At the beginning of the present century Heape (1900), describing the sexual season of mammals, pointed out that sheep in the British Isles are sexually active during only a portion of the year.

Milk production is of fundamental and practical importance in all farm mammals. With dairy cattle in particular extensive study of milk secretion has resulted in raising the milking performance in all domestic breeds. This has mainly been achieved by the adoption of improved breeding and feeding practices.

1. Sweet corn is adjusted to the conditions of North America. British climatic conditions differ from American in the longer summer day-length and in lower spring soil temperature. Cold hardiness, i.e. the ability of the seed to germinate after lying in cold, wet soil, is therefore an important factor when introducing sweet corn into Britain.

2. Varieties germinate differently according to when they are sown. Furthermore some varieties germinate better than others in March and even April, thus demonstrating the genetic nature of cold hardiness.

3. Selections were first made from plants surviving March sowings and in later years, as hardiness increased, from those surviving February sowings.

4. Selections for hardiness were made in (i) Canada Gold, (ii) Early Golden Market sweet corn, (iii) Golden Standard Maize dent corn and (iv) derivatives of Peruvian crossed sweet corn.

5. All responded rapidly in their increased ability to germinate from February sowings except the Peruvian sweet derivatives which failed to show much improvement.

6. Future breeding work in Britain depends on establishing from our selections cold hardy inbreds able to combine well in giving good F1's for commercial use.

The development of the follicle population in lambs of the English Leicester and Romney breeds has been studied in relation to the developing fleece, skin and fibre samples being taken at four ages, namely at 1, 3, 6 and 9 months after birth. The technique used in obtaining skin samples and preparing them for examination, and of obtaining estimates of the follicle population, and the data thus obtained, are presented and discussed in the foregoing pages. Although as a result of technical difficulties and other misfortunes the complete set (1943). The follicle group in the samples taken at 1 month old showed primary follicles on the ental side, large secondary follicles along the ectal margin, and smaller secondaries, or secondary follicle primordia, situated towards the centre of the group. Accessory structures (sweat gland, arrector muscles) usually associated with primary follicles only, may occasionally be found in connexion with follicles situated on the ectal side of the follicle bundle, and apparently corresponding to large secondary follicles. Attention is drawn to the fact that a group of secondary follicles normally develops around the ectal aspect of each primary follicle, whether the latter is solitary or one of a couplet or trio. It is suggested that the ‘primary group’ (one primary and its associated secondaries) is a fundamental unit of the fleece, although generally included within the trio group.

1. The presence and distribution of divalent and trivalent manganese in pyrophosphate extracts of mineral and highly organic soils were studied.

In twenty-nine experiments conducted in 1945, 1946 and 1947 placement of fertilizer in contact with the seed or in two bands each 2 in. away and 2 in. below the level of the seed gave average yields similar to those given by the standard practice of broadcasting after ridging but before planting. Placement in one band 2 in. below the seed was tested in four experiments and proved inferior to other placement methods and to broadcasting over the ridges.

A suitable modification of the microbiological method for assaying pantothenic acid was developed and the pantothenic acid content in various kinds of poultry-feeding stuffs determined by its use. To assure quantitative liberation of the total amount of the pantothenic acid from the samples it is recommended to digest the samples first with Clarase.

Pantothenic acid content was determined in poultry feeds of animal origin, such as fish-meal, meat-scrap, liver-meal and different kinds of milk-powder. It is remarkable that different kinds of fish-meal differ markedly in their pantothenic acid content.

1. Nine pig-rearing experiments designed to probe the causes of ill-health among young pigs farrowed and reared indoors suggested that the main cause of trouble was that the buildings were too cold, draughty and damp.

2. The superior health of pigs farrowed and reared outdoors appeared to depend less on their access to iron or unknown nutrients in soil and grass than to the greater comfort afforded by the wooden ark huts in which they were housed.

3. The clinical and pathological features of sick indoor pigs were essentially those of cardiac failure.

4. In a discussion of our own findings and the published reports of others we offer a working hypothesis to explain the sequence of events. We hope to explore its validity in future experiments.

Work on this subject was suggested by Mr Arthur Crichton and encouraged at all stages by his interest and advice.

A general account of investigations carried out at the Plant Breeding Institute, Cambridge, on winter oats was published by Hunter (1935). In it brief mention is made of the origin of a series of oats designated the ‘ex 109/1 series’. It is the purpose of this article to give a more detailed account of the origin and behaviour of this series, from which the winter variety Picton was selected, and to detail a further number of anomalous features which have arisen in the course of breeding work at Cambridge.

The records of the Home-Grown Wheat Committee, set up in 1901 by the National Association of British and Irish Millers, whose work continued up to 1938, dealt in the main with the trial of wheat for baking strength. Nevertheless, references to milling character were occasionally noted; for instance in 1923, Sir Albert Humphries, writing of his twenty-year trial on Red Fife wheat in England, states ‘Each lot, including those originally of very high moisture content, was found to possess the free milling characteristics of Manitoba wheat. … Stated differently, it may be said that each lot behaved in milling very differently from average English wheats, excluding Yeoman.’

1. Two experiments are described in which nine manurial treatments were applied ranging from no application to an application of 312 lb. N, 135 lb. P2O5 and 168 lb. K2O per acre in one season. Some treatments included one or more massive dressings of nitrogen (104 lb./acre), while others received several light dressings spread over the season. The applications were made at differing periods of the season. In one experiment (Series 3) the treatments were applied to a 1-year Italian ryegrass ley, in the other (Series 4) to an established ryegrass pasture.