CANTERBURY-"THE GRANARY OF N.Z.”

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30287, 13 November 1963, Page 30

CANTERBURY-"THE GRANARY OF N.Z.”

Canterbury has often been called the seed production centre and granary of New Zealand and there is as much truth in this statement as there is boast, for it produces a good proportion of the country’s wheat harvest as well as 58.000 of the 78,000 acres of barley grown in the country. As well it can lay claim to being the predominant province in the production of small seeds, linseed and peas for seed purposes. For the barley alone the thirsty people of the'eountry should be grateful, for it is an essential ingredient of the beer, gin and vodka produced in New Zealand. This year barley will be one of the features of the display organised by the North Canterbury Grain, Seed and Produce Merchants’ Association, the Canterbury (New Zealand) Malting Co. Ltd. and the Department of Agriculture's Seed Testing Station, Palmerston North. The display at this year’s show has mainly been the work of Mr J. P. Malcolm, of the malting company. In the display will be a full-sized seed dressing machine, which will dress the barley. It is intended to show the plant removing the undesirable frac-

tions from farmers' dressed crops. These impurities have to be removed before the seed can be used for malting purposes.

A large photographic mural will illustrate the whole procedure, including the fractions going into the machine, being separated during the process and the clean grain and waste impurities after dressing. The display stresses the fact that any grain or seed which is intended for marketing purposes requires machine dressing. Another feature will be white clover passing over a gravity separator, which takes out the light seed and any other foreign matter, which must come out before the seed can be certified for the required 99 purity. There will also be a demonstration of seed testing.