GRASS AND ICE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 43, 19 April 1940, Page 15

GRASS AND ICE

Nos. 11 and 12 of the Pictorial Surveys. PASTURE LAND, by J. W. Woodcock and H. I. Forde: and REFRIGERATION, by F. R. Callaghan and D. O. W. Hall. Department of Internal Affairs. When the bush went, grass had to take its place. Luckily for New Zealand, over much of the burned-off land grass was sown and grass did grow, as prolifically as rabbits bred and gorse spread through the virgin countryside. When it failed, or where the first farmers failed to realise what their indiscriminate torches were doing, we were overtaken by the sort of tragedy described in The Forest. Where it succeeded, we caught up on the magic of profitable pasturing, described in No. 11 of this series of Centennial Surveys. The letterpress is a concise statement of the importance of grasses, tussock, and clovers to a nation that feeds itself and Great Britain from cows that feed on grass and clothes itself (or should) from sheep that feed ‘on grass. In the illustrations, as usual, utility and taste are combined. It is a pity that the editors let the Maoris shoot Kapiti Island, but Kapiti, with luck, should still be where it was, whatever they have done to "which." From the grass comes mutton, and Messrs. Callaghan and Hall have told the romantic story of its refrigeration in ‘No. 12. For New Zealand, ice has been ‘an even richer find than gold. With refrigeration, the great flocks of sheep along the plains and over the hills became more than wool-growing animals. They became food for an empire and riches for New Zealand graziers. Sheep, of course, are not the whole story. This survey of the method of refrigeration is interested also in beef and butter, too. Even the hold of the ship and the carcases are only one part of the tale. The real thrill of refrigeration is its social and economic significance, as the authors have not failed to observe.