COUNTRY LIFE
Cupboard Fodder Some things are too good to be true. At recent shows an invention has been exhibited for which this claim is made. Fodder crops can be grown without the use either of earth or sun or manure in double quick time within a metal cabinet ; and in this way green crops of the very highest feeding value— in vitamins as well as the standard essentials—can be pro- vided throughout the whole year. Whether such an invention has a practical value, or is likely to have one, I do not know; but it is certain that almost any cereal can be grown in this way up to a foot or so in height ; and this fact alone at least sets the imagination at work. Sir William Crookes and others frightened the world not so many years ago by prophesying a shortage of food due to the insufficiency of nitrogen. Science quite killed that bogey a few years later ; and however bad a way the world today is pursuing, it seems at least to lead to plenty in material requirements. In my own neighbourhood an acre and a quarter of glass built for educational purposes produced over £1,500 worth of produce within its first twelve months. Some small part consisted of flowers, but vegetables were as easily grown.
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