EMULATING THE MAORIS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1717, 26 May 1917, Page 1

EMULATING THE MAORIS.

PEHN-ROOT AS AX ARTICLE OF FOOD. Owing to the shortage of starchy foods in England it is seriously suggest sod by no less than the Master of Christ's College, Cambridge, that the English people should follow the example of the Maoris and use fern-root as food. In a letter to The Times, Dr. Shipley says there is an almost unlimited supply of starch in the underground stems of rhixomes of the common bracken-fern (Pteris aquiline). Starch from this source, he says is used for food in many parts of the world. Thirty years ago lie ate bread or cakes prepared from it in the Canary Islands. He adds; A closely allied species of fern hardly to be distinguished from P(. aqualiua, is the Australian Pt. esculenta. It is, as its specific name implies, used as food, and it is a wellknown fact that tho Maoris of Xew Zealand, a very line race, nourish themselves on starch from a similar source. Tho young fronds of the bracken, cooked and served liko asparagus, make an excellent green vegetable course.” Dr. Shipley is mistaken, of course, in supposing that the Maoris of 10-day live on fern root; but it, is questionable whether those who are able to indulge in every luxury of European food have the same stamina as I heir ancestors who subsisted very largely on pounded fern root. That so eminent a scientist should now be recommending this food to the English people in all seriousness shows how different are the conditions in (lie Motherland ■from those which prevail in therein voured islands. Dr Shipley points out that at present bracken is a nuisance in the United Kingdom. The sportsmen who used to shoot grouse complained that its spread destroyed the young heather, while the farmer complained bitterly that it destroyed the grass of his sheep runs. Dr. Shipley argues, therefore, that by using this form of farinaceous food the British public would be helping the farmer us well as providing food for the hungry.