ALBERT

Beschreibung: The present investigation was intended to furnish information concerning:(1) The movement of water-soluble and exchangeable potassium in the soil profile after successive fertilizer applications.(2) The form of potassium—exchangeable, soluble, or non-exchangeable—into which added potassium fertilizer is converted in the soil.(3) The effect of doubling the fertilizer ration on the absorption of potassium by the soil; and the effect of doubling the ration of irrigation water on the absorption and accumulation of potassium in the soil.(4) The effect of frequent successive summer irrigation following fertilizer application on the distribution of the three forms of soil potassium.(5) The effect of fertilization followed by irrigation on soil pH. value.

Beschreibung: The mineral compositions of the clays from a red earth and a black cotton soil from Hyderabad, Deccan State, India, occurring in close proximity in the field are determined. Both soils are derived from the same or from very similar parent rocks, a coarsely crystalline granite or gneiss.For both soils there is practically no variation in the mineralogical composition of the clay throughout the profile, but for any given clay there is some variation with grain size. The main contrast between the two is that the red clay contains predominantly kaolinite or halloysite, whereas the black clay contains mainly beidellite, a member of the montmorillonite group. The topography appears to be the principal factor associated with this difference in minerals, and the processes of weathering believed to have produced the contrasted clays are discussed with reference to experiments on the leaching of felspar in the laboratory and on hydrothermal synthesis.

Beschreibung: 1. The comparative nett energy for fattening of Sussex ground oats and white maize meal have been determined on Light Sussex cockerels by difference experiments with a direct calorimeter.2. The mean values for nett energy per gram dry matter, nett energy/ metabolizable energy, metabolizable energy per gross feed energy and digestible energy per gross feed energy were as follows:3. There was no significant difference in the utilization of metabolizable energy from the two cereals. The higher nett energy of the white maize meal was due to its higher digestibility.We again welcome the opportunity of expressing our indebtedness to Mr G. A. Childs for his assistance in carrying out the experiments.

Beschreibung: An investigation of the metabolism of a number of Light Sussex cockerels has shown that there exists a rhythm in the metabolism during fasting amounting to about 9% as between morning and night observations, the former being the higher by the percentage stated.Two methods were adopted to exclude the effect of variation in the activity of the birds at different times of day. In the first, the birds were artificially stimulated during the normal period of repose in such manner as to give periods of approximately equal activity by day and by night. In the second, the movements of the birds were recorded by a system of “point scores”, and regression equations were deduced from a large number of such experiments so as to make it possible to reduce the metabolism observations to a basis of zero activity.The results obtained by these two methods of procedure were in good agreement with one another.The metabolism in the standing position is 40–45% above that in the sitting position, a figure considerably above that for the increase of metabolism as between the lying and standing positions usually found in quadrupeds, while at the moment of rising the heat output may occasionally be trebled, but averages about cent per cent above sitting. The former of these observations is of importance in estimating food requirements as our experiments show that generally speaking rather more than 12 out of each 24 hr. period is spent standing when the birds are kept in cages. It follows that the sitting metabolism must be increased to allow for this when the figure is being used for computation of rations. The large heat increase on rising to the standing posture is of such short duration as to exert little influence on the mean metabolism over a 24 hr. period.

Beschreibung: Although our present knowledge of British Guiana— particularly in detail and in the southern part of the country—is far from complete, it appears timely to attempt a synthesis of some of the major facts that are known. The following account seeks to summarize some of the more pronounced features of form and structure; it raises the question of a large discontinuity or break from south to north along the course of the greatest river—the Essequibo; it seeks to interpret the meaning of the contrasted river-systems west and east of the Essequibo; it raises the question of subsidence in the Berbice Valley, and of the early Amazon drainage; and discusses the problem of continental drift from Africa in the light of du Toit's criteria.

Beschreibung: The Near East is steadily growing in importance as an oil producing region. Present annual production-rates in the various countries are (in round figures) as follows. S.W. Iran 10,000,000 tons, Iraq 4,000,000 tons, Bahrein and the N.E. coast of Arabia 1,000,000 tons, Egypt 600,000 tons. In addition, recently discovered oil-fields are being developed, and active exploration of extensive areas is proceeding in these countries and in Syria, Palestine, and Sinai. The oil possibilities of this immense region are, naturally, not of equal order throughout, but a success in one area draws attention to all geologically related provinces, at least for first-stage exploration.

Beschreibung: In 1907 there appeared a memoir by F. W. Harmer, in which he suggested that a number of gorges—those at Malton and Ironbridge among them—might have originated as spillways consequent upon the blocking of the natural line of drainage by glaciers. A few years previously, Professor Kendall (1902) had interpreted some abandoned valleys in Yorkshire on the same hypothesis; a further exposition was given by Kendall and Wroot in 1924. In the present paper we propose a more fundamental origin for these channels.