The Young Farmers' Club

the story, too, whose unthinking and almost casual betrayal of the secret of their joint pet might, by contrast, emphasise the deeper feelings in which the older boy was involved. In any debate on whether film-making can ever be an art I am content to let my case for the proposition rest on this film.

All else this term has seemed trivial to some extent by comparison. "Ivanhoe" was a reasonably well-produced medieval version of cops and robbers. Technicolor did at least reflect the bright colours in which the people of those days delighted. In "Captain's Paradise", Alec Guinness dwelt amusingly on the lighter side of a sailor having a wife in at least two ports. Finally, Buster Keaton in "The Navigator" must have convinced the youth of the 1950s that cinematic humour did not begin with the talkies. Mr. Waine, who from our earliest days has properly insisted that our interval music should be of a high standard, very kindly provided a live accompaniment to this film and in the interval was professionally served with what I am assured was the appropriate refreshment.

Last season we gratefully acknowledged a new projector provided by the School : now Mr. Crews has conjured up from somewhere a bigger and better screen, on which, incidentally, he personally has expended a vast amount of thought and work. There is ground for believing that he likes doing this kind of thing, but that does not detract from the Society's indebtedness to him. F•J•W.

Leader: K. G. COULTHARD, ESQ. Committee: M. L. BYWATER (Chairman), C. B. M. GREGORY (Vice-Chairman), R. R. BALDWIN (Secretary), T. M. JENKINSON (Treasurer), R. W. PEACOCK (Librarian),

W. I. MACDONALD.

On Thursday, 11th October, Mr. Wilmott came from Askham Bryan to give a talk on "Horticulture". Mr. Wilmott defined horticulture as the cultivation of plants, especially glass crops, fruit, hops, root crops, and ornamental plants. Overseas this was extended to rubber and tea planting. The glasshouses in Britain were devoted mainly to tomatoes in the summer and chrysanthemums and lettuce in winter. Kent was the main fruit growing area in England, growing mainly cherries and hops. Fruit growing, however, was not profitable until fruit diseases and pests were overcome, the most profitable work being with ornamental and pot plants. If anyone wished to take up horticulture as a career, Reading and Nottingham Universities each have a four-year course, but Mr. Wilmott said a person must be a real enthusiast and if possible should have some capital.

On 25th October Mr. Shippam, also from Askham Bryan, gave a short lecture on "Farm Mechanisation". The British farmer was 36

the most mechanised in the world as every acre of British soil must be used to its fullest extent. The plough was the basic implement, being fixed to a tractor and lifted hydraulically or trailed behind.

The mouldboard plough was the most popular and when reversed could plough right-handed as well as left. For cultivating the soil a disc-harrow was used to break soil down, followed by a cultivator for thinning out. Seeds were put in a hopper of a grain drill and their outlet on to the ground was mechanically controlled in the same way as in the fertiliser drill. When the harvest was ready a binder or combined harvester was used for cutting and binding the crop.

On 15th November Mr. Buckler, Principal of the East Riding Institute of Agriculture, gave a talk on milk. In the East Riding one third of the farms produced milk for sale. In the early 1930s, because of unhygienic methods, no milk could be kept fresh. The Milk Marketing Board was formed to take a complete monopoly of the sale of milk and to raise the standard of milk production. The amount a cow yielded a lactation varied from 150 to about 2,000 gallons, the average in Great Britain being about 570 gallons.

The time taken for milk to reach the consumer in the London area from the farm was four to five days as compared with about two in York. This time could not be shortened because of transport and distribution difficulties.

The next meeting of the term was a debate, and the motion was "This House deplores the use of chemical fertilisers to the exclusion of natural methods". Colonel Milnes-Coates rose to propose the motion. He said all plants needed lime, potassium, phosphorous, nitrogen, etc., and no soil was completely deficient in these elements. Plants were inclined to be greedy and thus a balanced food was required rather than too much of one thing. This was given by organic manures which also gave the plant bacteria to attack such pests as taycall and potato scab. Colonel Milnes-Coates, however, said that chemical fertilisers were certainly needed in a small quantity.

Mr. Townsend from Leeds University then rose to oppose the motion which he thought was rather unfortunately worded, for natural manures are anything but on the decline. All plants need light, air, food, water, anchorage and correct temperature. Manures needed to be in an inorganic form for plants to receive the elements and with chemical fertilisers a plant can have what it wants when it wants.

Mr. Wroe, seconding the motion, said that natural manures were in short supply and chemical fertilisers contain no humus, one of the essentials for plant life. Mr. Jenkinson, seconding the opposition, said his side of the House was really only up against prejudice. Mr. Townsend, summing up for the opposition, said that chemical fertilisers had a technical advantage insofar as they were easily transported, easily stored and easily sown. Colonel Milnes-Coates said great use could be made of town sewage. The motion was carried by 32 votes to 19. We would like to thank all outside speakers and members of the Advisory Committee for helping to make the debate such a success.