In view of the efforts which are being made to secure increased production of cheese throughout the country, it is of importance that greater consideration should be given to the problem of the profitable utilisation of the whey, which results as a by product of the cheese industry.

Many authors, for example, Settegast, Pusch, Kašpárek, Kraemer and Rostafinski, have attempted to draw conclusions concerning age, quality and breed of cattle from the type of hair produced. Exact investigations of the length and other features of the hair are, however, rare in the literature. Bilek has recently made some investigations of this kind under the direction of Professor Kašpárek, and has estimated the relation between the medulla and the fibrous layer, and has shown that the cross section of the hair is sometimes circular and at other times elliptical in shape.

In 1870 Lawes and Gilbert constructed the famous drain gauges at Rothamsted and commenced a series of measurements of the amount and nitrate content of water draining through uncropped and unmanured land. The essential feature of the experiment, and one wherein it differs from many others, is that the soil in the gauges is in its natural condition and has never been disturbed: the gauge was constructed by building a wall around a block of soil and then tunnelling underneath to allow of the construction of a chamber in which the collecting and measuring cylinders could be set up.

In any systematic account of the work done on the moisture in soil and its behaviour under varying conditions, it is necessary to keep constantly in mind that the underlying hypotheses have been profoundly modified in recent years. When physical methods were first applied to the examination of soils, the results were interpreted on the obvious hypothesis that the soil could be regarded as composed of mineral particles of varying shapes and sizes, over the surfaces of which the water was distributed in a thin film. The movements of the film water and its average thickness at any time, under the varying meteorological and soil influences, could be predicted more or Jess completely from known physical principles such as surface tension, etc. Similarly, the concentration of the plant nutrients in the soil moisture was considered mainly as a matter of solubility in, and diffusion within, this moisture. The foundation of the subject of soil physics was laid upon these lines in the early 19th century by Davy and Schübler.

Ammonia can be recovered from soil with an efficiency of 98·5 to 99·5 per cent, in six hours in the apparatus described.

For most purposes it is sufficient to aerate the soil for three hours.

Highly dunged glasshouse soils undergo partial decomposition in the cold with magnesia. In such cases the soil should be aerated with magnesia and strong sodium chloride solution for a definite time, say three hours.

The complete recovery of added ammonia from a calcareous soil is difficult unless the soil is finely ground.

It has been shown that an important part of the ripening process of cheeses consists in the proteolysis of the cheese proteins, and it therefore seemed probable that by the estimation of the extent of this proteolysis a knowledge of the degree of ripeness of a cheese might be obtained. Although the ripeness of a cheese is a very important factor commercially, at present purely empirical methods of judgment are in use.

(1) Current literature has been cited to support the view that the country of origin of Red Clover has a very important bearing on the suitability of the seed for crop production in any particular locality; it is therefore a matter that should be considered of just as much and perhaps more importance, than germination and purity. There seems to be little doubt but that, generally speaking, locally grown seed or at least seed harvested in countries no warmer or but little warmer than the district where the seed is to be sown, is likely to produce plants which will “stand” the longest and in many instances produce the heaviest hay crops in the first year after sowing.