“IN LEAGUE WITH THE DEVIL.”

Western Star, 4 March 1938, Page 3

“IN LEAGUE WITH THE DEVIL.”

I <s> CORNISH PEOPLE AND AMAZING FARMER. Cornish people for miles abound Helston say that Mr George Henry Muller is “in league with the devil.” Mr Muller lives at the little village of Ituan Minor, i overlooking Cadgewith Cove, says a writer in the ‘Sunday Express.’ He can grow:— Seven-eared wheat from 5,000-year-old seeds. Strawberries in the open air every, month of the year. Cabbage that has no odour when cooked. Beetroot that can bo eaten raw. Peas that will stand 25deg of frost in winter. , Mr Muller is also an expert water diviner. . Househorder s and farmer,. in the remote villages of the Lizard are amazed at his ability to find hidden water supplies, not only with the diviner’s wand, but merely by looking at the ground. I travelled down to his tiny farm to find the explanation of some of these mysteries. Mr Muller, stocky, raddyfaced, is the last of a line of Dutch planters from the East Indies. He ha s peculiar theorie s on farming. He believes, for example, taat the moon has an important influence on all growing tilings, and lie .does all bis planting two days before the moon is full. “All these so-called mysteries of mine,” lie said, “are really so simple that the people who have watched me at work since I came here in February can’t believe them. “All my life I have been growing tilings—rubber and tea in French IndoCliina during the war, fanning in South Africa.

“That i s where I learned water divining. I spent six months in the Kalahari Desert, where iny life for six months depended on water —and I found the wells with a stick, holding it until it twisted in their direction. “Then 1 came to' Britain. I wanted to farm, but I believed that the world has forgotten most of the ancient methods of farming that kept the land fertile. “I believe that the earth should be fertilised with vegetable matter, not with chemical or animal matter. “The Cornish people think I am in league with the devil. They think I am mad because I plant whenever possible, two days before full moon. “But it- is easy to prove whether that i s right. Take some maize seeds and put two of them oil a damp cloth when the upon i s new. '“The following week put two morebeside them, the next week two more, ir.d so on until two days before full moon. “You will, find that the first two will j ake four and a-lialf day s to sprout. The J ’leriod will grow less until the two that j ave been planted just before the full I noon take less ban two days. ( “Take the ease of thi s seven-eared wheat. The world has forgotten how to grow it. Some seeds were, brought over here from India and Egypt. “They are 5,000 year s old, and black with their age. “I managed to fertilise the seed hero.” He showed the result. Every stalk j .as heavy with seven ears. j He lias just btfwilderecl the whole dis- j rict by saying that lie lias divined oil . ,003 ft below the great plateau that i .reehed out to the Lizard Light. '