104 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.38 



placed on the feeding of grains, especially wheat and barley, to live 

 stock and poultry, if suitable for human consumption. 



Potatoes were made the subject of numerous orders, grov^^ers being 

 required to report monthly as to the estimated quantity in their pos- 

 session, prices fixed, and a comprehensive scheme worked out for the 

 distribution of seed potatoes. To safeguard the supply of the latter 

 an order was issued forbidding their use for any other purpose and 

 requiring certificates for transfer. 



The cultivation of flax having become a military necessity, and the 

 area in flax in Russia and Holland having been substantially re- 

 duced, with no dependence to be placed on getting seed from those 

 countries, the Army Council issued an order requiring Irish farmers 

 to save seed of the 1917 crop from at least one-eighth of an acre. 

 Here the experiments of the Irish Department of Agriculture came 

 into immediate use, and enabled the issuing of explicit instructions 

 to farmers for securing the seed. Bounties were offered for flax 

 cultivation which it is estimated will amount to upwards of a mil- 

 lion pounds sterling. The government took possession of the 1917 

 crop for aeronautical supplies, and will take over the crop of 1918, 



The government took possession of the hop crop of 1917, made the 

 buying and selling of hops subject to permit by tile food controller, 

 and required growers to reduce the area of picking to one-half that 

 of 1914 for the duration of the war. 



In some sections of England bulb growers were required to take 

 up one quarter of their area and substitute wheat, and also to plant 

 wheat or oats between the rows on another twenty-five per cent of 

 the land left in bulbs. 



The British press has called attention to the difficulty of the farm- 

 ers in feeding their live stock. Fodders and feed of all kinds have 

 increased enormously in price, and sufficient supplies are hard to 

 purchase. The government has taken possession of all oleagenous 

 seeds, nuts, and kernels, including by-products like oil cakes, meal, 

 and residues from such materials ; the use of grains is very restricted, 

 and there has been talk of priority orders giving milch cows the 

 preference in the matter of feeds. La§t year horse rationing orders 

 were issued limiting the amounts and kinds of feed to be fed, espe- 

 cially to animals not used for agricultural purposes. 



With the object of retaining an adequate supply of horses on the 

 land the sale of horses used or capable of being used for cultivation 

 of the land was forbidden except on a permit which takes account of 

 their need on holdings. An order relative to the maintenance of live 

 stock, issued in 1915, forbade the slaughter of animals in calf or in 

 pig, and of calves under six months old except on license. The food 

 controller has been empowered to requisition milk in localities where 

 the supply is insufficient for local consumption and is being diverted ; 



