1. Egyptian clover, sweet lupin, Lathyrus ochrus, Eragrostis tef and Vicia narbonnensis have been analysed as to their hexosan, pentosan and lignin content. The major part of the pentosan is soluble in 2 % HCl and therefore belongs to the hemicellulose fraction, whereas most of the hexosan is insoluble in 2 % HCl and forms part of the cellulose fraction.

2. The digestibility of hexosan, pentosan and lignin has been determined by experiments with sheep. The digestibility of soluble pentosan and of insoluble hexosan (2 % HCl) was found to be very constant. It ranged from 64·0 to 66·2 % for pentosan and from 74·1 to 76·5 % for hexosan. ·Lignin was in all cases digested comparatively well, the digestibility coefficients being markedly variable, depending on the plant material. They ranged between 35·1 and 64·0.

3. Faeces lignin yields lower methoxyl values than plant lignin. Therefore lignin appears to have been changed during passage through the animal body.

4. The partition of hexosan, pentosan and lignin on crude fibre and N-free extract prepared from different plant materials is markedly variable.

5. The major portion and best digestible fraction of plant lignin is soluble in alkali and is, therefore, contained in the N-free extract.

1. The data summarized in this paper relate to the live weight at killing, the carcass weight, the skin weight and the loss in dressing of 813 males and 289 females of various breeds and varieties of rabbit.

2. The age at killing varied with the moulting process. The extent to which variation in age contributes to the variation in weight and accounts partly for some of the differences observed is not dealt with.

3. Significant differences were noted between the live weights of the various breed groups, in both sexes.

Equipment. Simultaneous observation of the performance of several mole drains in heavy grassland requires recording flowmeters. Simple instruments recording instantaneous rate of flow have been designed and found satisfactory. A recording rain gauge is a necessary adjunct.

Plot size and edge effects. Where the land is laid up in ridge and furrow, even though rudimentary, the ridge forms an effective barrier between furrows. One drained furrow at the edge of a plot is a sufficient, but not always necessary, guard against the neighbouring plot. Where the land is farmed on the flat, a single catch-water furrow forms adequate protection.

The nature of British rainfall. Rainstorms producing drainage are almost invariably of discontinuous type, consisting of well-defined intense showers separated by periods of almost complete quiescence. Thus a storm of 8 hr. duration may consist of as many as six quite distinct showers.

An examination has been made of the possibility of extending the routine mechanical analysis of soils down to finer particles than the conventional clay. The main conclusions reached are:

(1) Sampling depths of only 2 cm., using standard mechanical analysis apparatus, appear to introduce no new sources of error.

(2) If a constant temperature room is available, sampling times of 7 days seem to be allowable.

(3) Using special pipettes and settling vessels, sampling depths of only 2½ mm. seem to be allowable.

The main findings of the present trials may be. summarized as follows:

(1) When ‘mineralized’, cooked potatoes are fed as the bulky supplemental food in the Lehmann system of pig-feeding, and the basal meal allowance is restricted to 3 lb. per head per day, bacon pigs are able to make as good progress, in respect both of rate of live-weight increase and economy of food conversion, and at every stage from 60 to 200 lb. live weight, as they would if kept on a diet composed wholly of balanced meal. In the present trials, pigs of about 200 lb. live weight were able to consume 15–17 lb. of cooked potatoes per day in addition to the daily allowance of 3 lb. of meal. It required, on an average, about 1030 lb. of cooked potatoes and 311 lb. of balanced meal per pig to fatten the animals from 60 to 200 lb. live weight. The cooked potatoes, when assessed on the air-dry standard of 13 % moisture, were able to replace the balanced meal on a lb. for lb. basis without detriment to the progress of the pigs, and the average saving of meal thus made possible amounted to about 225 lb. per pig, or 38·2 % of the total meal consumed per pig on the control, all-meal diet.

(2) Cooked potatoes should be introduced into the ration gradually and the allowance should be scaled according to live weight in the manner adopted in the present trials. When the amount to be fed is large, it is best to feed ‘mineralized’, cooked potatoes only during the morning and to place the basal meal in the trough towards the end of the afternoon.

Flax crops from a number of centres in Northern Ireland and in Norfolk have been analysed for nutrient content.

Flax removes from the soil about the same amounts of nutrients as an average crop of meadow hay, but more than spring barley and much less than mangolds.

There is no obvious relation between percentages of any one nutrient in the crops examined and yield data, percentage fibre in crop or grade of fibre. It is suggested that local climatic conditions, physical make-up of soil and proper cultivations are of first importance in flax growing. The importance of a clean seed-bed and even depth of sowing, and of steady growth with no checks is stressed.

The treatment of cereal straws with dilute NaOH solutions has been developed in this country as a means of increasing the supply of digestible carbohydraten food for cattle. Watson (1941) has dealt with the principles of the treatment and has given a brief outline of the process, and it is not proposed to discuss the process or developmental work here. It is sufficient to say that the recommended standard process consists of soaking chopped cereal straw in 10 times its weight of 1·2–1·5 % NaOH solution for periods up to 22 hr., removing the soaked material from the liquor and washing free of NaOH.