WAR-TIME GARDENING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26114, 29 March 1946, Page 9

WAR-TIME GARDENING

FOOD-GROWING IN BRITAIN A NOTABLE EFFORT “Gardening in War-time Britain” was the subject of an address delivered by Mr J. P. Hudson, at the annual meeting of the Dunedin Amenities Society in the Somerset Lounge of the Savoy last night. Mr Hudson, who dealt with the subject from the aspect of food-growing, recently arrived from England to take up the position of chief horticulturist to the Department of Agriculture. During the war he served with-the Royal Engineers and took part in the evacuation from Dunkirk. He then began a long period of bomb disposal duty, and was awarded the George Medal and bar and the M.8.E., and was promoted to the rank of major. The citations to the awards stated that each was in recognition of conspicuous gallantry in carrying out hazardous work in a very brave manner.

At the beginning of the war, threefifths of Britain’s .food was imported, said Mr Hudson. Plans had been prepared as far back as 1936 for feeding the people in the event of war, and two classes had been called upon to implement these plans—the dietitian and the agriculturist (with whom was grouped the horticulturist). The speaker said that the principal meal of pre-war days consisted of a large helping of meat, largely home-grown vegetables and potatoes, and a sweet, probably a pudding made from some form of imported cereal, flavoured with an imported dry fruit. It was realised that more wheat would have to be grown at Home, and that people must De encouraged to eat more vegetables, Mr Hudson continued. The principal war-time meal consequently consisted of large helpings of home-grown vegetables and potatoes, flavoured with meat, while the sweet was ' made from homeproduced flour. Practically no oranges had been imported, and no bananas at all. For that reason greatlyincreased areas of tomatoes had been grown, and they were regarded as a food crop and not as a luxury crop. Blackberries were made into syrup and miree, while another minor source of vitamins was rosehip syrup. Drive for Food Production

During the drive for more food production, the speaker added, over 7,000,000 acres of grassland had been ploughed, some of it for the first time in 100 yards, and in parts of England paddocks of corn had become more familiar than paddocks of grass. Just before the war there had been a scramble for agricultural machinery, and it was now said that Britain was the most highly mechanised agricultural country in the world. The production of potatoes was greatly increased, Mr Hudson said, and the people had become great potato eaters. Before the war only 6000 tons of onions were grown yearly in England, but the British growers had learnt how to grow them, and by the end of the war they were producing 100,000 tons of onions .a year. Carrots became the most prominent of all the vegetables grown during the war, he added, and a huge quantity was consumed.

Referring to the contribution made by the home gardeners, Mr Hudson said that, although many people had neither land nor gardens, a way out of the difficulty was found by the formation of allotments which consisted of plots of land in cities, towns and villages. Temporary allotments were produced by the thousands by the ploughing up of parks, and many of them were cultivated with a high degree of skill by men who were doing a large amount of overtime as well as Home Guard or other service duties. In a small allotment, for an expenditure of 36s 6d in cash and 156 hours of working time a year, he pointed out, it was estimated that 15cwt. of vegetables valued at £2O could be produced, sufficient to keep a family of four all the year round, apart from their supplies of main-crop potatoes. Good’Work by Women

The speaker said that 1,750,000 allotments were under cultivation in 1944, including 10,000 tilled by woitlen. He referred to the value of composting vegetable waste and went on to discuss the labour problem which had been one of extreme difficulty and a great handicap to the farmer and the market gardener. The Women's Land Army, however, had done splendid work in overcoming this hardship. Mr Hudson spoke of the problem caused by the seed shortage and the steps that had been taken to overcome it, and of the organisation that had been set up to arrange for the utilisation and widespread distribution of vegetables which might otherwise have been wasted. , , „ “ The health of the people ot Britain is now probably better than it was before the war.” he stated, addin-', that this was due to tire efforts of the farmers and the gardeners of Britain in supplying the people with healthgiving foods. . , The speaker was accorded a vote ot thanks, which was moved bv Mr R. Fountain and carried with acclamation.