I. As a result of withholding food for a few days, together with an injection of phloridzin, thereby reducing the nutrition, the daily yield of milk in goats was diminished and in one case the flow was actually stopped. On giving food again the yield returned almost to normal within a few days.

II. As the daily yield of milk diminished under these conditions so the percentage of fat in the milk rose. Limitation of the available nutriment in the body (change from a high to low state of nutrition) did not reduce the percentage of lactose or protein in the milk (Paton and Cathcart) but reduced the quantity of milk (together with the amounts of protein, sugar and salts) produced. The secretion of fat was not at first affected by the change in metabolism and as a consequence milk rich in fat was produced.

III. The amount of fat secreted per day under these conditions of diminishing yield was however not constant but became reduced, possibly as a secondary effect of the decreased secretion taking place in the gland cells.

IV. On again giving food to animals in such a reduced state of nutrition, the percentage of fat in the milk decreased as the yield increased, in some cases to such an extent that it was below that of the normal milk before the experiment began.

It is now generally recognized that the glands of internal secretion play an important part in regulating metabolism and so controlling the nutrition of the animal. Hatui found that castration was followed by a putting on of fat except in those cases in which the pituitary underwent a compensatory hypertrophy, when the animal remained normal in weight.

1. The Hutchinson-MacLennan method for determining the lime requirements of soils, when practised under suitable standard conditions, gives more reliable indications than are obtainable by the ordinary methods of chemical analysis.

2. The method gives indications which appear to be uniformly in excess of the actual requirement of the soil for lime as judged by economic standards: hence a correcting value seems advisable.

3. The correcting value for the soils of Canterbury Plains is about 0·10%.

4. The greater acidity and higher lime requirement of soils of the Southland Plains appears to be due to a combination of lack of natural under-drainage and high rainfall, which prevents aeration and oxidation of organic matter, so that “sour” humus accumulates in the soil.

[The following is an account of experiments carried out by the author during the year 1913–14 in collaboration with Professor S. J. M. Auld, D.Sc., Ph.D., F.I.C., etc., of University College, Reading. Dr Auld is now engaged in military duties and the task of presenting this report therefore devolves upon the author who wishes it to be clearly understood that Professor Auld must not be held responsible for any inaccuracies or other faults.]

In the Agriculture Returns published by the Board of Agriculture, the figures for swedes and turnips are given together. Taking the figures for 1913, we find that swedes and turnips were grown on 1,757,000 acres of land in the United Kingdom, and that the total weight of crop obtained was 25,319,000 tons. No other green crop occupied so large an area, and no other crop of any kind produced as great a weight of fodder.

1. A bacillus isolated from celery affected by soft-rot reproduced the disease when inoculated into celery plants.

2. Other vegetables commonly grown as garden crops are susceptible to attack by the same organism.

3. The bacillus is very sensitive to the action of antiseptic and germicidal reagents.

4. It is typically bacilliform but under certain conditions may be almost isodiametric and coccus-like, or it may develop into very long filaments.

5. It is capable of growing in a synthetic medium containing a sugar or pectin as the sole carbon compound.

6. Its group number is 221·1113522 and since B. carotovorus Jones proves to be a yellow organism the latter must also be included under that number. The two organisms appear to differ slightly on minor points, e.g. vigour of growth in Uschinsk's solution and on celery extract agar.

7. Like B. carotovorus the celery-rot organism is very sensitive to desiccation.

A disease, which is due to a hitherto unrecorded attack of eelworm, has been found causing a considerable amount of damage to black currant plantations in the vicinity of Cambridge.