Scientific and Industrial Research in New Zealand

Abstract

AN admirable survey of the work carried out under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Zealand, during 1927-38 has been issued by the Department as Bulletin No. 69. It includes accounts of work carried out by the Dairy Research Institute, the Plant Research Bureau and the Wheat Research Institute, as well as of the activities of the Department in soil survey, fruit research, animal research, tobacco research and the work of the research associations. The work of the Dairy Research Institute on the cause and control of openness in cheese is described in some detail, as well as further work on discoloration in cheese, and on cheese manufacture. Reference is made to the work of the Plant Diseases Division on chemical sprays and the spray certification system which has been introduced, as well as on virus diseases of tobacco, tomato and of potato, and the importance of the methods introduced for the control of smut of barley. The contribution of the Wheat Research Institute to the improvement of the technique of wheat growing and harvesting, the growing of varieties most suitable for special districts, and cheapening the cost of production is emphasized, as well as the selection and distribution of a new wheat, Cross 7, which yields as well as standard varieties, and has by itself a baking quality equal to that of the old varieties plus the proportion of Canadian wheat formerly used. Fruit research has covered manurial experiments on fruit tree nutrition, boron as a cure for internal cork of apples, orchard sprays, wrappers for fruit; and the soil survey studies have included reference to the physiological diseases of plants. An important discovery ha the field of animal research relates to the wasting diseases caused by deficiencies in the diet of cobalt, to which the bush sickness in the North Island, Morton mains disease in the South Island, and Glenhope ailment in Nelson are due.