A survey of the fertilizer value of certain highly concentrated N and NP materials, particularly salts of urea and of guanidine, which might be used as fertilizers, has been made. The evidence in the literature indicates that whilst guanidine carbonate and nitrate, especially the latter, may under certain conditions be toxic to the growth of certainc plants, under other conditions these guanidine salts have considerable fertilizer value which is, however, less than that of ammonium sulphate. Urea nitrate appears to have about the same value as guanidine nitrate. No reference to experiments with guanidine or urea phosphates could be found. Pot culture experiments were conducted with barley and mustard in acid and neutral soils to study the effects of ammonium, urea and guanidine salts, including their nitrates and phosphates, and of two extremely concentrated materials, phospham (PN2H) and phosphorus nitride (P3N5). The rate of nitrification of ammonium, urea and guanidine nitrogen were also studied in the laboratory.

It is shown that the theory of diffusion of water through soil accomplishes three things:

(a) It accounts qualitatively for the water movement from wet to dry soil observed by the American workers quoted.

(b) It fits the best experiments numerically.

(c) It is at present alone in doing this.

The present practice of basing payment for bacon pigs not merely on carcass weight, but also on carcass quality as expressed in the factory grading results, has led necessarily to an enlargement of outook on the part of the investigator in the domain of swine nutrition. The interest of the experimenter in the past has tended to be restricted to such questions as the influence of nutritional factors on the rate of live-weight increase and the efficiency of food conversion, the problem of how feeding may influence carcass quality and conformation not having received the attention its importance merited.

While the questions of the rate of growth and the efficiency, in terms of meal consumption, with which such growth is achieved are still matters of primary economic importance, it is realized that much more attention must be devoted than heretofore to the study of carcass quality and conformation in relation to feeding. In present circumstances, a nutritional investigation can scarcely be considered complete unless a substantial part of the research is carried out in the bacon factory following the slaughter of the experimental animals.

In recent years a number of workers have investigated the influence of nitrogenous fertilizers on the growth of pastures. In some cases they have claimed that such fertilizers lengthen the grazing season by producing grass earlier than normal in the spring, but no research has been carried out on the factors controlling this spring growth. Watson et al. (15) in a study of the influence of nitrogenous fertilizers on the seasons’ yield of rotationally grazed pasture at Jealott's Hill, showed that in 1 year ammonium sulphate applied at the rate of 23·2 lb. nitrogen per acre in March enabled the treated plots to be grazed some 14 days earlier than the control. Richardson(13) found that 44·8 lb. nitrogen per acre gave marked increases in yield. Woodman & Underwood(16), however, claimed that ammonium sulphate (14·5 lb. nitrogen per acre) produced no strikingly higher yields.

1. Several authors have previously reported that the sulphuric acid treatment of the cotton seed resulted in: (a) earlier germination, (b) higher percentage of seeds germinating, (c) higher yield of seed cotton per acre, and (d) better and more uniform planting (this paper is not concerned with the disinfecting effect of this process).

2. A series of experiments, both in the laboratory and under field conditions have been carried out to determine whether the above statements are in agreement with actual experimental data.

3. In so far as the rate of germination is concerned, it was found that: (a) untreated seeds often show a smaller percentage of germination than seeds treated with sulphuric acid for various time-intervals, particularly when tested in the laboratory; (b) cotton seed treated with the reagent for from 5 min. to 2 hr. or even 5 hr. in some cases, does not show any decrease in its germinative value as determined by laboratory tests. In field trials seeds treated for 5 or 12 hr. practically do not germinate at all, whereas the 2 hr. treatment often shows a small decline in germination; (c) an enormous difference in the rate of germination has been revealed between the laboratory determinations on the one hand and the field determinations on the other.

The effects of lime on five soils representative of types from northeast Scotland have been studied and different lime requirement methods compared.

Laboratory analyses including mechanical and ultimate chemical analyses, pH, exchangeable cation and lime-requirement determinations were carried out on samples taken before and at two intervals of 6 months after the application of lime.

In some cases the maximum effect of the lime applied occurs within 6 months, in others neutralization is continued during the second 6 months.

The change in pH value varies, according to the soil type, from 0·5 to 1·0 pH units per ton of calcium oxide applied per acre.