4i 4 AGRICULTURE 



immunity on Mendclian lines when crossed with other varieties; hence by suitable cross- 

 ing and selection a rust-resistant variety yielding normal crops has been obtained. 

 Another line of attack has led to considerable improvement among existing races of 

 cereals, and that is the process of selection of " pure lines " associated with Nillsen and 

 the experimental station of Svalof in Sweden. If a field of any variety be examined, 

 putting aside accidental admixtures, a considerable range of variation will be observed 

 in such characters as the length of ear, the stiffness of the straw, the size of the grains, etc., 

 etc. The majority of these differences are due to accidents of nutrition and are not 

 inherited, but by selecting a number of ears from plants possessing the desired character- 

 istics and growing the corn from each separately a few will be found to transmit the 

 variation, and by raising a stock of seed from the best a permanent improvement in the 

 variety can be effected. Moreover such a pure strain will be found to possess a great 

 uniformity in the time of ripening and similar factors, which alone may make it of more 

 value than the composite out of which it originated. The success of such breeding along 

 pure lines is in marked contrast to the failure of many attempts to improve crops by mass 

 selection, i.e., by picking out a large number of the best ears or the heaviest corns and 

 raising a stock of seed from this aggregate. So large a proportion of the improved 

 material owes its character to nutrition alone and falls back in the next generation, that 

 the resulting mixture of strains is very slightly better than the unselected mass. 



The scientific advance in the theory of the nutrition of animals has been of too 

 technical a nature for discussion here, especially as it has resulted in no modifications of 



practice; but the advent of a new and valuable feeding stuff into Europe 

 bean. may be noted. This is the soya bean, which has been long grown for both 



human and cattle food in China and Japan. At the close of the Russo- 

 Japanese war, when Manchuria was opened up to Japanese traders, it was found that 

 large quantities of this bean were obtainable, and the firm of Mitsui embarked on its 

 importation into Europe. The bean contains up to 17 per cent of a neutral tasteless oil, 

 valuable for food, soap making and other purposes to which vegetable oils are applied, 

 and this oil is extracted by pressure in the usual way. The residual cake forms a valu- 

 able food for all classes of stock, containing about 6 per cent of oil and over 40 per cent 

 of proteins. Its advent has been particularly fortunate in that it occurred at a time 

 when linseed cake, for which it is almost an equivalent, was rising to an exceptional 

 price. (A. D. HALL.) 



AGRICULTURAL ORGANISATION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM 



The increasing demand for state assistance for agricultural research and education, 

 improvement of live stock, furtherance of co operation, etc., led Mr. Lloyd George, 

 Work of as Chancellor of the Exchequer, to introduce the Development Act in 1909, 

 British under which a Commission was appointed to make recommendations 



Development ^ o ^ ne Treasury of grants for the promotion of rural industries. The 

 Commlsloa. , J . . , . . . 



grants are to be made either to a government department or to a university 



or other association not trading for profit, and a sum in the first instance of 2,500,- 

 ooo has been set aside for the purposes of the Commission. Under this Act schemes 

 have already been approved and grants made for the furtherance of research and edu- 

 cation, for the promotion of co-operation, for the improvement of live stock and horses, 

 for experiments in the cultivation of tobacco, flax, hemp, etc., etc. 



Up to 1911 the Board of Agriculture was charged with the administration of agricul- 

 tural affairs in England, Scotland and Wales. In 1911 a separate Board was created 

 for Scotland, to which were transferred the duties appertaining to the old Board as 

 regards Scotland, higher agricultural education, and the administration of a scheme of 

 land purchase for the creation of small holdings. To this Scotch Board of Agriculture 

 an annual grant of 200,000 is made. 



Owing to the increased grants derived from the Development Commission the 

 organisation of agricultural education and research has been considerably advanced of 

 late years in the United Kingdom, and very shortly it will possess a complete system 



