January 22, 1920] 



NATURE 



553 



AGRICULTURE AT THE BRITISH 

 ASSOCIATION. 



A S might have been expected, the papers read before 

 -^^ the Agricultural Section at the Bournemouth 

 meeting had special reference to the abnormal condi- 

 tions brought about by the war. Most of the members 

 had been engaged either directly or indirectly in food 

 production work, and there was a very marked reduc- 

 tion, as compared with normal years, in the amount 

 of research work reported to the meeting. 



[The presidential address appeared in Nature of 

 December 25, 1919, and need not, therefore, be 

 further considered now.] 



Two important papers dealing with the work of 

 " Food Production " were read by Sir Thomas 

 Middleton, formerly of the Food Production Depart- 

 ment of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, and 

 by Mr. J. M. Caie, an Assistant Secretary of the 

 Board of Agriculture for Scotland, dealing with the 

 methods and results of the food production schemes in 

 England and Scotland respectively. 



^ir Thomas Middleton revised the estimates, which 

 he had brdught forward at the Manchester meeting, 

 of the number of persons who could be supported on 

 the meat produced on 100 acres of average land under 

 various conditions. 



As compared with twelve to fourteen persons who 

 could be supported on the meat produced on 100 acres 

 of average grass land he estimated that : — 



Persons 

 for a year 



100 acres average wheat, milled as it was 

 before the war, would support ... 200 



100 acres milled (80 per cent.) would sup- 

 port 230 



100 acres average barley (60 per cent.) 

 "■ would support ... ... ... ... 180 



100 acres average oats (54 per cent.) 

 would support ... ... ... ... 160 



100 acres average potatoes would support 400 



100 acres average mangolds would sup- 

 port 40 



100 acres average meadow hay would 

 support ' 14 



Before the war the ploughed land in the United 

 Kingdom was feeding about 84 persons per 100 acres, 

 while the grass land was feeding about 20. Altogether 

 we grew food for about 17,500,000 out of 46,000,000 

 people, or, in other words, we supplied the week-end 

 requirements of the entire population throughout the 

 year. The Food Production Department was set up 

 in December, 1916, and by April, 1917, plans had been 

 developed for bringing' 2,700,000 acres of extra arable 

 land into cultivation in 1918 over the 1916 area; and 

 the agricultural returns for 1918 showed that, as com- 

 pared with 1916, 1,842,000 additional acres in England 

 and Wales were growing other crops than grass — 

 roughly, two-thirds of the total additional area aimed 

 at. Sir Thomas Middleton paid a high tribute to the 

 assistance given by the scientific staffs of the agricul- 

 tural departments of the universities and research 

 stations. 



As regards Scotland, Mr. J. M. Caie referred to the 

 essential differences in the agricultural conditions of 

 the two countries as exemplified by the following 

 figures relating to 1917 : — 



Percentage of total 

 cultiv;ited .area nnder 

 Country 



.Scotland 

 England 



NO. 2621, VOL. 104] 



The increased cropping was therefore to be secured 

 much less by ploughing up old grass land and more 

 by a shortening of the rotations on arable farms than 

 was the case in England. 



The increased area aimed at in 19 18 was 350,000 

 acres, and of this 241,000 acres were obtained, or 

 approximately 75 per cent, of the extension aimed at. 

 It is a notable fact that the increased cropping was 

 obtained without any appreciable reduction in the 

 number of horses, cattle, and sheep. 



It is believed that a noteworthy feature of the 

 schemes for increased food production for Scotland will 

 be their relatively low cost to the State. No special 

 Food Production Department of the Board was set 

 up ; the number of officials attached to the Com- 

 mittees was kept down to a minimum, usually one, 

 or at most two, to each Committee, many of them 

 being officers of the agricultural colleges. 



Dr. E. J. Russell read a paper of much interest 

 on "War-time and Post-war Problems of Food Pro- 

 duction," in which the author referred to the necessity 

 for devoting renewed attention to drainage and liming 

 in particular, and for providing an adequate amount 

 of organic matter in the soil. He referred to the 

 enormous waste in the preservation of farmyard 

 manure, and to the difficulties of conserving the 

 manure from dairies. The ploughing in of green crops 

 was advocated and an increase in the clover crop, 

 as a means not only of providing more keep, but also 

 of increasing the amount of organic matter in the 

 soil. With reference to manures. Dr. Russell stated 

 that the production of ammonium sulphate had risen 

 to 269,000 tons in 1919. Similarlv, the production of 

 superphosphate had risen from 560,000 tons in 1916 

 to 750,000 tons in 1919, and the amount of basic slag 

 from 321,000 tons in 1916 to 540,000 tons in 1919. 

 The British farmers are probably now using more 

 artificial fertilisers than any other farmers in the 

 world. The change in the composition of basic slag 

 due to the alteration in the methods of manufacture 

 was also dealt with, and the necessity for a complete 

 revision of experimental field work with basic slag 

 was insisted upon. 



The possibility of the increased recoverv of nitrogen 

 from sewage bv means of the "activated " process was 

 also considered. 



Amongst the other papers communicated were : — "The 

 Value of Lupins in the Cultivation of Light Land," 

 A. W. Oldershaw: "The Past Neglect and Future 

 Improvement of Livestock in British Husbandry," 

 K. T. .T- Mackenzie; "The Electrical Treatment of 

 .Seeds," Dr. A. E. Blackburn; "The Comoosition of 

 Linseed Recovered from Flax Crops," T. W. Fagan; 

 and "The Classification of Cattle Foods," J. Alan 

 Murray. 



In the last-named paper Mr. Murrav pointed out that 

 the object of the classification should be to bring to- 

 gether in natural groups those foods that are of similar 

 character and quality, irrespective of the concentration 

 and the nutrients in them, and he suggested that the 

 amount of available energy per pound of dry matter 

 should be made the basis of classification. If the 

 foods were arranged in this order the distinction 

 between fresh and dry foods would vanish. No 

 sharo line of demarcation between coarse and fine 

 could be drawn, but the foods could be arranged in 

 groups according to aualitv, and then might be sub- 

 divided according to the amount of digestible protein.' 



The more important foods in the main natural 

 groups are as follows : — 



(\) Cereal and pulse straws. 



(2) Inferior hays. 



(3) Grasses and clovers in flower, good hays, un- 

 dccorticated cotton-cake. 



