TRANSACTIONS OP SECTION M. 383 



Some general considerations will be submitted as to the effects on Scottish 

 agriculture of the movement for increased food production, and particularly of 

 the greater intervention of the State in the control of the industry. 



3. War-time and Post-war Problems of Crop Pmditrlion. 

 By E. J. EussELL, O.B.E., D.Sc, F.R.S. 



4. The Outlook in Dairrjing. By J. Mackintosh. 



5. The Electrical Treatment of Seeds. By Dr. A. M. Blackburn. 



THUBSDAY, SEPT EM BE li 11. 



The following Pajiers were read : — 



1. The Classification of Cattle Foods. By J. Alan Murray, B.Sc.^ 



Object of classification. — To bring together in natural groups those foods 

 that are of similar character and quality, irrespective of the concentration of 

 the nutrients in them. 



The customary arrangement. 



1. Fresh products — roots, grasses, clovers, leaves, &c. 



„ „ „ , r Coarse — straws, hays, &c. 



2. Dry foods •{ t^- • i i t 



•^ [ lime — grain.s, meals, cakes, &c. 



Though convenient for certain purposes, this is not a scientific classification, 

 and does not accomplish the object in view. 



The criterion of quality is the amount of available energy or starch eqvuvalent 

 per lb. of dry matter, and this should be made the basis of classification. If 

 the foods are arranged in this order the distinction between fresh and dry 

 vanishes, and no sharp line of demarcation between coarse and fine can be 

 drawn, but the foods can be arranged in groups according to quality, and then 

 may be sub-divided according to the amount of digestible protein. 



The more important foods in the main natural groups are as follows : 



1. Cereal and pulse straws. 



2. Inferior hays. 



3. Grasses and clovers in flower, good hays, undec. cotton cake. 



4. INIangels, pasture grass, wheat bran, brewers' grains. 



5. Swedes, molasses, cabbages, oats, pollards, rape cake. 



6. Potatoes, barley, sharps, peas, beans, decort. cotton cake. 



7. Locust beans, rye, wheat, middlings, cotton seed, maize germ cake, palm 

 nut cake, linseed cake. 



8. Maize, maize meal, gluten meal, gluten feed. 



1'he thesis accounts in a satisfactory manner for the proved productive 

 efficiency of roots, for the differences in productive value of pastures, and, 

 probably, also for the improvement in grass due to application of phosphatic 

 manures. 



Practical conclusions. — Hay should be cut early; pastures should be closely 

 grazed ; nitrogenous manures should be used sparingly, and phosphatic manures 



1 The subject of this paper is also referred to in an article on ' The Nutritive 

 Value of Feeding Stuffs' in Science Progress, No. 54, Oct.. 1919. 



