A SOUTHERN ASSET.
The South, which in recent years has revealed unsuspected capacities for agricultural and industrial development, has discovered another useful asset which is to be capitalized. Just as the " model " development of its dairying is acknow- ledged to have contributed to reduce tuberculosis, so its fruit and vegetables promise to be of help in the cure and prevention of goitre. That disease has been increasing and in the search for preventives, fruit and vegetables containing a high iodine content were sought, the value of iodine as a preventive being known. It was observed that- goitre was comparatively non-existent in South Carolina and the soil of that State was known to be strongly impregnated with iodine. Submitted to laboratory tests, the fruit and vegetables grown in South Carolina were found to contain several
times as much iodine as similar produce from the North and West. The discovery was confirmed by medical scientists from other parts of the country and, as a consequence, the demand for fruit and vegetables from South Carolina has grown. The State has appropriated funds to advertise the facts and the cultivation of fruit and vegetables is being stimulated. Research is now being carried out in North Carolina and Florida and the preliminary indications are that the produce of those States, which in climate and soil resemble South Carolina, has a similar property. The high iodine content of the fruit and vegetables is ascribed to the fact that the soil of South Carolina and Florida—and probably North Carolina—has been impregnated with the remains of shell and other sea fish since prehistoric times.
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