12 



for a more rigorous training which should include some experience 

 in farming for the teacher of agriculture, and some work at re- 

 search for the man who dealt with agricultural science. Canon 

 Steward, principal of the Salisbury Training College, discussed 

 more generally the education of the elementary schoolmaster and 

 mistress in country districts, and finally Mr. R. P. Ward gave an 

 account of the way the teachers were being trained in Cheshire. 



In the discussion which followed most of the speakers urged the 

 substitution of winter schools or of evening continuation schools 

 for the compulsory attendance of country boys at school up to the 

 age of fourteen ; for farm purposes a boy ought to begin 

 light work on the farm at the age of twelve at latest, though his 

 education should go on much later than it does now. 



The conferer.ce was noteworthy not only for the quality of the 

 papers read, but for the advance they showed in the direction of 

 organisation on those submitted to previous conferences. It was 

 made clear that there are several different classes to be provided 

 for ; the large farmer's son or future land agent wants a different 

 equipment from that of the small holder ; the farmer himself must 

 be reached by an entirely different method ; the labourer, again, 

 has to be treated separately. At Gloucester the various speakers 

 defined clearly their aim and their method ; in former gatherings 

 of the same nature the speakers seemed to consider there was only 

 one kind of worker engaged in agriculture. 



THE HEATING OR FERMENTATION OF HAY.* 



It is well known that when hay which is not quite dry is placed 

 in a shed or stack, spontaneous generation of heat takes place. 

 It has generally been held that this action is entirely due to the 

 work and activity of bacteria, but recent investigations by Boek- 

 hout and Vries at the Agricultural Experiment Station of Hoorn, 

 in Holland, appear to prove that the fermentation of hay is a 

 purely chemical process, and is quite independent of the work of 

 living organisms. They ascertained the temperature of haystacks 

 in which heating was manifestly taking place, and found that it 

 might considerably exceed 200 degrees F. As compared with 

 ordinary hay which had not undergone much fermentafion, heated 

 hay was found to contain a larger percentage of albumenoids, 

 woody fibre, and fat, but a smaller quantity of sugar and starch. 

 Furthermore, the heated hay was markedly sour, owing to the pre- 

 sence of considerable quantities of formic acid. 



The investigators then proceeded to construct an apparatus 

 which enabled them, through the agency of steam and air, to re- 

 produce very closely in the laboratory the changes that take place 

 in the haystack. The hay was kept under treatment for twenty 

 days, at the end of which time the material smelt exactly like hay 



*From Centralhlatt fur BaUeriologie, Parasite nkuivie u. Infehtiotishranklieiten. Sep- 

 tember, 1904. Journal of Board of Agriculture, London. 



