The volume and seasonality of veal production in west Wales has been obtained from an analysis of the records of the collecting centres of the Ministry of Food.

It has been found that about 1000 tons of veal are produced annually from 55% of the calves sold to the Ministry at an average carcass weight of 56 lb. Most of the veal is produced in the season of the maximum number of calvings, i.e. spring in the eastern areas and autumn in the western areas. Higher average carcass weights are produced in summer and a higher proportion of the calves offered, are veals during the summer than during the winter. March might be taken as the month of maximum veal output but of lowest average individual carcass weights. The relation between veal weights, production and the average price of milk has been illustrated, and the conclusion drawn is that when milk is cheap (summer) veal weights are high. The more intensive the dairying (in the central part of the region) the lower the average carcass weight and vice versa for the less intensively dairying areas. Calves sold for rearing are only of minor significance in the calf trade in west Wales, but one consolation is that the incidence of the casualty calf is also slight. The choice of colour in calves purchased for further rearing supports the general opinion that during the period under review (1943–6) the Shorthorn breed was the most important, and its Hereford crosses the most popular choice in the more remote beefproducing areas of Pembrokeshire.

1. A study has been made of the distribution of the so-called sweat glands in the ears of Ayrshire cattle.

2. The number of sweat glands per unit area of skin in the ear was found to vary greatly from one part of the ear to another and did not appear to be related to the milk yield. It is concluded that it is impossible to use the sweat-gland count in the ear as an indication of the milk-producing capacity of Ayrshire cattle.

3. The number of sweat glands per unit area in the ear of the very young calf was found to be greater than in the fully grown cow, the number being roughly inversely proportional to the surface area of the ear.

4. These findings for Ayrshire cattle are contrary to those published by a number of other workers for cattle of the Red German breed, who claim that any portion of the ear can be used to obtain a sweat-gland count which is closely correlated with milk yield.

In a herd averaging forty-five to fifty cows in milk, large numbers of infections occurred during the dry period and over half of these developed during the first 3 weeks after the final milking-out of the udder. About 50% of the infections persisted and a like percentage of these produced clinical symptoms within the first 2 weeks of calving, half of them caused by staphylococci.

Two pieces of apparatus are described for use in studies on disinfection of milking machine teat cups: (1) an easily constructed attachment for a standard milking machine allowing the collection of the total yield from each individual quarter; and (2) an apparatus designed to reproduce as closely as possible machine milking and to allow an equal quantity of the same sample of infected milk to be ‘milked’ through each of four teat cups which will be infected to the same extent. These infected teat cups can be used to provide comparable results in trials on different disinfection procedures.

1. The determination of ascorbic acid in butter by the usual macrotitration method was found to be impossible because this substance rapidly became oxidized while the butter was being melted, so that only about half could be recovered.

2. A simple micro-titration procedure enabled more reliable results to be obtained, but the loss of ascorbic acid from smaller samples could not be reduced below about 10% under the most favourable conditions.

3. Kinetic experiments have been carried out on butter serum and buttermilk to which ascorbic acid had been added, and from the results it has been deduced that the oxidation of ascorbic acid takes place by three distinct concomitant reactions: one catalysed by the original copper, one catalysed by added copper, and one catalysed by added ferric iron.

4. It has been calculated that in an unsalted butter of normal metallic content half the ascorbic acid would be oxidized in about 12 hr. at cold storage temperature ( – 13° C). At this temperature, 0·1 p.p.m. of added copper is about twenty times as effective a catalyst as 1·0 p.p.m. of added iron. At room temperature the corresponding half-oxidation time would be about 2 hr., and here 0·1 p.p.m. of added copper is about four times as active as 1·0 p.p.m. of added iron. In salted butter the inhibitory effect of the chloride ion would increase these times somewhat.

5. The chemical state in which copper and iron exist in milk and related products has been discussed, especially in relation to the kinetic results obtained.

1. Using Hammer's litmus milk enrichment technique, a total of ninety-one cultures of Ps. putrefaciens were isolated from 1563 samples of normal salted butter graded for export.

2. A correlation was demonstrated between poor hygienic conditions in butter factories and the incidence of Ps. putrefaciens contamination of the butter.

1. The limitations have been explored of a simplified form of Grimes's litmus milk method, as used for a presumptive test for coliform organisms in butter.

2. To improve on this test, the merits and demerits of renneted litmus milk and litmus milk agar have been investigated, and the latter found preferable.

3. Of 719 samples of export salted butter tested for coliform contamination, only 19·1% gave confirmed positive results using MacConkey broth as the presumptive medium, 21·9% were positive using a litmus milk agar medium, and 30·2% (on 434 samples only) were positive using renneted milk.

4. The coliform organisms isolated were classified into the usual types and a seasonal variation in the coli to aerogenes ratio noted.

5. An observation is made on what appears to be the inhibitory effect of bile salt on the gas production of several strains of the aerogenes-cloacae group isolated in this investigation.

An attempt was made to devise a medium for the growth of lactobacilli which would simulate the nutritive conditions existing in ripening cheddar cheese. The basal medium finally used contained soluble digestion products of casein (formed by the action of rennet), lactose, lactate and phosphate. This medium gave a fair, but not a very heavy growth of flavour-producing lactobacilli isolated from cheddar cheese, and it was evidently deficient in growth-promoting power as compared with some media used in the laboratory. Additions of potassium and manganese salts to the casein digest medium gave a significant increase in growth. Potassium had the effect of off-setting the inhibition caused by the presence of an excess of sodium salts such as are normally present in cheese. The implications of the results in cheese ripening and their possible application in cheese manufacture are discussed.