SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— At. 405 



The researches in electroculture in different ways have given results which are 

 shortly reported. 



In the department of forestry a number of extended investigations are going on 

 about different systems for utilising the forest, and other experiments with trees and 

 seeds of different sorts. 



The investigations in feeding domestic animals are mentioned, especially the results 

 with feeding milk-cows and pigs with herrings, herring meal, cod-liver meal and whale 

 meal. 



It is mentioned that the Norwegian experiments on the heredity of lethal achondro- 

 plasia are in collaboration with the parallel experiments of Dr. Crew at Edinburgh. 



Regarding the geological and soil science there are mentioned the researches of the 

 composition and the acidity of soils from different parts of Norway, as also the 

 nitrification in Norwegian soils. 



Experiments with fertilizers and manure have been executed in different parts of 

 the country by a number of investigators. The pot-experiments, hitherto mostly 

 from the chemical laboratory of the College at Aas, are described. 



Finally are mentioned the experiments belonging to analytical and pure chemistry, 

 botany and dairy-researches, also the institute for trying new machinery for agricul- 

 tural purposes. 



It is stated that agriculturalists and foresters in Norway on the whole have utilized 

 the instructions and scientific results presented to them, and it is hoped that then- 

 good fund of knowledge, being on the whole at a level with the most progressive nations 

 of Europe, will help them through the bad times ruling Norway as well as most nations 

 of Europe. 



Capt. C. W. Hume. — The Slaughtering of Animals for Food. 



An ideal system of slaughtering must be (a) humane, no pain or fear being 

 maicted ; (6) hygiene, the carcases being adequately bled, prepared in clean conditions, 

 and uniformly inspected for disease, and (c) commercially profitable, so as to enable 

 home-killed meat to compete on favourable terms with imported meat. 



Humane Considerations. — The knocking-down box should be installed in every 

 slaughter-house, as it enables beasts to be positioned for slaughter without preliminary 

 struggling. Slaughter-men should be trained and licensed on a nationally controlled 

 system. Public abattoirs would facilitate supervision for humane purposes. 



The poll-axe (used for stunning animals which are large enough to give trouble) 

 is less accurate than the captive bolt which can be made practically infallible. Sheep 

 and lambs are not stunned, as they do not offer much resistance. 



Pigs are hoisted by one leg and stuck : in cases where squealing is an objection 

 they are stunned with a hammer. In Great Britain the old-fashioned methods are 

 used for about 15 million animals per annum, while the pistol is used for about one 

 million. Great Britain and America are less humane in this respect than the Teutonic 

 countries of the Continent. 



The Jewish (ritual) method of slaughtering is particularly open to criticism as 

 regards the methods employed for casting large beasts. The Weinberg Casting 

 Pen is believed to offer a solution of this difficulty. 



Hygienic Considerations.— Slaughtering should be centralised in large {e.g. public) 

 abattoirs, but in England it is impossible to make the butchers use these when they 

 have been built, and the abolition of the competing private slaughter-houses is opposed 

 by vested interests. 



The persistent prejudice to the effect that the use of the mechanical poll-axe 

 (pistol) hinders bleeding and causes ' splashed ' pork has been finally refuted by the 

 City of London inquiry. 



Bleeding depends on a number of factors — the time elapsing between stunning 

 and bleeding, fatigue, the nature and condition of the animal, and the skill of the 

 slaughterman. 



Commercial Considerations. — It is suggested that if home-killed meat could be 

 certified as hygienic- and humanely killed, and advertised as such, the effect on the 

 market would bo favourable. The City of London report has refuted trade objections 

 to the humane pistol, except that in the case of sheep and lambs its use involves 

 slightly more trouble, and that the inquiry did not extend to bacon pigs. 



"General Situation. — The Ministry of Health recommends the use of the pistol 

 (Model By-law 9b), but in view of opposition from the Meat Traders' Federation the 



