VEGETABLES ON THE FARM.

Northern Advocate, 4 October 1913, Page 6

VEGETABLES ON THE FARM.

An important feature of the national policy of the development of rural industries in the United States is the encouragement of the growth of vegetables on the farm. The system of centres of instruction whereby assistance is given and i inducement offered to extend every branch of farm life has had the effect of creating, in those parts of the country adapted for their culture, an immense and rapidly increasing output of domestic vegetables. The younger members of families settled on the land are particularly attracted to this profitable occupation, which offers many points of interest and variety not afforded by continued application to cereals. Not only are the fresh products marketed in towns and cities within a reasonable radius, but the young people are taught to preserve vegetables and can them, often making their own cans. Under a system of local co-operation, it is obvious that a wide market is open, and not only are American household demands met, but a great export trade has been established. This policy, advocated by scientists and economists, received its great impulse during Mr Roosevelt's Presidency, and it is rapidly extending alongside the raising of the established cereals all over the union where Nature permits.

Australian farmers do not as a rule touch this side of production, but it offers great opportunities. People of the Commonwealth generally do not consume such a large amount of vegetables as they almost certainly would were the supply [greater and the cost less. The exj ample set by the American farmer jis well worth consideration, as possibly offering a lucrative industry j which would considerably add to the [resources of agriculture. Mr James Bertram, a Californian agriculturist, who recently visited Australia, was struck by the neglect of this course of revenue, and made some criticisms of the lack of enterprise shown by the Australian settlers. He pointed to the fact that we have every variety of climate needed for the production of all descriptions of vegetables, and yet we were sometimes importing them instead of being large exporters. He referred to the high price he had been charged for potatoes, and the Australian housewife could supplement his experience by her knowledge of the cost of other such foodstuffs. Anyone acquainted with various parts of the continent is aware of the difficulty of getting supplied -with, these articles, even in Well settled areas, and can feel confident that an excellent outlet awaits th« producers of the future who realise the advantage to be derived irom plants which will provide crops all the year round.

The Australian might advantageously adopt a more extensive diet. History provides us with evidence that great races have lived very largely upon the direct products of the soil. Herodotus relates that the warlike ancient Persians were small meat eaters; the Saracens were equally sparing. Corn and pulse form a leading part ot the daily fare in Egypt and Asia Minor; the Greeks and the Romans all paid special attention to the growth and use of vegetable foodstuffs. No indigenous Australian plants are of much value for this purpose; those we cultivate have been introduced from the northern hemisphere. It is noticeable, in an inquiry into their origin, that though many are now raised in cold climates, they all appear to have had their birth in the warmer regions of Asia. The countries surrounding the Mediterranean have been favoured spots in this respect. Peas and beans belong to this part of the world—the "mess of pottage" for which Esau sold his birthright was of lentils, a red bean still grown. Jonah's gourd was a member of the marrow family, which we owe to Persia, and the onion tribe was in high repute among the connoisseurs of ancient Rome. For the cabbage and the carrot we may go still further eastward—the latter is Chinese and the former, with the lettuce, was cultivated in the gardens of Vedic, India. The most remarkable exceptions to thifc rule are two of the most valued, and are certainly the most valuable of all garden produce. These are the potato and the tomato, which we owe to tropical and sub-tropical America. Though the range of vegetables known in ordinary culi-

nary use is not very wide, over 200 species of kitchen garden plants are described by botanists. No fewer 1076 species of plants have been recorded as "cultivated for food use." There need, therefore, be no monotony about a vegetable diet.

Some of these plants have an economic value apart from their use as food. Especially is this the case with the potato, which yields starch and alcohol for industrial purposes, and is cultivatable to an enormous extent for that end, especially in Germany. A tuber that is rendered unfit for human consumption by frost or disease does not, therefore, [lose these qualities, and starch is [greatly in demand in certain textile [manufactures, so that a market is provided. Irrespective of direct | profit, there is an interest attached to the culture of vegetables which will appeal to anyone with a bent toward natural science or experimental horticulture. They readily lend themselves to the plant breeders' art, and the creation of new varieties may be a hobby with the grower; and, unlike most hobbies, it may have practical results of benefit to himself. The esculents, we know, now have nearly all improved by cultivation and cross breeding. The original cabbage was a smooth leaf, and without the "heart." Peas and beans have, as is well known, been greatly improved by selection and hybridising. Practical men, with the aid of science, are always engaged upon this work, and there is no reason why growers should not devote their energies to this end, instead of waiting on American and European enterprise.—Melbourne "Age."