Academic Work
His early research was on New Zealand flax/Phormium tenax (Māori: harakeke), which at the time was used extensively as fibre for ropes and cloths. One of the key centres for production was the delta of the Manawatu River, but Yeates travelled extensively looking for quality cultivars which he grew on the Turitea campus. Flax had long been used for textiles (see Māori traditional textiles) and it was correctly guessed that the best cultivars were to be found adjacent to historical sites of textile-making. The Great Depression of the 1930s caused serious damaged the commercial flax industry in New Zealand and it never recovered.
Some of the flax worked involved chromosome counting, which he had previously done in his thesis work. The flax Ngaro was found to have 32 rather than the normal 24 chromosomes.
Later research involved "farm forestry" a movement to introduce trees onto farms for the benefit of livestock, pasture and crops and as a source of income.
He was the founding head of Agricultural Botany at Massey and this was his core teaching area. In 1954 he, with E. O. Campbell, published Agricultural Botany, a textbook based on this teaching.
Read more about this topic: John Stuart Yeates
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