ALBERT

Beschreibung: Sulphate of ammonia and nitrate of soda, applied at monthly intervals, produced increases in the carotene content of poor pasture grass amounting to 28%. Sulphate of potash, also applied monthly, produced an increase of 6·2%. A single dressing of carbonate of lime, which was sufficient to satisfy the lime requirement of the soil, produced no effect on carotene content, whilst monthly dressings of superphosphate also had no influence except in the month of June, when an increase of 14·5% was produced. All five manurial treatments significantly increased the yields of dry matter and carotene.Carotene contents were very low during the drought experienced in April and May 1938, increased significantly in June, and showed very marked and highly significant increases in the autumn months.Ash content was increased by the three non-nitrogenous manures, and protein content by nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia and superphosphate. Ether extract was increased by superphosphate and sulphate of ammonia, whilst nitrogen-free extract was decreased under all manurial treatments except carbonate of lime. None of the five artificial fertilizers had any effect on the mean fibre content of the grass, although various significant differences were observed on certain sampling occasions. Normal seasonal variations occurred in the percentages of ash and organic constituents.Correlations of carotene with crude protein, fibre, nitrogen-free extract and ash have been computed for each manurial treatment and several significant differences have been observed. The physiological significance of these correlations has been briefly discussed.

Beschreibung: The amount of oil in the diet and its degree of unsaturation are known to exert an important effect on the nature of the fat deposited in the body of the growing pig, foods of high oil content tending to give rise to bacon carcasses containing fat of an undesirably soft and unsaturated character. For this reason, authorities on pig nutrition are agreed on the desirability of excluding from the dietary of the bacon pig all foods containing more than a small percentage of oil. It has been stated that, in order to avoid the danger of producing carcasses with soft fat, the meal ration of the fattening pig should be made up so as to contain no more than about 3% of oil.This prejudice against the use of feeding stuffs rich in oil has been transferred, somewhat unquestioningly perhaps, to feeding stuffs rich in fat. Feeding meat meal, for example, contains normally from 8 to 10 % of fat, and manufacturers complain of the difficulty of securing sales of this product for pig-feeding on account of the view generally held that its high fat content would occasion the production of soft fat in the resultant bacon or a carcass with an excessive amount of fat. To meet this prejudice, therefore, the meat meal as ordinarily produced is frequently submitted to a process of de-greasing with petroleum benzine at about 200° F. so as to give a meat meal containing about 3% of fat. This procedure, however, not only adds to the cost of the manufacture of meat meal, but may actually lead to a distinct lowering of the digestibility of the product (Woodman & Evans, 1937).

Beschreibung: 1. By establishing the relationship between linear carcass measurements and the quantitative composition of the carcass in terms of bone, muscle and fat, we have provided a scientific basis for the use of many measurements hitherto only presumed to provide an index to carcass quality.2. External carcass measurements are correlated with weight of the skeleton. The most useful for this purpose are length of tibia + tarsus and length of the fore-cannon.3. As indices of muscle, external measures are only of indirect value. Thus, both F – T and G/F × 100 are strongly correlated with weight of muscle as a percentage of skeletal weight.4. Similarly, F provides an index of fat, being negatively correlated with fat as a percentage of bone.5. For muscle and fat internal measures permit a more precise estimate to be made. A + B is the best index of the former while C + J + Y provide the most accurate estimate of the weight of fat.6. Still better indices for muscle and fat are provided by suitable combinations of external and internal measurements. Thus L/10 + A + B is very highly correlated with the weight of muscle, and L/10 × (C + J + Y) is the best index of fat in the hoggets. For bone, a most efficient single index is shown to be the weight of the fore-cannon bone.7. The weight of the skeleton can be estimated with a high degree of accuracy from the weight of the bones in either one leg or loin. Both these joints combined, however, provide a still better estimate.8. The muscle in one leg or loin + leg provides an excellent index of the weight of muscle in the whole carcass.9. The fat in one leg, loin, or both these joints combined provides a good index of the weight of the total fat in the carcass. Both joints combined give the most precise measure.10. The value of certain measurements which are not necessarily associated with the quantity of the major tissues of the carcass, but which nevertheless have important qualitative significance, is emphasized.

Beschreibung: 1. In mares which had a follicle of a sufficient size in the ovaries, in most cases the intravenous injection of 1000 mouse units or over of pregnancy urine extract caused ovulation at any time in the oestrous cycle.2. In those mares which were in oestrus at the time of injection, ovulation occurred 22–30 hr. after injection, and the length of oestrus was reduced from 7 and 9 days to 3 days.3. In those mares which were not in oestrus when injected ovulation occurred 30–60 hr. after injection without the appearance of any symptoms of oestrus.4. Normal ovulation occurred after these injections, and in one case the ovum was recovered from the uterine end of the Fallopian tube about 95 hr. after ovulation, and 138 hr. after injection.

Beschreibung: The design and field technique of two large scale experiments, laid down to investigate the problems of sampling and “propinquity”, are described in detail. These experiments were designed so that the plant number, stem number, ear number, straw weight and grain weight for 7200 lengths of 6 in. of drill row, together with the position of each observation, might be obtained.The lowest sampling error, expressed as a percentage of the mean, is obtained by using the smallest sampling unit, but the large number of sampling units of this size that would have to be taken make it impracticable. The optimum sampling unit consists of 6 ft. of drill row, taken as 3 ft. of two adjacent rows. The size of the sampling unit is of greater importance than the shape in determining its accuracy, and little s lost by using sampling units of 18 in. of five adjacent rows.The nature of the observation affects the degree of sampling. In the experiments examined the plant number, stem number and ear number require very similar sampling, but grain weight requires a sample which is about twice as large as that required by the other observations.The percentage of the plot that must be taken as a sample (the sampling percentage) to obtain any given accuracy is related to the size of plot: the larger the plot, the lower the sampling percentage necessary. To obtain an error of 5% of the mean the sampling percentage for grain weight is approximately 5% in 1/20 acre plots, 15% in 1/100 acre plots and 43% in 1/600 acre plots if the plots are not subdivided. These percentages are similar to those calculated from various randomized block experiments in Cambridge.

Beschreibung: 1. The removal of the foetus between the 51st and 105th day of pregnancy in the mare, did not have any detrimental effect in seven Welsh pony mares.2. The subsequent oestrous cycles of the mares did not appear to be influenced by the stage of pregnancy at which the foetus was removed.

Beschreibung: An account is given of the results of two series of field experiments carried out at Rothamsted and Woburn in the years 1926 to 1936 on the effect of nitrogenous fertilizers on wheat. In the first series a comparison was made of the effects of early (March) and late (May) top-dressings, and in the second series a range of times of application from sowing to the end of May were tested.At Rothamsted, the increases of yield of grain produced by the nitrogenous fertilizer were small and rarely significant, but they were greater at Woburn. On the average of all experiments, the effect of the fertilizer on yield of grain was independent of the time of application. In individual years, variation in effectiveness between times of application was found, and this was correlated with the amount of rain falling in a short period after the time of application. At Woburn, the effectiveness of the fertilizer decreased with increase in the amount of rain falling immediately after the application of the fertilizer, but at Rothamsted the effects were less clear and appeared to be in the opposite direction.The effects on straw yield were relatively greater, and more consistent, than those on grain yield. A greater increase of straw yield was produced by early top-dressing (January–March) than by application at the time of sowing, and the increase declined steadily the later the time of topdressing. Shoot height was increased by the nitrogenous fertilizer, and varied with time of application in a similar manner to straw yield.

Beschreibung: A method is described whereby solutions can be obtained from wheat leaves which are toxic to the spores of rusts. Precautions designed to minimize unknown variable factors affecting the activity of the solutions are described.It was found that the uredospores used germinated better in extracts from Little Joss wheat infected with Tilletia tritici than in that from healthy plants, this being correlated with the relative susceptibility of the two kinds of plant under field conditions. On the other hand, no correlation was obtained as between four different varieties tested in the healthy state.A method is described, by which solutions are obtained in which enzymic activity in the course of preparation is reduced to a minimum. It is found that solutions prepared in this way are non-toxic, if obtained from healthy living leaves, though present in decaying leaves. It is deduced that the toxic substances studied are formed in the course of autolysis.It is found that, using the second method of preparation, solutions obtained from rusted leaves are toxic. An experiment is described in which modifications of the degree to which such toxins are produced by a given amount of rust infection are brought about by different nutritional treatments, excess of potassium and deficiency of minor elements being conducive to the production of toxins.Experiments are described which demonstrate that the toxins produced by infection with Puccinia glumarum are toxic only to spores of that species, and not to those of P. triticina, and vice versa.

Beschreibung: The object of this experiment was, in the first place, to see whether, with cotton experiments, there was an advantage in planting a larger number of seeds per hill than the customary number of three; and, in the second place, to see the effect of the interaction of time of thinning with varying numbers of seeds per hill.In cotton breeding work, where trials of new strains have to be carried out as soon as sufficient seed is available, it is important to conserve seed in all possible ways. At the same time it is necessary to plant sufficient seed to give a full and even stand for all strains.In experiments carried out in 1936–7 and 1937–8 stand counts, made soon after germination, showed the advantage of the higher seed rates in obtaining a quick and full stand. Later counts and final counts at harvest showed a considerable evening up, although the two-seed treatment proved unreliable, giving the lowest stand in both seasons.Plant height and weight records, made during both seasons, showed that plants from the larger hills were drawn up much more rapidly than plants from the smaller hills. This rapid elongation in stem height proved, from weight figures, to be at the expense of lateral development, weak and leggy plants being produced in these hills. The ten-seed treatment showed up particularly badly in this respect, the yield figures showing that the plants never recovered from this early deleterious effect.The six-seed treatment, whilst giving a quick and excellent stand suffered to a certain extent from the same defects as the ten-seed treatment. If thinned early they tended to fill out and become more comparable with plants from the three-seed treatment, but when thinning was delayed they never caught up and final yield suffered adversely.

Beschreibung: Some years ago my colleague, Mr E. T. Halnan, suggested the construction of the present instrument for the purpose of determining figures for domestic fowls corresponding to those of Kellner for ruminants.Owing to the activity of the fowl, it is essential that an instrument for this purpose should be capable of recording accurately a heat output which may be varying with some rapidity.From this point of view the advantages of the indirect method were considered but were eventually rejected for the following reasons: (a) the advantage accruing from our greater experience of the direct method in this laboratory, (b) the work of Adams & Poulton (1933, 1934, 1935) calling in question the fundamental bases of the indirect method, and (c) the very variable R.Q.'S obtained in earlier work by numerous investigators working with birds.That the decision was wise soon became apparent when work on birds was begun. It is certain that no ordinary apparatus of that kind could possibly take account of the variations caused by the constant changes in activity.The principle of a “compensatory” or “balanced” calorimeter more or less as developed by Noyons (1927), Benedict (1927) and Heyster (1933), was selected as the most likely to give promptness in registration, and this choice has been amply justified in the result. Such instruments can be very lightly constructed, although where living animals are concerned, since their movements cannot be controlled, as can those of a human being, a greater margin of strength has to be provided, which naturally increases the heat capacity and lag and reduces sensitivity to small changes in heat evolution.

Beschreibung: Artificially dried potatoes are being marketed in this country at the present time in two grades, known as potato cossettes and potato meal. “Chat” potatoes are first washed in water tanks provided with revolving paddles and are then elevated into a machine that pulps them into pieces about the size of fingers. The resulting cossettes enter the drier directly from the pulper, forming a layer about 4 in deep. The wet material passes on an endless conveyer, consisting of a drying belt of perforated sheet metal, through three zones of temperature. The hot-air current has a temperature of 250–260° F. in the first stage and 180–200° F. in the third. The dried cossettes, which are suitable for feeding to sheep and cattle, may be ground to potato meal for use in the rations of pigs.

Beschreibung: 1. A study was made of nitrogen-fixation by Azotobacter chroococcum alone in a medium containing dextrose (which it can utilize) and in mixture with a coliform organism on a medium containing no carbohydrate except starch, which Azotobacter cannot utilize unless it be hydrolysed by the coliform organism or some other agency.2. The amount of nitrogen fixed in the mixed cultures was found to be maximal at two temperatures, and a discussion is given of the causes thought to be operative in producing the double maximum.

Beschreibung: 1. The discrepancy between the results obtained by various workers concerning the inheritance of earliness or the time of ear emergence in cereals, suggests that this character needs further elucidation physiologically before genetic analysis can be properly undertaken.2. A study of the ear emergence characteristics of varieties when grown under varying conditions indicates that the expression of this character is very much affected by the growing conditions, and the physiological basis must be understood before the various expressions of earliness and lateness are appreciated. It is therefore suggested that the genetic analysis should be conducted in conjunction with a physiological analysis and with a proper consideration and understanding of the effect of environment.3. A series of crosses involving parental forms differing in time of ear emergence, and in some cases belonging to different physiological groups, has shown how differences in genetic behaviour can to some extent be correlated with the physiology of ear emergence of the parents.4. In one cross involving similar types, no evidence of segregation or large genetic difference was obtained. In two crosses involving larger differences of similar types, evidence for a single major factor difference was obtained. In other crosses between different physiological types, and an unstable form, more complex genetic results including transgressive inheritance were obtained. Still other crosses superficially suggested a 3: 1 ratio in the F2, but the presence of a certain amount of transgression, and the behaviour of the F3, pointed to a more complicated relationship.5. Two crosses involving different physiological types were studied in the F1 and the F2 when sown at different times in the spring by dividing the progenies into separate portions. It was shown that the behaviour of the F1 and the F2 of the same cross was materially affected by the sowing time.

Beschreibung: 1. The post-weaning growth of 135 litters has been analysed with a view to determining the relationship of certain arbitrary subdivisions with each other. For this purpose, the weight increases during three periods of 28 days have been denned in two ways—first, by age, the periods being 10–14, 14–18, and 18–22 weeks, and secondly, by weight, the periods beginning at 40, 80 and 120 lb. and continuing as before for 4 weeks.2. When the periods are defined by age, the mean increase per pig per litter is affected by weaning weight, but not by litter size (Table III). The variability of the individual increases becomes greater as the pigs become older and heavier (that is, passing from one period to a later one), but less within a period as the rate of growth increases (Table IV). It was not affected by litter size.3. The distribution of individual weights became increasingly skew with age. This is regarded as a graphical illustration of the fact that while absolute rate of growth is increasing, initially small animals must fall farther and farther behind (Graph 3).4. The correlations between the average litter increases in different periods were calculated for litter sizes 6–11. In general, the coefficient for periods 1 and 2 was about 0·4, and for periods 2 and 3 about 0·6 (Table VI). This is interpreted to mean that, when judged by results over the whole time under observation, litters with a high correlation between the increases in weight during short periods are not properly comparable with those with a low correlation. By this method, differences in rate of growth having an important influence on carcass quality may be obscured.

Beschreibung: X-ray, optical, dehydration and chemical methods in use for the identification of minerals in soil colloids are discussed with special regard to their limitations. These are mainly due to uncertainties about the variation of physical properties of standard minerals with decreasing grain size and the possible existence and importance of amorphous material. The aggregate method in X-ray analysis, which is specially important for soil colloids, is described. Various techniques for dehydration and optical analysis are discussed, and it is concluded that they are useful only when used in combination with X-ray data. The advantages of combining various chemical methods with X-ray analysis are pointed out.Standard data are given for a number of minerals, and the evidence for their occurrence in soil colloids is reviewed. These minerals are quartz, cristobalite, oxides and hydroxides of iron and aluminium, minerals of the kaolinite, montmorillonite and mica groups.

Beschreibung: 1. An endeavour was made to obtain a blend of Tuscan wheat with a high quality line which would yield as much as Tuscan, at the same time possessing a superior baking quality. Of the eleven lines which were blended with Tuscan, nine blends returned yields corresponding to the expectation calculated from the pure varieties, and two blends yielded more than the expectation; these increases were not statistically significant.2. Tuscan, three lines and their blends were submitted to yield analytical treatment. The yield characters of the components of blends were compared with their yield characters when grown by themselves. Whilst the yields per plot of the blends corresponded to the expectation, the yield analyses revealed that the component varieties exerted a modifying influence on each other, which was different in each of the three trials. Tuscan demonstrated its aggressiveness by depressing in every case the yield characters of the lines with which it was blended.

Beschreibung: Media from which phosphate was absent finally caused bronzing of the leaves of the resulting stunted plants of May King lettuce grown in sand culture, and red or crimson stalks. Phosphate alone produced characteristic purple (and/or bronze) and apple-green, flat, stunted rosettes with broad, non-crinkly leaves, and red stalks. Water alone caused stunted, straggly, purple plants, with relatively long, crimson stalks.Where some phosphate was supplied in addition to the other essential elements, a plant of normal colour resulted at first. Later, purple blotches appeared on the plants receiving inadequate supplies; the intensity of this purple became greater as the amount of phosphate in the medium diminished, and it could be controlled by varying the concentration of phosphate in the medium or the frequency of application. Another deficiency symptom was the tougher leaf resulting from a lack of phosphate. A sufficiency of phosphate caused earlier maturity.The media which contained the two greatest concentrations of phosphate were the best of those used because they gave the best growth, lettuces of the best colour without purple blotches, earlier maturity, and tenderer leaves.The final yields of heads were statistically the same with the two heaviest phosphate treatments, and both were greater by about 40% of the lesser yields than the two statistically equal yields with the lower amounts of phosphate. All the phosphate treatments gave yields superior by about 40,000–60,000% to the non-phosphate and phosphatealone yields, but this second difference had no commercial significance. Similar results were obtained for the roots, and for the dry weights of the tops and roots.

Beschreibung: The majority of methods for determining carotene involve a preliminary determination of total carotenoids, followed by a phase separation of the two pigments. This phase separation considerably limits the usefulness of such methods, and in order to dispense with it a direct extraction of carotene is necessary. For this purpose petroleum ether may be used in the presence of alcohol.The use of hot alcoholic potash for the disintegration of leaf material and separation of chlorophyll leads to a very undesirable precipitate which hinders subsequent extraction. Two alternative methods are available, which overcome this difficulty, viz. (1) extraction with hot alcohol, followed by treatment of the extract with potash, and (2) saponification with hot aqueous potash, followed by filtration and extraction of the grass residue with alcohol. The second of these methods has been adopted, being of greater general utility and capable of producing complete cellular breakdown, which is essential for efficient extraction. Details of this extraction process have been described.A comparison of the results obtained, with those from two other methods, has been made by a colorimetric determination of the extracted pigment. The variance and standard error have been shown to be smaller than those for the other two methods, and it has been concluded that the results obtained are reproducible with considerable accuracy.

Beschreibung: The influence of three feeding treatments of differing protein content on growth and carcass quality in bacon pigs has been investigated by the individual-feeding and group-feeding techniques. The protein supplement, which was used in conjunction with barley meal, weatings and a small allowance of lucerne meal, was composed of a mixture of ex. soya-bean meal, dried separated milk and feeding blood meal. Expressing, on the nitrogen basis, the amount of protein food in terms of its equivalent of white fish meal, the standard-protein treatment B supplied the equivalent of 9% of fish meal up to 90 lb. live weight, 7·6% from 90 to 150 lb. live weight and 3·8% from 150 to 200 lb. live weight. The corresponding figures for the low-protein treatment A were 4·5, 3·8 and 1·9%, and for the high-protein treatment C, 18, 15·2 and 7·6%.Considering the period of feeding up to 200 lb. live weight as a whole, it was found that differences of feeding treatment gave rise to no significant differences in respect of mean rate of live-weight increase and efficiency of food conversion (see Table VI). Only in the earliest stage of the feeding period did the pigs on the low-protein treatment A show a slightly, though significantly, lower rate of live-weight increase and poorer efficiency of food conversion than the pigs on treatments B and C, but such differences had ceased to be manifested by the time the pigs had arrived at 60 lb. live weight, and the slight initial disadvantage experienced by the low-protein pigs was wiped out during the later stages of the feeding period.

Beschreibung: Experiments over six years on the use of different kinds and amounts of nitrogenous fertilizers on small plots of permanent pasture are described and summarized.Up to a level of 4·5 cwt. sulphate of ammonia per acre applied in February there was a proportionate response in dry matter production in April. Omitting the single year when scorching occurred, the average increase per cwt. of sulphate of ammonia applied was 2·3 cwt. dry matter with an additional 0·85 cwt. in the second (May) cut. The average recovery of the nitrogen applied in February was 35·9% in April, and 8·6% in May.With nitrogen applied in June the response in dry matter production in July and September–October was similar, but the recovery varied widely with the varying effect of nitrogen on clover production. With heavy depression of clover, percentage recovery was low or negative.On plots not receiving nitrogen the dry matter production for the whole year was at the rate of 1·92 cwt. per inch of rain reckoned on the harvest year (Oct.–Sept.). The largest variation from this was only 0·1 cwt.For the whole year the response to nitrogen was greatest in the years of lowest rainfall.The nitrogen applied in February considerably increased the protein in the “grasses” at the first cut, and to a small extent in the second cut. For the third and fourth cut it is suggested that the protein differences are correlated with differences in amounts of clover.For the first cut of the year “clovers” also show a much higher protein content on the nitrogen plots.

Beschreibung: 1. Two experiments have been carried out on the Cambridge University Farm to test the desirability of including late-flowering red clover in the seeds mixture in the case of a 4-year ley, and to compare grazing with cutting for hay in the first harvest year.2. The majority of the red clover survived for the first 2 years, during which it increased the yield of dry matter very markedly; it did not lead to any reduction of yield in the last 2 years. By producing an early cover of the ground red clover checked the encroachment of weeds; although it reduced the proportion of wild white clover in the herbage in the later years, the reduction was not serious.3. Where the young plants were well established at the time, and normal weather conditions were experienced, grazing was definitely preferable to cutting for hay during the first harvest year. Where the plants were slow in establishing themselves, and in a superlatively dry spring and summer, grazing checked the development of the sward too much, and cutting for hay gave much better results.

Beschreibung: Six litters of pigs farrowed, reared and fattened on a ration of barley meal, weatings, soya-bean meal, meat meal and minerals failed to thrive and in the later stages of fattening many of the pigs showed typical symptoms of vitamin A deficiency.Six comparable litters raised under similar conditions and on the same meal mixture with ° 1 or 2% of a commercial cod-liver oil of guaranteed purity and standardized vitamin content made good progress and nearly all the pigs weaned in these litters were fattened for pork or bacon.Estimations of liver reserves of vitamin A of the pigs receiving no cod-liver oil indicated that the liver store was exhausted soon after weaning. All pigs receiving cod-liver oil gradually increased their liver store of vitamin A. The stores rose approximately in proportion to the level fed and period of feeding. There was no evidence that the higher levels of cod-liver oil had any practical advantage over °%.The symptoms shown by the pigs receiving no cod-liver oil included loss of appetite, cessation of growth, impairment of vision in daylight, abnormal gait, convulsive fits and nervous collapse. Pneumonia and/or inflammation of the intestines was found in all of seven pigs that died during the fattening period.

Beschreibung: The effect of rainfall, sowing date and yield on the percentage of nitrogen in the barley grain of certain representative plots on Hoosfield is studied.All these factors are shown to have marked effects. The farmyard manure plot differs from the others, both in mean percentage and in the effects of rainfall and yield.Changes in variety appear to have had little apparent influence, but there is a progressive decrease in the percentage of nitrogen which cannot be accounted for by changes in any of the above factors, and which may well be due to varietal improvementComparison is made with the results of the similar study on the permanent barley plots at Woburn.

Beschreibung: An investigation into the effects of lime on five acid soils in north-east Scotland has been continued during the second and third years after the application of lime and also extended to two other centres.On four of the original soils the full effect of the lime on the surface soil has been largely maintained up to the end of the third year. The fifth, a soil of low base-exchange capacity, shows a considerable loss of lime by the end of the second year.The lime leached from the top nine inches of soil appears to be retained to only a slight extent in the second nine inches. This was particularly noticeable on a soil of low base-exchange capacity, where, during the two years after liming, the percentage saturation of the subsurface soil showed an increase from 64 to 67%, and the surface soil a decrease from 92 to 74%.The existence of a low liming factor (1·5), previously found to hold for a geologically basic soil, has been verified and found to apply also to a soil derived from slate.A fundamental property of the soils with a low liming factor is the high content of inorganic and organic fine material. Secondary characteristics that distinguish these soils from the others are the relatively high values for hygroscopicity and heat of wetting.

Beschreibung: Experiments were made in 1936 and 1937 on barley plants grown in pot culture, to determine the effect of shading the ear or the shoot after ear emergence on dry weight and nitrogen content.It was found that after ear emergence the ear and the shoot (leaves and stem) make approximately equal contributions to the assimilation of the whole plant. In the 1936 experiment 28% of the final dry weight of the ear was accounted for by assimilation in the ear itself, and in the 1937 experiment, 19%. These are minimum estimates, for assimilation must have been proceeding in the ears during emergence, before the shading treatments were applied. The results agree well with similar estimates of the extent of assimilation in the ear made on wheat by other workers.The effects of shading on the amount of nitrogen present in the plant at harvest were somewhat variable, but they were always small compared with the effects on dry weight. Shading tended to reduce the amount of nitrogen in the ear, but as the dry weight of the ear was reduced to a much greater extent, - nitrogen as percentage of dry matter in the ear was increased. It is concluded from this result that translocation of nitrogen compounds to the ear is not closely dependent on the amount of the concurrent increase in dry weight of the ear. It appears that the approximate constancy of nitrogen percentage in the ear and the grain throughout development is a consequence of the particular conditions prevailing during normal growth in the field.The experiments showed that 20–30 % of the dry weight of the whole plant was added after ear emergence, suggesting that climatic conditions during this late stage of growth is of considerable importance in determining the final yield.The authors wish to thank Miss J. Hellyer for carrying out many of the determinations of nitrogen content, and Mr S. A. W. French for assistance with the statistical computation.

Beschreibung: Analysing Hammond's data on the growth of limbs in the sheep, Huxley (1932) found a post-natal simple negative heterogony, or allometry, as in the latest terminology (Teissier, 1937), of the whole limb relative to the body. As lambs, and the young of most other grazing mammals, are born with relatively long limbs enabling them to follow their dams (Hammond, 1932), the same author pointed out that the leg must have exhibited positive allometry during foetal development.Having possession of a sufficient body of measurements on the skeletal development of female calves of the Chianina breed, a very tall beef and draft breed of cattle of Central Italy, I investigated the course of growth of height at withers relative to the growth of the length of the trunk (from shoulder to ischium). The growth of height at withers can be considered as a sufficiently reliable measure of the growth of forelimb length owing to the fact that the two principal angles in the limb (scapula-humerus and humerus-radius) do not change very much with age (Engeler, 1935).It was found that the growth of forelimb length in this breed of cattle exhibits a simple negative allometry relative to the growth of trunk length. This simple allometry, with growth constant about 0·78, holds from birth until over the age of 3 years, that is, throughout practically the whole post-natal growth.Lack of data after this age leaves open to further research the course in the ultimate period of development.I thought it would be of some interest to compare various breeds of cattle differing rather widely in the absolute values, as well as in the proportions of height at withers and trunk length at birth and in later life.

Beschreibung: 1. The quality status of Danish and English Wiltshire bacon sides representative of the highest grades produced at the present time has been investigated by the use of carcass measurements. The data resulting provide “standards” for practical guidance in stock improvement work on bacon pigs, and for the evaluation of experimental treatments involving bacon quality.2. The variability of the respective characters has been compared by means of the coefficient of variation of each. The results indicate that while selection on a basis of “external characters” and of such internal characters, as are readily measurable, leads to marked uniformity in respect of these characters, it does not necessarily involve similar uniformity in respect of important “internal characters” which are not taken into account in either stock selection or commercial grading practices.3. External characters thus do not provide a reliable indication of the internal quality status of the bacon pig, and since it is the latter which largely governs the cutting value of the side, concentration upon addition to the former is desirable if still further improvement in the quality of the bacon pig is desired.4. Variability appears to be affected also by the rate of development of the character concerned; late developing characters in general tend to be more variable than early.5. The intimate association between nutrition and the rate of development of the various parts and tissues of the pig provides a method of control in addition to that of selection.

Beschreibung: 1. Yields of plots estimated from the known weights of “perfect” beet (i.e. plants with no gaps in the ring immediately surrounding them) showed 18 × 9 in. to be the optimum spacing.2. Sugar analyses performed on individual “perfect” beet showed that very diminutive roots were low in sugar, but that in general sugar percentage decreased with increasing weight of root; the decrease was, however, slight and only amounted to unity for an increase of 1000 g. in weight of root.3. In a dry year the roots immediately surrounding a gap compensated to the extent of 80–89% for the missing plant: the allocation to the individual neighbours was approximately inversely proportional to the square of their distance from the site of the gap. In a wet year compensation was less complete, amounting to from 41 to 84% under various spacing treatments. In both years compensation was less complete in the case of tops than in the case of roots.4. Within classes of beet similar in regard to spacing treatment and gappiness there still remained considerable variation due to soil and to genetic heterogeneity.5. The genetic variability of commercial seed appears to be large, so that in sugar beet experiments it is very desirable that each plot should carry a considerable number of plants: in these experiments, assuming that all variations within ultimate classes were of genetic origin, 400 plants would have been necessary to reduce the plot error due to genetic variability to 2% of the mean.

Beschreibung: 1. The distribution of the total weight of beet in small areas (2 yards by 1 yard) was examined and estimates made of the effects of missing beet on the final yield, and of the yield to be obtained with various percentage plants.2. The distribution of gaps over the field is found to be non-random. The percentage of gaps varies from block to block, but does not differ greatly between the spacings. Three methods were employed and gave consistent results.

Beschreibung: It is shown that the permeability of a water-saturated sand or fine powder can be calculated with considerable accuracy, if the porosity and the specific surface are known. In particular, the Kozeny theory here discussed leads to a very useful relationship between permeability and porosity. It is shown that clays do not conform to the theory in its simple form, but that it may be modified to give a satisfactory representation of the data available. The physical grounds for this modified theory are discussed in some detail, and it is shown that, while it is open to criticism, it is at least in harmony with our present knowledge of clays.An important deduction which follows from the modified theory is that clays may have zero permeability at quite considerable porosities, e.g. at ∈ = 0·207 for a clay soil, and ∈ = 0·355 for a plastic clay.

Beschreibung: 1. The results of three uniformity trials with a U4 cotton at Barberton are reported. Two of these trials, carried out in a dry year, gave yields in the region of 400 lb. seed cotton per acre; the third, in a wet year, yielded over 1100 lb. per acre.2. Results from the three experiments agreed closely in essential details regarding size and shape of plots.3. In all three cases the percentage standard error per plot decreased rapidly as the plot was lengthened, but tended to increase slightly as the width of the plot was increased.4. The standard error increased as the block size was increased by the addition of more plots, indicating the desirability of keeping the number of strains in a variety trial as low as possible.5. With plots of the same shape the smallest plots were the most efficient, while with plots of the same size the efficiency increased as the plot shape became longer and narrower.6. Two fertility contour maps are given, which illustrate a general patchiness in yield common to cotton crops in the Barberton district.7. Details of the types of plot used at Barberton are given, together with the reasons for their adoption.

Beschreibung: After reviewing the possibility of soil deterioration in the Gezira and its dependence on change in the exchangeable bases in the soil we have given an account of field trials with soil improvers. Increased penetration of water, improved supply of nitrogen and higher yields were obtained, but the effects were not lasting. A part of the initial response is ascribed to the flocculating action of salts formed near the soil surface by interaction between soil and soil improver. With continued watering these salts are washed from the surface soil, but the applications of soil improver were insufficiently heavy and the leaching insufficiently thorough to effect any deep-seated change in the soil. Drainage experiments in which effluents were measured and analysed showed small changes in the right direction, but their main outcome has been strikingly to confirm the view that lateral movement of water through Gezira soil is so slight as to promise small hope of achieving any large-scale improvements by means of subsoil drainage. Analyses of saltbush have been made and showed that although these plants remove much sodium from the soil they can hardly be regarded as a practicable agent in soil improvement, since the amount of sodium in the soil is comparatively large. On the other hand, it appears that by including saltbush in rotation and by removing the crop from the land it is possible to guarantee that no progressive deterioration will occur in consequence of accumulation of sodium introduced in the irrigation water. Further analyses of irrigation water were made in this connexion and substantially confirmed Beam's earlier data.We do not yet know whether, under normal irrigation, the general tendency is for an accumulation of sodium or whether, on the contrary, salts are slowly being washed from the soil column (Greene & Peto, 1934). Until the nature and extent of chemical changes in the soil are accurately assessed it is impossible to say what annual expenditure on soil improvers, drainage, growing and disposal of saltbush is needed for maintenance of soil fertility. Further laboratory work should be directed to the detailed study of base exchange in Gezira soil and to observation of the physical characters on which permeability depends while, in the field, further experiments should be made in the use of soil improvers and drainage; information should also be sought as to the most convenient and least expensive way of including saltbush in the rotations best suited to different parts of the Gezira and as to the economic disposal of saltbush ash.

Beschreibung: Since sugar beet was first introduced into this country many experiments have been conducted to determine the effects of spacing on yield: the general advice based on these experiments is that beet should be spaced as closely as working conditions permit. Davies (1931) carried out a series of experiments in the West Midlands, and came to the conclusion that yield was not related to the number of roots per acre, but was affected by their distribution. His work demonstrated that wide row distances could not be compensated by narrow spacing in the row. He found that yield increased as row distance decreased down to 16 in., but that singling distances of 4—10 in. produced no differences in yield of roots: the yield of green leaves, on the other hand, was increased as singling distance decreased, but was unaffected by row distance (Davies & Dudley, 1929). Although Davies' results would be generally accepted as a true expression of the general rule, many isolated spacing experiments fail to conform to them; it is possible that discrepancies in results, that undoubtedly occur, may be due to variations in the “plant” actually obtained in the experiments. Engledow et al. (1928), as a result of counts and weights taken on ordinary farm crops of sugar beet, concluded that uniformity of “plant” was a most important spacing factor affecting yield. In America Brewbaker & Deming (1935) have found yield to be related to percentage stand (correlation coefficients varying from +0·35 to +0·70), the regression between the two variables being approximately linear over the range studied. They also found that uniformity of “plant” was more important than spacing distances, either between or in the rows. Their work showed that single gaps had little effect on yield, because neighbouring beet compensated for them to the extent of 96·2%; serious loss of yield only occurred, therefore, with adjacent gaps. Pedersen (1933) studied the relationship between percentage of gaps and yield in a large number of Danish experiments with sugar beet and mangolds. In the case of sugar beet he found that the compensatory growth of neighbouring roots amounted to 76% for a single gap, and that the percentage compensation decreased as the size of gap (i.e. number of missing beet) increased. In an earlier paper (Pedersen, 1931) he had shown that under ordinary field conditions the distribution of gaps was approximately random.

Beschreibung: Certain conclusions on distribution and migration have been reached by Dr. W. K. Spencer2 from his detailed studies of Palaeozoic Asterozoa and in conversation he has frequently expressed the wish that he might be able to compare these with data derived from similarly focused studies of other animal groups. It is reasonable to assume that the final story of migration of faunas in the Lower Palaeozoic British area cannot be told until the inequalities of fossil-collecting and naming have been overcome and until more is known of the stratigraphical position of certain faunas; any conclusions made at the present stage are tentative and are offered as an incentive to research.

Beschreibung: During the summer we paid two visits to the site of a sewer trench that was being dug from Aylesbury along the London Road towards Tring. At the time of our visits excavation was being carried on in the village of Aston Clinton.

Beschreibung: The Blattoids, or early cockroaches, are on account of their mode of life, far more numerous as fossils than any other Coal Measure insects.

Beschreibung: It seems late in the day to ask the International Commission to standardize the use of Rhacophyllites in the interpretation commonly accepted for over half a century, but until I discussed this genus last summer with Dr. S. W. Muller, Stanford University, California, in connection with work on Lias ammonites, I was unaware that it offered a nomenclatorial problem or that this was incapable of a simple solution on the basis of the existing rules of nomenclature. A discussion of the difficulties encountered may not be out of place in this series, and I hope to show that this is indeed one of the special cases in which standardization provides the only fair solution.

Beschreibung: In the brachiopod family Strophomenidae, it is recognized that various genera, of which Leptaena Dalman is a good example, may possess a foramen enclosed within the umbo of the ventral valve, near the apex of the pseudodeltidium (see Text-fig. 2 A). Such a foramen is presumably a pedicle-aperture, and bears a superficial resemblance to that of certain Telotremata in which the young pedicle emerged through the open delthyrium and subsequently resorbed the apex of the ventral valve and became enclosed dorsally by the deltidial plates. In the young stages of Leptaena, on the other hand, the foramen was entirely supra-apical and enclosed within the ventral protegulum and nepionic shell, though sometimes it later suffered resorption of its dorsal margin so as to become bounded by the pseudodeltidium.

Beschreibung: Summary and Comparison with Other Areas in Scotland. Limestones in Ardgour are found to vary considerably in chemical and mineral composition. They have been subjected to high-grade metamorphism either dynamic (regional) or thermal, or sometimes to both. The dioritic intrusion has been responsible for the thermal alteration but does not show any widespread or conspicuous changes which might be due to contamination with limestone, although a certain amount of chemical exchange is apparent at some points of contact between the two. Mineral and chemical changes in some of the limestones have resulted from the metasomatizing action of solutions, the source of which is as yet uncertain. The various limestone types are found to exhibit a number of analogies with the Deeside limestone investigated by Hutchison and their petrography has been worked out in some detail.Apart from certain hornblendic types in Central Sutherland, scapolite has not been recorded in the Moine Series. In Ardgour it has a wide distribution in the limestones associated with the diorite-gneiss. Wollastonite has not been recorded elsewhere in the Moine Series. Its distribution in Ardgour is like that of scapolite; and this applies also to prehnite. It must be remembered when thus comparing the Ardgour limestones with otters in the Moine Series firstly that these have not yet been studied in detail; secondly, that they are comparatively rare, and lastly, that there is doubt regarding the systematic position of some of the “Lewisian inliers” wherein limestones occur as a considerable proportion of the paragneisses. Scapolite, according to Flett (26) is a characteristic mineral in these rocks. Wollastonite occurs also as, for example, in the Glen Urquhart “inlier” (Cunningham-Craig, 27). In the Lewisian gneisses of Coll prehnite has a wide distribution and scapolite also is of frequent occurrence (Bailey & Eyles, 28). Pyroxene-amphibole rocks similar to those in Ardgour are found in Coll, Glen Urquhart, and as xenoliths in norite (Read, 29). The mineralogical character of the limestone is, therefore, in support of the conception of their forming part of an inlier in the Moine Series. The writer hopes to publish shortly a more detailed study of the geological problems of this area.

Beschreibung: For many years I have been interested in the colloidal nature of coal. As long ago as 1914, in discussing the coal resources of Korea State in the Central Provinces of India, I suggested that the bright bands of the Korea coals are colloidal. It is suitable to quote here the exact words used:—

Beschreibung: The investigation of the possibility of late-glacial sea-levels at 190 feet (58 m.) and 140 feet (42 m.) has entailed the reading of a vast quantity of literature dealing with glacial observations. The following is an account of some facts gathered and some ideas arising from these readings.