Milk Records. 9 



factor with certainty, or to lay down any course of treatment 

 which woukl bring the bad soil into the condition of the good 

 one. Greater knowledge and more delicate methods of analysis 

 are needed ; we must accumulate information as to the nature 

 and composition of known soils before we can hope to attack 

 the diflticulties presented by these abnormal soils (and they turn 

 up everywhere) with success. 



In conclusion, we may summarise the present position of 

 soil analysis as follows : — 



1. Mechanical analysis enables us to classify soils and assign 

 an unknown example to its type. 



2. From the type, combined with knowledge of the situation 

 and climate, we may predict its suitability or otherwise for 

 particular crops. 



3. Chemical analysis will tell us whether a soil is getting 

 acid or needs liming to make it work prop* rly and utilise the 

 manure supplied to it. 



4. From chemical analysis we can settle what class of 

 manures ought to be used — whether sulphate of ammonia or 

 nitrate of soda, superphosphate or basic slag. 



5. Chemical analysis will often reveal particular deficiencies 

 and the specific for phosphates or potash, but to do this with 

 any certainty the composition and behaviour of soils of that 

 type should be known from a previous soil survey. 



A. D. Hall. 



The Development Commission. 



MILK RECORDS. 



The keeping of milk records, the pecuniary and other advan- 

 tages derived therefrom, to say nothing of the knowledge both 

 in breeding and feeding acquired by breeders of dairy cattle 

 who have followed them up systematically, have been so much 

 discussed both in the press and elsewhere during the past few 

 years that it would almost appear to be a work of supererogation 

 to attempt to write anything new on the subject ; but as the 

 Board of Agriculture is now prepared to assist " milk recording " 

 with a grant from the Development Funds, provided that the 

 work is carried out on right lines and is approved by the 

 Department, it has been thought that an article on the subject 

 might not be out of place in the Society's Journal. 



That milk recording has not been taken up generally by 

 the English dairy farmers is a matter of common knowledge, 

 and this may be accounted for, in the first place, by the 



