Some Rural Contrasts, North Eastern U.S.A. and New Zealand.

April 26: Address by Lieut. Raymalley, of the U.S. Joint Purchasing Board.

Lieut. Raymalley's address consisted of a running commentary based on a particularly fine series of Kodachrome lantern slides. One of the first contrasts he had noticed between New Zealand and the U.S.A. was in methods of pruning fruit trees and methods of orchard management with regard to under tree crops. Land utilisation had not been scientifically planned in New Zealand, but he thought that if farm management became as advanced in New Zealand as in U.S.A. the New Zealand products would be a serious competitor of the U.S.A. Much land could be utilised in New Zealand if it were economically drained, and insect pests would probably soon have to be controlled by the use of aircraft as in U.S.A. Even though present farm operating costs in New Zealand were far below those of the U.S.A. the speaker thought that much more use could be made of mechanical equipment in New Zealand. He showed pictures of various types of farm implements such as mechanical pickers, viners, stackers, etc., and pointed out that crop plants were bred in U.S.A. for picking by mechanical means. Soil erosion control was a very important part of farm practice in U.S.A., and New Zealand would have to be increasingly on the alert to guard against this menace. Methods of erosion control in U.S.A. were shown. Crop yields in New Zealand were phenomenal, but the methods of harvesting were primitive in comparison with those in the U.S.A. and too much poor quality produce, which should be rejected, was marketed. Transportation in New Zealand from farm to market was slow, primitive and poorly organised, causing loss of quality before the produce reached the consumer. Extensive plant breeding was really necessary in New Zealand, and should develop as it had done in U.S.A., where it was an important branch of farming industry.