THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, MAY 23, 1912. SUNFLOWER GROWING.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10641, 23 May 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, MAY 23, 1912. SUNFLOWER GROWING.

How to increase the products and byproducts of the farm so as to .add to t'he commerce of the Dominion, is a fprobkmi. that might profitably engage the attention of every settler. The Press is always ready and willing to publish suggestions for the public good. The Ideal Oh'amlber of Commerce discusses such matters, and the reports of their proceedings 'are pretty extensively read. That their proceedings are of interest is proved by an instance brought under our notice. A settler in the suburbs of uVlasterton called lat the Wairarapn, Age office a diay or two ago, and istated that he had been, reading the report of the proceedings of the JVlastertoh Oham'ber of iClammerc?, and slaw that they interested themselves in local industries. He produced an extract from a Yorkshire paper, in which was reported ipa.rticula.rs ctr* wiHat was 'being done in Hull in utilising sunflower seeds from wh.V?h '-cam be extracted oil for commercial: -.purposes, and the refu«2| made into oil emke for stock. The sunflower seed is cultivated in large quantities in South Banssia, and ■heavy.consignments'have recently aiv .lived .at Hull .from Odessa. The valuable property of tUie new flower seed is contained in l the fact that when crushed it yields on t\\e average 30, per «>nt. of oil, whilst tihe yield 1 c-f soya bean oil is 18 per ci'iit. The oil is a good drying oil, 'and therefore dannot be used for lubricating purposes. It is limpid and pale yellow ftrx colour, .and is a valuaible asset used in isdap imaking, tlfe imiMiuifacturing of Varnishes, laud for fcivlinary purposes. The crushed sunflower .seeds have been mlanufaotured info cake© at the Hull mills, amd experiments are being made to find out whether the cake thus ■inado is suitable lor feeding purposes.

There is already not the slightest doubt itha-t the meal derived from the pressing of 'these seeds would be a very valuable-ingredient in the manufacture of eomjpotaid .feed dakes. Hull crushers have indeed already manufactured- a sniiivll quantity of cakes from' sunflower seeds, and shipped them abroad .to Denmark. Some of the takes 'have already been sent to English (farmers, but tlhere is no telling yet whether it will be successful or not.' There is no doubt that the sun- > flower can lb? easily grown in Now 1 Zealand. It is, in fact, now grown 'largely, but chiefly for fowl (feed. We !do not waist 'to grow sunflowers for I the/ ipvlrpc.se of shipping tlis seed to Britain, but it would be altogether another .matter '-if we eouttd establish «an indmstrv for crashing <the for tlie yield 'of oil and for cake for stock | feeding.