In this paper an examination is made of the processes operative and the limits of accuracy of the electrical method of determining soil moisture.

The resistance over a small plot is found to vary under similar conditions and it is concluded that these differences are most probably due to actual differences in moisture or other factors.

The effect of the distance apart of the electrodes is investigated and a probability of a minimum resistance between two electrodes being observed under certain conditions is indicated.

It is well known that different flours vary enormously in respect of the size and shape of loaf they yield on baking. The factor which determines the quality of flour in this connection has been termed “strength” and the latter has been denned as “the capacity of flour for making large well-piled loaves”(1).

Many views have been held from time to time regarding the explanation of flour strength from the chemical standpoint. The earliest view was that strength was determined by the gluten content of the flour, which by virtue of its tenacity was able to retain in the bread the carbon dioxide produced as a result of the activity of the yeast. Many cases, however, were investigated where flours possessing a high gluten content were not so strong as a flour with a low content of gluten. Furthermore, no accepted regularity has been found to exist between the strength of flours and the water-holding or gas retaining capacity of their glutens.

One of the greatest problems of Russia's present economic policy is the restoration and development of farming, and in particular, cattlefarming. The war and revolution have, together with other things, destroyed enormous numbers of cattle, horses, pigs, etc., and thoroughly undermined the meat industry, as well as the sources of supply of working animals. A decrease of 50% below the former numbers of horses is the common state of things. The preservation of cattle-farms and studs is seldom met with, and the number of stock-producing animals is at least ten times less than formerly. The terrible drought threatens to bring into this sphere of national wealth even greater destruction. At the same time there can be no doubt that without the restoration and maintenance on a definite level of stud and cattle-farming, Russia cannot return to full economic activity. The present-day state of things demands that every effort be made, every possibility found and utilised, for increasing the number of domestic animals and for improving the methods of breeding and the breeds themselves.

It has long been generally accepted that an animal requires more food in cold weather than in hob weather, that, in fact and within certain limits, an animal's food requirement increases as the temperature falls. The number of precise measurements however of the effect of change of temperature on food requirement is very small, and it was with the object of extending the knowledge of this important subject that the following investigation was undertaken.

The following solutions were tested with respect to their fungicidal properties towards the “powdery,” conidial stage of S. Humuli on young hop-leaves in the greenhouse:

(1) Disodium arsenate, containing 0·096 per cent. As2O5 proved fungicidal and killed also patches of leaf-cells underlying the mildewpatches, but did not otherwise injure the leaf. A solution containing 0·02 per cent. As2O5 was fungicidal without killing any leaf-cells.

(2) Trisodium arsenate containing 0·077 per cent. As2O5 proved fungicidal.

(3) Dicalcium arsenate. containing 0·048 per cent. As2O5 proved fungicidal; containing 0·024 per cent. As2O5 the solution was apparently just fungicidal, but with 0·01 per cent. As2O5 the solution was practically non-fungicidal.

(4) Tricalcium arsenate containing 0·076 per cent. As2O5 is fungicidal; containing 0·02 per cent. As2O5 it possesses some fungicidal value, but with 0·01 per cent. As2O5 it is practically non-fungicidal.

(5) The following constituents of lime-sulphur wash proved nonfungicidal: calcium sulphate, sulphite, thiosulphate, hydroxyhydrosulphide.

(6) Calcium polysulphide, at a strength of 0·11 per cent., proved fungicidal.

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.

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.

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.