GRASSLAND RESEARCH

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 72, 17 December 1938, Page 12

GRASSLAND RESEARCH

Dominion Leads World, Says English Expert

COME TO STUDY METHODS

To study methods of grassland research in Now Zealand and to acquaint -himself with the latest developments, an eminent agricultural chemist, Dr. Harold H. Mann, director of the Woburn experimental station of Rothamsted Experimental Station, England, arrived at Wellington yesterday by tbc liner Rangitane.

He said that he had three reasons for visiting New Zealand. One was for pleasure; he had heard New Zealand was a good place to visit. The second was that he wished to renew old acquaintanceships with many New Zealanders who had studied under him at the Rothamsted station. Thirdly, he understood that in grassland research New Zealand was leading the world; nowhere else had it been found possible in the same degree to improve the quality of pastures and maintain them successfully at the improved level.

The work of the department of Scientific and Industrial Research, with which the Rothamsted station was iu close communication, was outstanding in this respect, and also in tire work done to investigate and prevent diseases endemic in the soil, such as cattle sickness. The grasslands division and soil survey were carrying out valuable work. English pastures showed symptoms ■of degeneration, he said, and it was difficult to maintain their standard. However, he was confident that this could be effected by research and that the production of the land could be increased. The British Government, though it: generously supported scientific research, was not as enthusiastic as the New Zealand Government, no doubt because agriculture was no longer a principal industry in England. Dr. Mann spent more than a quarter of a century in India, before taking over the Woburn station. He was agricultural advisor to the Government of Bombay and scientific advisor to the tea industry. His present station, at Woburn, is on an experimental farm given by the Duke of Bedford, and situated within the Duke’s 10,000 estates in Bedfordshire.