1909.] Summary of Agricultural Experiments. 245 



Colonial and Foreign Experiments. 



Effect of Storage on Wheat and Flour (Experimental Farms, 1908 : 

 App. to Rept. of Canadian Minister of Agric.).— The Report of the 

 Cerealist (Mr. C. E. Saunders, B.A., Ph.D.) states that it is well known 

 that some increase in baking- strength usually takes place when wheat 

 01 flour is stored for some months. Eight examples are given, two of 

 wheat and six of flour kept for twelve months, all of which showed an 

 improvement in strength and most of them in colour. In some cases 

 the change was very marked, as in Downy Riga, the baking strength 

 of which rose from 80 to 103; in the others the rise varied from 5 to 11 

 points, while in a few flours examined (not included in the eight above- 

 mentioned) little or no change was observed. It seemed probable that 

 both the rapidity and the amount of improvement were characteristic of 

 each particular variety, and the trials appear to show that the gain in 

 baking strength is more rapid in flour than in wheat, but the change 

 takes place in both cases and reaches the same limit in the end. 



Mr. Saunders points out that this increase in the commercial value 

 of wheat or flour owing to the rise in baking strength during storage 

 is an important matter, and in the event of part of the Canadian wheat 

 being exported by some Northern route ten or twelve months after 

 harvest, the increase in value might cover the cost of storage. He 

 estimates that Red Fife showed a gain in value equal to 6 cents per 

 bushel, and Downy Riga a gain of 23 cents. 



It is hoped that the increased value of wheat which has been stored 

 for a considerable time will be more fully recognised, and that an 

 enhanced price will be obtained for it. 



Feeding Experiments with Pigs (Mdstungsversuche mit Schweinen. 

 Bericht des Deutschen Landwirtschaftsrats an das Reichsamt des Innern, 

 1908). — This report by Professor Kellner, of the Mockern Experiment 

 Station, deals with a series of experiments carried out, with the assist- 

 ance of the Ministry of the Interior, on 17 farms in Germany. The 

 food selected for investigation was the potato, and as this requires the 

 addition of some more or less albuminoid food, the main object of the 

 experiment was to ascertain what addition of albuminoids was necessary 

 to give the best result when feeding potatoes to pigs. 



Each experiment was carried out with two lots of pigs, 3-5 months 

 old and as nearly as possible alike, one lot being given a highly 

 albuminoid ration and the other a ration low in albuminoids, with 

 varying quantities of potatoes. The food was analysed, and the animals 

 weighed at intervals. 



Although certain general lines of feeding were prescribed, there was 

 considerable variation in the way the individual experiments were carried 

 out, so that the results were not entirely comparable. 



They are regarded, however, as showing that steamed potatoes are 

 an excellent food for pigs, and can be given to growing animals at all 

 stages to the extent of 50-60 per cent, of the digestible carbo-hydrates. 

 Still greater proportions may be given if the animals show signs of 

 appetite and care is taken to make the food as a whole attractive. 



An increase above the normal quantities of digestible albuminoids 

 proved of no advantage with quick-growing, fattening pigs ; a decrease 

 of 15-20 per cent, in the albuminoids led with animals of this type to a 



