444 Weather Forecasts by Wireless Telephone. [Aug., 



error of the weight of the total produce as weighed in the field, 

 and these figures will obviously be much more reliable than a 

 mere statement of the weights of grain and straw on single 

 plots without any indication of the probable error of the 

 comparisons. 



The results which have been obtained indicate that, by the 

 half-drill-strip method, the probable error of the difference be- 

 tween the weights of grain of the two races may be reduced 

 to about one-half of one per cent, as against something over 

 five per cent, when single plots are compared. 



It is hardly necessary to add that the operations of drilling, 

 cutting, binding, sheaf -weighing, harvesting, threshing and 

 ultimate weighing of grain and straw require a very different 

 type of supervision from that of ordinary agricultural operations 

 and even from that required in field trials as they have usually 

 been conducted, and also involve considerable extra cost. 



(As an example of the results obtained by the method described above, 

 the author has prepared a supplement to this nrticle containing tables, with 

 notes, showing in detail the results of an experiment at Warminster in 1921 

 in which a new race of barley was tested against a control race. The probable 

 error of the results is discussed and their reliability compared with that of a 

 trial with two single half-acre plots of two races. Any reader who is interested 

 may obtain a copy of this supplement, post free, on application to the 

 Ministry). 



****** 



WEATHER FORECASTS BY WIRELESS 

 TELEPHONE. 



The following question was asked in the House of Commons 

 on 28th June last : — 



Mr. L. Malone asked the Minister of Agriculture whether 

 he is aware of the extent to which wireless telephony is being 

 utilised in France to assist agriculture by broadcasting a weather 

 bulletin twice daily from the national meteorological office; and 

 whether any similar schemes are in contemplation for this 

 country? 



Captain Guest (Air Ministry) replied as follows: — " I have 

 been asked to answer this question. Pending the result of 

 inquiries which are being made, I have no information, other 

 than that which has appeared in the Press, as to the French 

 arrangements for issuing weather forecasts to agriculturists by 

 wireless telephony. The feasibility of using wireless telephony 

 for this purpose in this country is at present under considera- 



