SCIENCE AND THE FARMER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22911, 19 June 1936, Page 7

SCIENCE AND THE FARMER

It is impossible to over-emphasisc the importance of the work of the scientist to the farmer. A striking instance of the service that can be rendered by the highly-trained research worker is contained in a report on “ The Matabolism of Fruit and Vegetables in Relation to their Preservation,” by Maurice Copisarow D.Sc., of the Research Laboratory, Manchester. This shows, in the technical account of the research work conducted by many European investigators, in the Journal of Pomology and Horticultural Science, that malic acid has the power of preventing fruit and even potatoes from ripening (exerting at the same time a protective influence against parasitic attack), holding them safely at the same stage of development, and that ethylene acid has the opposite effect, in that it hastens the ripening process. The possibilities of this discovery are very great. Potatoes, for instance, could be made to sprout just \tfhen required. It would bo a great aid to lemon growers in this country. The rate of ripening could bo checked till the dear season, and then just the amount required for market at any time could be ripened in a few days. Bananas could be landed green from the. Islands and then ripened when required. The commercial application of this valuable principle has not yet been developed, but no doubt this will be soon forthcoming. The effect of the two acids referred to lias been definitely proved, and their use for the practical man now only depends on the development of the necessary technique, and this the groat manufacturing chemists of Britain should speedily solve.