108 PHYSIOLOGY AND NATIONAL NEEDS 



therefore becomes necessary in the country of origin 

 while awaiting shipment, and in the country of 

 consumption while awaiting distribution to the 

 consumer. It may also be desirable to keep large 

 reserves on hand in case of emergency, for crops 

 may fail or a long war may interfere both with local 

 cultivation and with the supply of grain from over- 

 seas. In Australia recently, for example, it is said 

 that no less than 28 million pounds worth of wheat 

 was held up for want of shipping, and owing to the 

 absence of proper storage accommodation a large 

 part of it was either completely destroyed or very 

 seriously damaged. In time of war any country 

 which does not grow enough cereals for its own 

 needs may become dependent upon stored reserves, 

 a fact which has recently become familiar to all of us 

 by bitter experience of what may take place when 

 no adequate supplies have been accumulated. Let 

 us hope that we shall never again find ourselves in 

 such a precarious position. 



The conservation of our cereal reserves, whether 

 in the form of dry grain or of manufactured products, 

 such as flour and biscuits, is therefore, from many 

 points of view, a matter of extreme national import- 

 ance, and the problem of the best method of 

 storing such reserves is at present attracting some 

 attention, though perhaps not so much as it 

 deserves. 



Professor Halliburton has already told us some- 



