ALBERT

Description: The value of soot as a manure depeuds upon the ammonium salts which it contains, as well as upon its beneficial effect on the texture and colour of the soil, and its power of diminishing the ravages of slugs and small snails upon a young crop. In various samples which from time to time have been submitted to analysis the percentage of nitrogen present has been found to vary within very wide limits, from 0·5 to 7 per cent., and it is usually stated to be present in the form of ammonium sulphate; actually it occurs for the most part as ammonium chloride.

Description: The general experience of breeders, supported by statistical evidence in the case of sheep, has shown that a good thriving, but not over-fat, condition during the breeding season is that which is most conducive to a high fertility. It has been shown further that the practice of “flushing” or “springing” ewes (i.e. artificially stimulating them by means of an extra supply of special food) shortly before and during tupping time results in an increased number of births at the succeeding lambing time. On the other hand, an excessive quantity of nutriment producing a great deposit of fat is known to be prejudicial to the proper discharge of the reproductive functions. No better example could be given of the way in which overfeeding results in a condition of sterility than that of the barren shire mares which have been a noteworthy feature at many agricultural shows. It is a matter for regret that those animals, whose appearance justified them as prize-winners, should in many cases have proved valueless as brood mares owing to the methods of feeding to which they had been subjected in preparing them for show. The association of sterility with a too fattening diet is as common among cows, sheep and pigs as it is among mares. Thus Cornevin writes: “Chaque aunée, dans les concours, nous avons sous les yeux des spécimens des plus belles races ovines et porcines qui, véritable modèles de bonne confirmation, de puissance assimilatrice et d'aptitude á prendre la graisse, restent stérile.” Moreover, Mr Edward Brown, the honorary secretary of the National Poultry Organisation Society, ascribes the decrease in egg production by poultry during the winter months in part at least to overfeeding.

Description: The attention of the writer was called recently to a publication of E. J. Russell and Norman Smith in this Journal, stating among other things that the observation of the writer of the production of nitrous acid and to a small amount of ammonium nitrite by platinum black in presence of alkaline bases as potash or baryta and air could not be realised by those authors. Since this failure was considered by others as a refutation of my observation, a few lines of explanation may be in order.

Description: It will be desirable, by way of preface, to say a word or two regarding the physical geography of the district, the soils of which form the subject of this paper.

Description: As a result of a bad attack in tea gardens of blister blight caused by the fungus Exobasidium vexans, Mr McRae, the officiating Imperial Mycologist, was deputed by Government to combat the disease. Mr McRae has tried the effect of spraying the tea bushes with Bordeaux mixture on an experimental scale. In view, however, of the recent scare in America over the sale of grapes sprayed with Bordeaux mixture, it was thought desirable to have these spraying experiments under chemical control. Accordingly an area in a tea garden was set apart and the bushes sprayed with Bordeaux mixture. After nine days the tea was picked both from the sprayed and from an unsprayed area, and about 80 lbs. (a chest) of tea was manufactured from the produce of each area. Great care was taken to prevent contamination. Samples of tea both from the sprayed and unsprayed areas were carefully sealed up and sent to this office for analysis. None of this tea was put on the market.

Description: Several years ago the writer's attention was called to the apparently favourable influence of field peas on oats when the two were grown together. The rank growth of the oats, their dark-green colour and the delayed ripening gave every indication of an abundant supply of available nitrogen compounds. On the other hand, oats seeded without the peas, at about the same time, were less rank in their growth and matured at an earlier date. Further observation and inquiry strengthened the impression in the writer's mind that the associative growth of legumes and non-legumes is frequently advantageous to the latter in that they are supplied with nitrogen compounds derived either from the decay of the fibrous roots of the legumes, or from the soluble materials passing out of the roots into the surrounding soil.

Description: The paper describes attempts to test the following points—the comparative feeding value of Yellow Globe and Long Red mangels as constituents of a liberal fattening diet, the comparative feeding value of Golden Tankard and Long Red mangels, also as constituents of a fattening diet, and the comparative feeding value of Yellow Globe and Long Red mangels for store cattle.The results point to the following conclusions:The rates of fattening of individual animals vary so greatly that little reliance can be placed on the results of single experiments with the small numbers of animals commonly employed in feeding tests.The feeding values of Long Reds and Yellow Globes were compared on seven occasions, and the results discussed according to the ordinary methods used in the theory of probabilities.

Description: Very few analyses of gas lime have been published; consequently the following analyses made in the laboratory of the Department of Agriculture of the University of Cambridge may be of interest to readers of this Journal.The samples of gas lime were obtained from the Cambridge Gas Works. One was what is known as carbonated lime, that is to say, lime which had been used for purifying the gas after it had previously been purified by hydrated ferric oxide. This sample, as shown by the analysis, is practically moist calcium carbonate. It was obtained in a perfectly fresh condition. The second sample was described by the Works Manager as “sulphided lime.” It had been used for purifying gas without the previous use of ferric hydrate. A sample was taken from the centre of a large heap which had been standing for about a year.

Description: Attention is drawn to the need for caution in interpreting experimental results.Frequency curves are discussed, chiefly from the point of view of their bearing on the legitimacy of averaging results.The method of calculating probable error is described and its meaning explained.The application of probable error methods to questions of sampling for analysis, to field experiments and to feeding experiments, are illustrated by instances.The probable error of one animal on a fattening ration is found to be about 14 per cent, of the live-weight increase produced, from which it is calculated that to obtain a precision of 10 per cent, in an ordinary feeding experiment 29 animals must be fed on each ration.The probable error of field experiments is investigated by two independent methods, and found to be about 5 per cent, of the crop. This figure is shown to be independent of the size of the plot employed, provided this is acre or larger. A table is given showing the number of duplicate plots which must be employed to give any desired precision in the result.It is also suggested that accurate results may be obtained by employing large numbers of very small plots, even as small as one square yard. This method is useful for nursery work in testing the cropping power of new varieties of cereals where very little seed is available.

Description: In the following pages the author gives a preliminary account of his attempts to improve the methods commonly in use for the separation of the products of the hydrolysis of proteins.