is under £2. The capi- ■ talist farmets of Siberia ivho were "liquidated," whieh means robbed, exiled, or murdered, owned on an average less than six cows. Mrs Snowden telis that her chief impression of her convcrsation with Lenin was liis laugh when he told of the official stimulus given to supporters of colleetivist farins to talce possession of the property of the hardworking kulaks, and tilie "liquidation" that ensued. What we waste in New Zealand would feed millions in other lands not as blessed as outs. Yet with all our capacity to produce wealth, with a standard of living seldoin reached by others, the spirit of adventute and'enterprise of our f orebears is now hedged about with rqstrictions, employers are regarded by some as exploiters, if not worse; and work as an inescapablo plague to be confined to the narrowest dimensions. Young unmarried meu must be paid on a basxs for a wife and three children who do not exist, while the parents of even a moderate family find their diffieulties increase in greater ratio than their shillings. Not only does our depreciated £ buy less, but it is another difiiculty in starting new industries where labour is the chief factor. Our ability to compete with others is narrowing. It Would. almost seem as though it wras our national policy to make New Zealand a great sheep farm, run by a handful of skepherds and an arniy of dogs. i was asicing about a fornicr seed farm, where in the past iutensive cultUro employcd quite a staff of worlters. i was told it was now in grass pasturing sheep/ without employed labour, and nct a plough on tho Whole farm. Out population mereases while farm labourers diminisli. The Japanese search the world for new plants for new industries. Dalmatia is the liolue of pyrethrum, whose flowers are used in the manufacture of insecticides. United Ltates imports 13 millions of lbs. annually. Only 10 per eent.' comes from Dalmatia, 90 per cent. is raised by Japan. They raise perilla, sell the Americans the oil, and iise the residue to feed their mulberry trees. They tried to capture the panama-hat trade with a synthetic production. It was not good enougli. Now they are raising the' toquilla palm in Formosa from shoots eolleeted in Golombia and Ecuador. While we talk of flax researeh, the Japanese' have acquired plants and are now raising New Zealand flax. In a little we will be learning from them what possibilities there are in its culture. We can learn from the Japanese that the widening of the range of products from the land not only ensures stability for small holdings, "imt provides a national buttress in the testing times of world- wide depression. We turn to the United States to discovcr.a wonderful story of intense cooperative development in the laet tvvo years,^ which is a direct opposite to tho Government's farm relief poliey cf surplus-crop destruction. The Chemurgiv Couneil, finauced by the 12,000 chemists of the States, aided by great industries, is finding new uses for surj)lus land crops. The interest taken by their Press and people in the stories of making oil from raisin seeds, cosmeties from oat huslcs, board from sugar-eane refuse, dextrose sugar from lhaize, levulose sugar from artichoke and dahlia roots, paper from five-year-old slash pine, etc., eornmands more attention than any national activity outside of the Government. We are not informcd, beeause those New Zealand editors wiio have been told of what is happening think it is only of interest to Amerieas. There will be repercussions .throughout the world before long. Does the Chemurgic Couneil overlook soya beans? No. They list it as of

pnmary importance for more study. The chcmists of the extensive Glidden factories deseribe the bean as the greatest food in the vegetable world. i have never written more than a tithe of that story. Suffieient has been written and published, however, to obtain action. from the last and the present Governments. The planting of experimental plots for the third season is now proceeding. But there is no need to waiti Every gardener can try them for liimself. And when they are used as they should be, tlien present dietary illbhlance will r'eceive the greatest adjustment at present in sight. Oue of our, best-known heart-special-ists ordered me to reduee starch foods. t.hat was easy when soya-be&n bread could be obtaincd. When that was not available, tho boiled beans, several times a weclc in lieu of potatoeB, filled Ihe l)ill to his satisl' action. i novcr foresaw such a personal advantage in my quest for infomation. By the last muil, word arrived that the chicf health officer of Siain is to stai't a cainpaigu to induec his country men to substitutc soya beans as the doininant food iji lieu of rice. In povcrty-strieken India millions live on food that would eause rats to languish and die. Boya beans are advocated as the best and most praeticablo remedial measure.-^Yours, ctc..

Hastings, Nov. 22, 1937.