CULTIVATION OF SUNFLOWERS.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20898, 4 July 1933, Page 5

CULTIVATION OF SUNFLOWERS.

INDUSTRY FOR DISABLED

SOLDIERS. INFORMATION TO BE SOUGHT IN AMERICA. So far the Canterbury Disabled Soldiers Civil Re-establishment Com 1 mittee has not been successful in obtaining any satisfactory information as to the possibilities of commercial sunllower growing which, it was thought, might be established in New Zealand as a suitable industry lor disabled soldiers. It is known that the industry is carried on in the United States, and it was believed that it was followed, to some extent, also in Australia. Enquiries in the latter country, however, liuve been fruitless, and the committee, at its meeting yesteiday morning, decided to try to obtain information from America. The Department of Industries and Commerce forwarded a report by Mr L. J. Schmitt, New Zealand Trade and Tourist Commissioner in Australia, on the commercial uses of sunflower seed in Australia. The coveiing letter stated that nothing of value to the committee appeared to have been adduced m the report, as sunflower seed did not appear to be in general use there either for stock feeding purposes or for the extraction of oil. It was possible that wheat and maize had been found more economical for use as stock feed than sunflower seed. Enquiries in the Dominion went to show that while the sunflower was grown practically all over the Dominion it was hot grown on a commercial scale. It had some small demand in mixed feeds for parrots and other birds. American bulletins supplied the Department of Agriculture all dealt with the conversion of the sunflower plant into ensilage.

Little Attention Required. Mr Schmitt's report stated that the soils best suited for maize producea the best crops of sunflowers. He supplied details of the methods of sowing and stated that the crop required little further attention oeyond superficial cultivation in order to remove weeds and conserve moisture. Harvesting was done cither oy cutting the heads off the plants or by uprooting them. After drying, the seed was removed cither by heating or by holding the heads against a revolving cylinder studded with spikes. The period between sowing and maturity was about three months. The report added that there was a large amount of published information regarding the growing and utilisation of the sunflower. The United States Department of Agriculture published a bibliography on the subject, but a number of the references were to journals not available in Australia. Replacement or Linseed. "There is a good deal of detail here, but unfortunately it is detail that is not much use to us," said Mr Leadley. Mr J. Murphy: It seems that the proposition is a wash-out. Mr Holland: We cannot say it is a wash-out until it has been given a trial. Dr. T. Fletcher Telford suggested that enquiries might be made as to the extent to which sunflower seed could replace linseed in commercial uses. Mr Leadley: Why not grow linseed? Mr Holland said he understood that linseed could be grown only in notation with other crops. It was alao susceptible to frosts. On Dr. Telford's motion, it was decided that enquiries should be mail': as to how much linseed was used in cattle cake, and what proportion of this was imported and that further information on the subject of commercial sunflower growing be sought through the American Trade Commissioner's office.