ERGOT FOR MEDICINAL DRUGS

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 44, 15 November 1941, Page 13

ERGOT FOR MEDICINAL DRUGS

Drive For Collection

IMPORTANCE OF SUPPLY TO BRITAIN

An intensive national drive is again to be made this year for the collection of ergot, from which is extracted valuable drugs used for medicinal purposes. A substantial part of Great Britain’s normal supplies have been cut off by the war and New Zealand is practically the only alternative source of supply of any consequence. Ergot is a diseased transformation of the seed of grasses, but the collection in New Zealand will be restricted to two varieties of grass, tall fescue and marram grass. The collection of ergot in the Dominion is being sponsored by the Department of Agriculture with the co-opera-tion of a number of organizations, whose members are taking up the wor with enthusiasm. At the meeting to inaugurate the campaign the following bodies were represented t-Womeu’s Division of the Farmers Union, women’s institutes, Girl Guides bar-; mers’ Union, Young Farmers Clubs Federation, Grain and Seed Merchants Association, Boy Scouts' Association, and the Departments of Agriculture, Scientific and Industrial Research and Education. . . Mr. R. B. Tennent, Director of the Fields Division of the Department of Agriculture, who presided, said that the campaign for the collection of ergot was being carried out at the of the British. Government, and those who participated were performing a patriotic duty. He stressed the necessity for confining collection to tall fescue and marram grass, as the ergots of a number of the other grasses were practicallv useless for medicinal purposes. The ergot gathered could be sold to any member of the Grain aud Seed Merchants’ Association, and the price would be according to grade. In the discussion which followed it was pointed out that the best months to collect ergot were December and January.' A pamphlet setting out the technique involved is being distributed, and copies are available at any office of the Department of Agriculture, It was urged that any person who has the facilities to collect ergot should take part in this work.