EMPIRE-WIDE RESEARCH.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20619, 8 August 1932, Page 5

EMPIRE-WIDE RESEARCH.

PRODUCTION ASSISTED. ACTIVITIES OUTLINED. Scientific research is being developed to tho great assistance and benefit of producer and consumer and very complete surveys of various types of research being carried out in all parts of the British Empire are contained in the annual report of the Empire Marketing Board for the year 1931-32 ending on May 31st, which has just been published. As in previous years, the bulk of the Board's income has been devoted to scientific research, states the report. Some 70 out of tbo 100 pages of the report describe the immensely varied fields of research which the Board's funds have helped to irrigate. Tho Imperial Conference of 1930 urged the value of joint programmes of scientific ivork which should be agreed upon between the various Empire countries, so that effort and expense might b-o concentrated and economised. Acting upon this suggestion the Board has initiated an interchange of views on what problems of economic importance to the Empire most urgently need the further application of scientific research. Difficulty of Discontinuance. . It has been the Board's practice, since its foundation in 3926, to mako grants for a term of years to existing institutions in conjunction with other bodies. This method has worked admirably, but it makes discontinuance difficult. To stop research that is under way is commonly to sacrifice money already spent and work already done. Jn the interest of national economy the Board is making at present scarcely any fresh grants, and it has succeeded, with the co-operation of the institutions concerned, in reducing its present commitments by between 10 and 2a per cent. Similar economies in publicity and marketing work enabled tho Board to meet the call made upon it by the Treasury last summer for the surrender of £IIO,OOO from its total vote of £550,000. For the present year, 1932-33, the vote of the Board is £300,000. Tho main body of the report is concerned with the progress made by tho various scientific and agricultural institutions which the Board is supporting. The field is as wide as the Empiro itself. Plant Research In New Zealand. Marked advances in a number of directions have characterised the activities of the Plant Research Station at Palmerston North, during the year, the report adds. Effective control of the serious club-root disease of turnips has been achieved by the uso of resistant strains and the application of lime and non-acid phosphates to the soil. These simple precautions are easy of adoption by the farming community, and will mako it possible again to grow swedes and turnips in many areas where, on account of the ravages of this disease, they have been abandoned as farm crops.

Steady development with strains of pasture grasses and clovers has proceeded and, through certification, the time is fast approaching when it will be possible, by the proper utilisation of approved strains of pasture plants, to increase the stock-carrying capacity of the Dominion's grasslands. It is satisfactory that the local strains of ryegrass, cocksfoot, white clover, and other grasses have shown themselves, after trials conducted at the Plant Research Station, to be unsurpassed by the best imported lines in their suitability as permanent pasture grasses. Value of New Zealand Research. Control of dry-rot in swedes has been shown to be dependent on,the use of disease-free seed, supplies of which it is possible to grow locally. Useful light has been thrown on tho problem of controlling wheat rust; improvements in the growth of lucerne have been secured through the use of special cultures; investigations on strains of rape and lucerne, have been commenced and show promise. Experiments in topdressing have ascertained the best times for the application of fertilisers, and shown the advantages of frequent small applications of phosphates. Similar progress has been made with almost every farm crop. These advances come at a time when low prices have adversely affected farmers' returns; and their application will have some influence, not only in mitigating these losses, but Jin encouraging higher yields per acre in the future. Wastage of Imported Fruit. The rapid expansion of the fruit trade within comparatively recent years is to a large extent directly attributable to the use of refrigeration, which has extended the storage life of fruit and made possible its shipment over long distances. On account of the perishable nature of the product, however, considerable losses from wastage arc still incurred, and intensive research info preventive measures has for some time been in progres at experimental stations in the main producing countries. The work already accomplished has revealed the complexity of the underlying problems, and. it is evident that cultural, harvesting, storage, and marketing procedure must all be adjusted to a narrow range of conditions if fruit of satisfactory quality is to be produced and delivered to the consumer with a minimum of loss. The Board has given grants to assist these basic investigations both at home and overseas. As a supplement to this work, a systematic survey was begun early in 1927 with the object of ascertaining the nature, extent, and incidence of wastage in imported Empire fruit. Exact quantitative data as to existing conditions have in this way been secured and fields for future research defined. Special attention was directed towards methods of control of wastage under commercial conditions, and in certain cases experimental shipments to test specific methods were arranged in co-operation with'scientific departments overseas. Throughout the survey, close contact was maintained with the officers of the Cambridge Low Temperature Research Station of the Food Investigation Board. In the course of the survey, cargoes of fruit were examined at all the principal ports, but the greater part of the work was concentrated at London and Liverpool. Information was also obtained on the post-shipment development' of wastage by the re-examination of selected samples, and, more recently, the Experiment has been tried of inserting cards in boxes of fruit for return by retailers with particulars of the wastage found. Cold Storage. The Food Investigation Board of tho Department of Scientific and Industrial Research ja co-operation with oversea workers have been at work on questions of food storage, of the right temperatures for the preservation not only of meat but of fruit and vegetables and of the best sizes in which to store them. Frosen Fish. Progress Bas been made at Aberdeen in freezing fish in such » way aa' to

retain its qualities unimpaired. By brine freezing and cold storage, perfectly fresh fish will emerge at the end of, say, three months with all its pristine perfection of appearance, flavour, and texture. An important benefit which is promised from the cold storage of fish is the disappearance of seasonal gluts and shortages, particularly with herrings. righting-Animal Diseases. The minoral contents of pastures and other aspects of animal husbandry have been the subject of continued investigation in the past year, and the Board is advancing £ for £ with the Pastoral Research Trust in Australia for a close study of sheep diseases. Throughout South Africa, New Zealand, and Great Britain, as well as throughout Australia, the larva of the green-bottle, or blowfly, causes enormous damage to sheep. In Australia this damage is estimated at £4,000,000 a year. Becent investigations have been concentrated on the digestive methods of the blow-fly larva and its digestive juices have been minutely scrutinised. In spite of the extreme difficulties of this microscopic work, great advances have been made, and the relations between maggot and bacteria are more fully understood. The Locust Plague. To combat the grave locust menace in tropical Africa the Marketing Board has joined forces with the territories principally affected. Two locust investigators are now in Africa tracking down the breeding places of the locust swarms, and the Imperial Institute of Entomology in London has been recognised by Prance and Italy as the international intelligence centre from which the war against the locust in Africa is to be planned by scientists. Market Promotion. The report describes a new side of the Board's work, that of market promotion. The importance of this work was specially emphasised at the Imperial Conference in 1930, and the Board has met with much success in approaching local authorities and other large scale buyers, so that some 1250 institutions have revised their forms of tender in the interests of Empire producers.