This paper presents an analysis of the relation borne by eight body measurements and age to the cow's milk-secreting ability. The analysis is first presented from the viewpoint of conformation as related to milk secretion without regard to age. The data are then utilised to determine the relation of conformation to milk secretion when age is considered. In the last section we have attempted to consider conformation as a whole and to relate this to milk secretion. Defining the ideal as quantity production of milk or butter-fat the following points of conformation are important. First, the cow should be of better than average weight for her breed and age; second, she should be of good wedge-shaped form particularly in the region of the shoulders; third, her milk veins should be of good size; and fourth, her udder should be of good size and quality. Time has brought about the inclusion in the animal husbandry text-books of many other points asserted on a priori grounds to be of significance in determining the cow's milk secreting capacity. The effect of several of these points on milk secretion has been analysed in these data, the results showing them to be without significance.

The above data on the sire's conformation and on the dam's conformation in relation to their daughter's production of milk are concordant in showing that with the possible exception of weight, there is no correlation of practical significance between the body type of the sire or the dam and the productive capacity of the daughter in milk, butter-fat or butter-fat percentage.

1. Comparisons are made of the results obtained in the analysis of clays, especially of clay fractions separated from soils, by the standard sodium carbonate fusion method and by attack by means of mixed acids. Provided certain precautions are taken, in the latter case, the percentages of silica obtained are shown to be comparable with those given by the fusion method.

2. A possible disadvantage of the acid method is that the attack of the clay is not invariably successful, but treatment of the silica with hydrofluoric acid provides a convenient and reliable means of detecting those cases in which failure occurs. Such clays must be decomposed by fusion with sodium carbonate.

Since the publication of the classical report of Lawes, Gilbert and Pugh (15), it has been generally accepted that the Gramineae obtain all the nitrogen they require in the combined form from the soil solution. The results of recent investigations on the relation between the fungus endophyte and the host have suggested the possibility of an atmospheric origin for part of the nitrogen present in the host. Hannig(10) isolated fungus-free races of Lolium temulentum, and showed that the infected plants had a slight power of assimilating molecular nitrogen. Hiltner(11) grew plants of Lolium temulentum under culture conditions with, and without, nitrate nitrogen, and he found that those without did as well as those with nitrate nitrogen, from which he concluded that plants grown without nitrate nitrogen must be meeting their nitrogen requirements from atmospheric sources. It appears, however, that Hiltner's cultures were not sterile, and no special precautions were taken to ensure that the sand and water were nitrogen free. McLennan(20) repeated Hiltner's work using Lolium perenne, but great care was taken to ensure that all ingredients of the cultures were nitrogen free, and that the cultures were sterile. Under these conditions the results were negative, pointing to an absence of fixation. McLennan, however, states that her results do not preclude the possibility of fixation when small quantities of combined nitrogen are available in the medium.

1. In a preliminary investigation of the obligate anaerobic microflora of samples of ordinary farmyard manure and of Edelmist strains of Bac. sporogenes, Bac. bifermentans, Bac. tertius, Bac. tetanomorphus and Bac. saccharobutyricus were isolated and characterised.

2. Anaerobic decomposition of cellulose was observed in media inoculated from both of the samples of Edelmist examined.

3. For the cultivation and enumeration of the anaerobic bacilli in samples of farmyard manure the superiority of liquid over solid media was demonstrated. Of the liquid enrichment media tested egg meat and liver-liver broth proved to be the best.

1. Previous observations on the calcium and phosphorus metabolism of the pullet are confirmed.

2. Calcium and phosphorus retention are shown to be related to the amount of sodium chloride in the food.

3. The extra phosphorus excretion which accompanies egg laying involves no marked concomitant change of the amount of potassium in the droppings. Small concomitant increases in the sodium in the droppings were observed where the food contained only small amounts of sodium and chloride; potassium retention was observed on the succeeding day in every case but one.

1. The influence of rainfall on the yield of mangolds is studied in this paper.

2. Analysis shows that the variation in the yield due to annual causes cannot be accounted for by a single weather element, rain.

3. An additional inch of rain above the normal, during the period extending from the middle of March to about the end of May, is harmful possibly because of the difficulty in securing a proper tilth and delay in sowing, which results in a shortening of the growing period.

The unsatisfactory nature of the methods adopted in feeding experiments at Animal Nutrition Research Institutes has been shown to be due to the neglect of the worker to control variable factors, other than those being investigated, which affect the growth rate of his animals.

It has been proved that age, sex (females and castrated males), condition and previous growth rate have no effect on the rate of live-weight increase of swine in the Cambridge University herd, and the basis on which animals are allotted to groups to ensure homogeneity is fallacious.

In the introduction the crying need for research into animal nutrition under tropical conditions is emphasised. In Trinidad the stock are normally fed on mixed natural herbage grazed or cut from waste areas or from cultivated perennial grass crops. This system of rationing is a common one in many insular tropical climates.

The experiment was designed to test the effect of stage of cutting on the yield and composition of Elephant Grass (Pennisetum purpureum), a perennial fodder grass widely cultivated in Trinidad to-day. Three times of cutting were chosen, namely series A—cut every four weeks, series B— cut every eight weeks, and series C— cut every twelve weeks.