AID TO SCIENCE

Hokitika Guardian, 1 November 1932, Page 3

AID TO SCIENCE

SERVICE TO HUSBANDRY. ® . WEALTH FROM SOILWELLINGTON, October 28. “In no field of human activity is the f. ohbnnc valfie of agricultural science xi> grudgingly ackowiedged a&- in ’ that of husbandry, and yot in none has it bteh'tndrb; abuheffint" or more easy to demonstrate to' those 'who have but the vision'to realise the trh'tfi;”' said his Excellency the Governor-General, Lbrd' liledisloe, '-list 'evening, in the course of an address oH “The- Economic Value of Agricultural Science.” Dr EVMnrsden,’ secretary to th.i Depnrtifient of Sdfihtfic find, TndUatrial Research, who presided, spoke of the obligation the: p.ople of New Zealand under J c ; his Excellency for - his efforts in thi pibffiotion of science and art in the Dominion, and for his int rest in the problems of indiistyy and the primary industry _ in particular. . Empirical methods might have sufficed in the past to ensure a livelihood for the farmer ,of average capacity, sfiid his. Excellency. To-day with the demand for higher standards of uniformity and quality, the claim of the Worker for a higher scale of living, and tHo weight of public burdens, nothing blit scientific knowledge, or at least improyed methods based upon such knowledge, would enable the producer td reduce costs and ensure the absorption of his produce in a crowded world market. It could b e prophesied that the victory in the fierce competition between the world’s primary producers , would .rest ultimately with those countries, peopled by intelligent arid energetic races, who recognised the economic value of scientific research and applied its, findings to the winning of Wealth from the. soil. ?- i •

LOSSES BY PESTS AND DISEASE,

After- referring to the • Royal Commission on. the land damage of England and Wales', which found; that atone time at least a /fifth of the farm land was more or less water-logged, ..fid the scientific use fcf lime to stimu r jate beneficial'bacterial activity in the soil; his Excellency' referred to the immense losses caused by iiirect pests. At present,“/lie . said,i tlie P.nnual losses in the Empire .as ,»• whole from this <ause’ equalled one-tenth cf : the value of tjhe crops attacked. Dr Cufiningham, mycologist at the New Zealand Plant Research Station, placed the annual losses from plant diseases Ais affecting cereals, potatoes, robt" "’Crops, fruit trees,' etc., in the Dominion at over £2,090,090, withdut taking into i,ccbuht the consequentialreduction of tlie area under-root crops which were the Chief vibtiihs. .

Lofd Bledisloe spoke ; cf the help which scientific research had bteh able to render..in discovering a remedy for t\Vo 6f the worst peStS of tomatoes Arid Cuciimbtirs',l “a ’remedy that had raided the'aggregate income of the industry! He Distanced’ how the spread f waft diseas", or' black scab, among potatoes in England by 30 per cent. "'■ri two years, was" averted’ by " the discovery and breeding of 'immune, varieties. Similar good work’ had been lone in regard to wheat, fruit, cotton and flax. ' ' His Excelp-ncy 'further dealt with tlie science of anfimfil" breeding, fioupf •ed with improved ‘feeding, which had , Uabled stock-owners to produce meat of choice quality in less than half the time that’ their fathers' did! 'Discoveries ihßcl also befin ‘ made in fel.fitifin to soiV deficiencies which were proving' of great vfiluej and were, ensiling reclamation' of vast areas’ formerly deemed unfit for confident and profitable husbandry. Animal diseases. , Splendid work has been .done in the field of veterinary science by the use ' ye' inoculated sera foi* the prevention, immunisation or detection, "of numerous "animal diseases. Glanders among ■ horses had practically ' disappeared from all the civilised countries; rinder- ; p:'st, which threatened the British cat* tie industry ’with bankruptcy 60 years ;go, had been unknown here for more ' than a generation; and preventive inoculation against anthrax in snecp had oecn successfully established. Losses, \specially ,in sheep, from parasites, had been enormously reduced by improved systems of. feeding and management.

His Excellency also, spoke of tie value, to farmers in recent »years o: various labour-saving devices, resulting from research in agricult .tel engineering. Among them were the lefipef-and-bincler, and modern milking machine, shearing machine, harvesters, etc. '

Scientific research’ had also brought 'Untold benefits to fruitgrowers, an’d meat exporters had profited what had been achieved by low tempera ture research workers. Tne bountiful gifts of Nature jyere the richest endowment of Nature, concluded Lord Plectisloe. Agricultural science was 'showing with convincing persuasiveness i hew those g'fts, so far as they were enlaceable, might most usefully ‘be Perpetuated and employed for man’s happiness and profit. ‘‘God grant that the world’s statesmen, economists and financiers might solve thei man-made problem of the j.p'.Tcl’il/e di.st: f jution and avnilibility | of' those concluded his Excel - ! lericv, “so . that a workV ef plenty ’ might also become a world of peace ”