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REPORT OF REFEREES ON THE ESSAYS 



SENT IN FOR THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL 



SOCIETY'S RESEARCH MEDAL. 



The following essays were submitted to the referees : — 



Gavin, William, B.A., Trinity College, Cambridge. The 

 Interpretation of Milk Records. 



Hammond, John, B.A., Downing College, Cambridge. An 

 Invest! g at i 071 Concerning the Food of Certain Birds. 



Robinson, Gilbert Wooding, B.A., Gonville & Caius College, 

 Cambridge. Survey of the Soils and Agriculture of Shropshire. 



Shildrick, Lancelot R., B.A., Emmanuel College, Cambridge. 

 Alkali Soils of the Kharjeh Oasis. 



Stokes, Edgar Edward, Midland Agricultural & Dairy College, 

 Kingston, Derby. Sofne Causes of Infertility in Peaty Soils. 



The referees beg to report as follows : — 



Three of the essays sent in represent serious and successful 

 pieces of work, viz., the essays of Messrs. Gavin, Hammond, and 

 Robinson. Their very diverse character makes it somewhat 

 difficult to judge their respective merits. 



Mr. Gavin, who holds the position of Scientific Expert to 

 Lord Rayleigh's Dairy Farms, has described in his essay the 

 results he has obtained by a statistical study of the milk records 

 of 2,665 cows. The object of his research was to find a single 

 definite numerical value which should express the inherent 

 milking capacity of a cow. To this problem Mr. Gavin has 

 applied modern methods of statistical inquiry, and has arrived 

 at a figure which he calls the revised maximum, and defines as 

 the maximum daily yield maintained or exceeded for not less 

 than three weeks. He shows that this figure gives a reliable 

 measure of the total yield of the cow during her lactation period, 

 and gives a table for correcting it for variations due to age, time 

 of year, &c. Finally he shows how it may be used in examining 

 the inheritance of milk-yielding capacity. 



Mr. Gavin's is an excellent piece of work, and is likely to 

 be of real value in following the inheritance of milking capacity. 

 It embodies an ot iginal idea well worked out, and the methods 

 and conclusions are both quite sound. 



Mr. Hammond's essay describes a long and patient piece of 

 work, in the course of which he examined the contents of the 

 crops of 239 starlings, 171 larks, and smaller numbers of other 

 birds suspected of doing injury to the farmer. His work appears 

 to have been accurate and systematic. His conclusions are 

 drawn logically and clearly, and give evidence that he knows 

 the literature of the subject. The work, however, is of a more 



