FEEDING THE SOIL
Sir.—lt may perhaps be impossible to prove the completeness of vegetable foods grown artificially in chemical solution. It may be impossible also to prove the wholesomeness of foods grown in the usual way in garden soil. My attention, however, was chiefly attracted to Mount Albert Research Station's assertion that the most valuable part of stable manure is the straw. This is significant because it is the custom of many wheatgrowers to destroy their thousands of straw stacks every year by fire after the threshing. If there is no industrial use for all this material it is a pity it cannot be returned to the soil. The Australians, whose machines strip the ears from the standing crop, leaving the straw to be ploughed in, are ahead of us in that respect. The Minister of Industries and Commerce, who takes a special interest in the wheatgrowers of Canterbury, should perhaps have the position fully re-examined, as well as continuing to seek an industrial outlet for the abundant straw crop. May I suggest experimenting with compressed straw cakes as fuel for producer gas ? Arthur Sainsbury.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19400311.2.101.2
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New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23602, 11 March 1940, Page 9
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185FEEDING THE SOIL New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23602, 11 March 1940, Page 9
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