The results of a preliminary investigation on this subject, in which single plots were used, which were published in 1921, tended to show that the following inferences, in respect to the relation of size and type of tuber-set to crop, might be drawn.

1. The size of the crop varied directly with the weight of the set up to a certain point, viz. 2 ozs., the crop then sinking slightly to a more or less constant level, whilst the weight of the set increased.

The secretion of milk by the mammary glands normally follows a period of pregnancy, but numerous cases have been cited in the literature of secretion which takes place in animals that have never borne young. Non-pregnant bitches frequently secrete milk several weeks after oestrus (1), and a secretion, apparently similar to milk, takes place after pseudo-pregnancy in rabbits (2). No quantitative analyses have been made of these secretions to show whether they possess the characteristics of true milk or colostrum.

The newer knowledge of nutrition shows that cereals and seed products are deficient in calcium, sodium, chlorine, and unknown substances, called fat-soluble A and water-soluble B sometimes referred to as “vitamines” or “accessory food factors.”

McCollum(1) in America, has gone the length of proving bj actual experiment that cows and their calves can be raised to perfection on nothing but the complete maize plant, although maize grain is well known as a very incomplete food. In spite of his demonstration, and in spite of the obvious fact that nothing could be more like grass than an entire cereal plant and therefore suited to herbivora, very few practical or theoretical agriculturists recognise that straw is the most likely thing in the world to correct for the deficiencies of grain feeding. The difficulty is to get straw that is eatable. The practical farmer, when he happens to get a good sample, accepts it as a gift of fate and is content to turn it into profit for himself as soon as he can. The object of the enquiry, or rather the series of enquiries of which this forms a part, is to adopt the more scientific mode of procedure and endeavour to find out what differences of feeding value naturally occur in oat straw, and which of the conditions needed for high feeding value could be repeated at will, and what light such investigation threw on the old question of why farmers in some districts can fatten cattle on swedes and straw whilst in other districts it is found impossible. Oat straw is plentiful in this country and is probably well supplied with the so-called food accessories, that is the things that the grains lack; the problem at issue is how to get more of the eatable kind and less of the uneatable kind. Provided that the straw is eaten in fair quantity, the possible diminution of growth power, by partial destruction of vitamines due to keeping straw in the stack, is of no practical importance because of the large amount of the straw.

Few reliable figures (1) exist at the present time which show the relative qualities of the various British breeds of pigs in respect of their ability to put on weight and the relative proportions of meat and offal in the carcases. Weights and carcase percentages of German breeds have been published by the German Agricultural Society (2).

It is generally recognised that the mechanical analysis of soils containing large quantities of organic matter presents considerable difficulties and that in the case of peaty soils mechanical analysis can have little significance. Apart from the masking effect of organic matter on soil properties which will naturally vitiate any correlations with mechanical composition, the actual dispersion of humus soils is difficult owing to the cementing action of humified organic matter, whereby soil particles are aggregated together into compound structures which resist ordinary methods of dispersion. Various methods have been suggested for the destruction of organic matter as a preliminary to mechanical analysis. Atterberg recommends the use of alkaline sodium hypobromite solution. In the case of diatomaceous soils, however, oxidation of the organic matter with hot nitric acid (d. 1·14) is recommended. For soils free from calcium carbonate the use of hydrochloric acid (d. 1·12) is suggested.

In dealing with the Inheritance of Glume-Length [Engledow(1)] there were encountered certain problems relating to metrical characters. As it appeared that these problems must attach to all genetic work upon a metrical basis, they were made the subject of a separate investigation. A simple account of some of the difficulties experienced in connection with Glume-Length Inheritance will serve to formulate the problems.

Of recent years a disease of root-crops known to farmers in North Wales is one in which the heart or core of the root is converted into a soft putrid mass but which leaves the rind and mature foliage intact. The disease is prone to appear on land treated with lime as a preventive against the roots being attacked by Plasmodiophora brassicae or when the land has received a heavy dressing of nitrogenous fertilizers. It is common knowledge that nitrogenous manures have a tendency to force the crop and so produce watery, sappy roots which easily fall prey to disease. Recently it was brought to the writer's notice by one of the County Organizers for Agriculture in Wales that some of the farmers in his area were strongly disinclined to lime the land for root-crops because this treatment was favourable to the appearance of “soft-rot.” There is probably some modicum of truth in this contention, for as will be seen below, the writer in the investigation of the present disease found that the organism isolated refused to grow on any media which were not neutral or alkaline. The writer observed and investigated this disease on a crop of white turnips grown on the farm of the University College of North Wales and the land here had received a dressing of nitrate of soda. A casual glance at the crop did not show anything unusual, in fact judging from the amount of green foliage the crop looked very healthy. Closer examination however showed that the very young leaves at the centre of the crown had been destroyed thus forming a tiny wound into which one could push a probe without obstruction to the depth of some three or four inches. The fully expanded leaves very effectively concealed the wound and the disease seemed evidently confined to the internal tissues leaving the foliage and rind quite firm even up to time of harvesting the crop. Indeed the extent of damage was only fully revealed at the time of lifting when the harvester's knife lopped off the foliage only to discover that the roots were bad.

(1) The expression of mechanical composition by means of continuous curves is discussed. It is suggested that a convenient representation will be obtained by showing summation percentage as a function of the logarithm of settling velocity.

(2) The effect of a gel coating on the settling velocity of a particle is examined and it is shown that a reduction in velocity takes place which is a simple function of the thickness of the gel coating.

(3) A method is outlined by which the mechanical composition of a soil or clay is derived from determinations of the concentration of a settling suspension for different values of depth/time.

(4) A shortened method for mechanical analysis is described which gives results in good agreement with results obtained by the present standard method.

(5) The effect of various modifications in conditions of working is discussed.

(6) The nature of the concentration gradients in a settling column of a suspension is examined. It is shown that below the first few centimetres the change in concentration with depth is very gradual.