In the course of an investigation into the pathological effects of excessive protein diets on sheep (1) experiments were designed to show the changes in metabolism as recorded by nitrogen balances and weight curves. The animals were placed in metabolism cages similar to those described by Wood and Woodman (2) in their digestibility trials, and a harness of the Halnan type used.

1. The action of various forms of sulphur—ground sulphur, flowers of sulphur and colloidal sulphur—as fungicides against the hop powdery mildew (Sphaerotheca Humuli) was tested in a number of experiments.

When ground sulphur or flowers of sulphur was wetted by a soft soap solution and applied to the mildew patches in the form of a spray, the fungicidal action was always very marked and, under the conditions of the experiments, became complete with suspensions containing 5 gm. sulphur per 100 c.c. of 0·5 per cent, soft soap solution. Owing, however, to the settling of the sulphur particles during the process of spraying, the amount of sulphur actually applied to the fungus was not strictly in accordance with the strength of the suspension.

2. Striking differences in fungicidal action were obtained when gelatine or saponin were used in place of soft soap as a spreader. Spreaders of an acid nature, viz. gelatine and saponin, inhibited the fungicidal action. With alkaline spreaders other than soft soap, e.g. lime casein and soda casein and the dry-mix sulphur lime, the alkaline reaction favoured the fungicidal action of the sulphur.

1. It is suggested that the fungicidal action of sulphur upon the Erysiphaceae is due primarily to hydrolysis.

2. The presence of alkali, which brings about an acceleration of this hydrolysis, should enhance the fungicidal properties of sulphur.

3. An explanation is thus afforded of the inhibition of the fungicidal action of sulphur against the hop powdery mildew (Sphaerotheca humuli) by gelatine or saponin solutions when employed as the spreader and of the promotion of fungicidal action in the presence of soft soap and alkali casein solutions.

4. Attention is drawn to analogies between the action of sulphur upon the mildew and upon copper.

5. Current views relative to the fungicidal action of sulphur are discussed from the standpoint of the hydrolysis hypothesis.

1. Milk and butterfat production rise to about the sixth lactation, but beyond the fifth lactation the increase may be neglected.

2. The lactation of maximum production may be taken as the fifth which corresponds to 7 years of age.

3. Beyond the fifth lactation the milk and butterfat yields vary irregularly but show a downward tendency.

4. The fat yield shows either a fall or only a very small increase in the second lactation.

5. The fat percentage is highest in the first lactation, drops markedly in the second, remains fairly steady for a few lactations, though with a slight downward tendency, and then falls off in the higher lactations.

6. Results obtained by applying correction factors for either age or lactation are quite comparable and choice in the method to be used will depend largely on the original data available.

The recognition of the protein-concentrated and highly digestible character of young leafy pasturage has led to proposals for conserving such herbage by artificial drying for feeding to farm animals during winter as a substitute for oil cakes. Before contemplating the adoption of such proposals on a commercial scale, however, it was necessary to demonstrate that young pasturage could be dried artificially without losing its highly digestible nature.

That this is possible is clear from the results brought forward in this communication. It has been shown that young grass does not suffer any depression in respect of digestibility when it is dried (a) at the temperature of steam, or (b) by direct heat in a kiln.

The question attacked is whether soil variations are sufficiently constant from year to year to give useful corrections to the yields of experimental plots from their yields under previous uniformity trials, and the data investigated were the published results of uniformity trials carried out on two fields at Aarslev (Denmark) between 1906 and 1911. In one case the plots did tend to keep constant in their relative yields, and the precision of an experiment would be increased by nearly 150 per cent. if the regression on the mean yield in the three previous years were used: with the other field, however, the plots showed no constancy in yield (when the variation due to strips was taken out as in modern experimental methods), and consequently previous uniformity trials could give no assistance.

The work described here was done whilst I was enjoying the hospitality of the Rothamsted Laboratory: it gives me much pleasure to acknowledge my great indebtedness to Dr R. A. Fisher, F.R.S., who suggested the problem, and guided my unsteady steps throughout.

(1) Thiosulphuric acid has been shown to exist in a free state.

(2) It is relatively stable in dilute solution; an M/200 solution is only half decomposed at the end of 1 day and an M/400 solution at the end of 10 days only.

(3) This degree of stability is sufficient to account for the fungicidal action of acidified thiosulphate solutions in terms of the liberated thiosulphuric acid.

(4) It can be calculated that it is only necessary to assume 6 per cent. of the minimum quantity of sulphur found effective against Wart Disease in the field to be in the form of thiosulphuric acid over a period of 10 days in order to account for its toxicity.

A recapitulation of the main features of the moisture distribution in an ideal soil is given in order to emphasise a point previously neglected, namely, that the changes are not in the main strictly reversible, but fall into two series corresponding to the two directions of moisture change. The cellular nature of the soil pore space imposes a quantum character on the moisture changes over a great part of the higher moisture range. The individual cell does not fill or empty by smooth reversible changes but shows two unstable stages at which filling or emptying is completed at a bound. For falling moisture the suction level is that at which a meniscus can invade a cell through one of its narrow entries, which gives a value in the neighbourhood of 12 T/r for close packing. For rising moisture the suction level is that for which water returns to the cell by the collapse of a bubble in it, giving a lower value in the neighbourhood of 6·9 T/r. A still lower value of 4·5 T/r can be reached for a particular type of distribution confined to the lower moisture range.

All the above suction values are closely verified by measurements made with bronze balls and paraffin oil. A detailed exploration of the case for glistening dew and water has been made, which verifies the theory while illustrating more nearly the behaviour of an irregular soil. The two values which rule the two halves of the “hysteresis loop” for this case of natural or common packing are 6·0 T/r for falling moisture and 4·0 T/r for rising.

The new considerations resolve the differences of opinion raised by R. A. Fisher. It appears that the author has throughout supported a case which belongs correctly to the falling moisture series. Fisher considered a very limited series for the rising moisture case and a hypothetical reversible series, and has been in error in so far as his treatment was regarded as exclusive.

(1) The skeletons of young pigs on a ration composed mainly of cereal grains but with the addition of cod-liver oil show a very distinct lack of calcification, the percentage of ash being about 12 per cent. lower than in the bones of normal animals.

(2) Calcification of the bones proceeds up to maturity. A difference of about 360 gm. tricalcic phosphate was found between the same mature bones of normal and calcium-deficient animals.

(3) The ratio of lime to phosphate is almost the same in the different bones of the same individual as well as in the normal and rachitic bones of swine. The main characteristic of the bones in low-calcium rickets is a low-ash content, but the composition of the ash is normal.

From a study of the data of two season's work the following observations may be made:

Frequency of grazing with a view to the successful operation of the scheme will depend on a number of factors, chief among which is the character of the herbage and its growth. Recovery and vigour of growth are primarily dependent on rainfall and secondarily on the fertility of the soil, which may be increased by fertiliser applications. Rainfall, its amount and distribution, has in this investigation shown itself the most potent of all influences in the recovery of the plots. The results in general of 1928 indicate that the application of fertilisers, in which nitrogen predominates, greatly assisted in the maintenance of vigorous growth.

The protein content of the herbage increases with the shortening of the period between cuttings, due in the first season solely to the fact that the protein content of the grass falls off with age, but in the second and subsequent seasons, in a very large measure, to the incursion of white Dutch clover.

A consideration of protein yields per acre in relation to frequency of cutting reveals that in the first season, when the herbage is essentially grass, the shortening of the period between cuttings tends to reduce the protein yield; in the second season, when clover replaces grass, roughly in proportion to the shortening of the growing period, the higher protein content of the legume tends to counteract the depressing effect on yield of frequent cutting.

1. A study has been made of the formation of lateritic soils in Sierra Leone and the composition is given of some of the intermediate and final products formed.

2. The detrital soils in Sierra Leone appear on the whole to contain a higher proportion of alumina to silica than the residual soils.

3. The soils described are all reddish or yellowish red soils, light in texture and generally containing a high proportion of stones. They are acid in reaction and have a definite lime requirement. The mineral constituents are low, especially the potash and the exchangeable calcium. i. Soluble phosphorus is readily removed from a solution by these soils.