§ Mr. de Freitasasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he is aware that maize can be grown, harvested, made into silage and fed without manual labour; and whether he will arrange for trials to be held of the silage system for stock feed in this country.
§ Mr. SoamesI think that farmers generally are aware that with present-day machinery it is possible to produce and feed maize and other silages with the minimum of manual labour. A revised edition of my Department's advisory leaflet on maize for fodder and silage will shortly be issued as will a leaflet from the National Institute of Agricultural Botany on maize varieties. I appreciate the value of maize silage but at present our experimental resources are fully engaged in investigations on grass silage which is of such great importance to our agricultural economy.