The coast of Kent and Sussex is to a great extent bordered by flat areas of alluvial land, elevated but little if at all above high water mark, known as the Marshes. Though certain portions are under the plough this land as a rule lies in permanent grass and affords some of the best grazing known in the south of England. The largest of these areas is Romney Marsh which with the adjoining Walland and Denge marshes forms a single area extending about 20 miles from east to west, and 10 miles or so broad. All the marshes possess very similar characteristics and the description which follows of Romney Marsh may be taken to apply, with certain local differences, to the others. The whole of the land has been reclaimed from the sea comparatively recently.

During the renneting process in the manufacture of Cheddar cheese a retardation of the time of coagulation has often been noticed though the acidity had reached the required strength before the rennet was added to the milk. The cause or causes of this retardation are of great technical importance as they lead to infection of the milk with consequent production of taints. As the two main factors of coagulation are (i) the acidity of the milk when renneted, and (ii) the calcium salts of the milk, we approached the inquiry from these two points and tried to answer the following questions:—

The per cent. of nitrogen in a wheat is no direct index of the amount which its flour will contain. The per cent. of a wheat's protein recovered in the flour varied from 56·84 per cent, to 65·56, while the per cent. of protein occurring in the bran varied between 25 per cent. and 32·77 per cent., and that occurring in the shorts from 8·90 to 10·82 per cent. As an average of these determinations, the protein of the wheat was divided between the flour, bran and shorts in the proportion of 61·87 per cent., 27·98 per cent., and 9·92 per cent. respectively.

The investigation to be described was instigated by Professor Wood and Mr Warburton of the School of Agriculture, Cambridge, in the beginning of the year 1911. Its object was to determine whether or not certain birds were harmful to agriculture; as some naturalists and others considered them to be distinctly beneficial, while farmers were complaining of the damage done to their crops.

(1) Distinct changes take place in the tissues of the mammary region in sows during the period of heat. These changes consist mainly of congestion of the glands. Moreover the part affected is in the pig of much commercial value.

(2) The black pigment often found in the mammary tissue of black sows is not associated with the recurrence of heat, and the bacon manufacturer who wishes to differentiate between sows slaughtered at this period and other sows must not rely on this pigment as a guide.

(3) Since ovulation occurs during oestrus and not during prooestrum it is advisable to “hog” the sow towards the end of her heat period.

The F2 generation of crosses between a number of varieties of wheat susceptible to the attacks of Yellow Rust (Puccinia glumarum) and “American Club.” which shows an extraordinary degree of resistance to the attacks of this parasite showed in the year 1906 obvious segregation into immune and susceptible forms. The immunity was further found to be independent of any recognizable morphological feature. An analysis of these F2 generations demonstrated the fact that the immune plants were present to the extent of 25 per cent., that is that the property of resisting the attacks of Yellow Rust behaves as a recessive character to the property of being susceptible. The plants which proved susceptible showed, however, very varied degrees of susceptibility. Many were as covered with rust pustules as Michigan Bronze, one of the extremely susceptible varieties used as a parent. Others on the other hand were relatively slightly attacked and between these extremes all degrees of susceptibility appeared to exist. Nilsson-Ehle who has also observed the segregation of this pair of characteristics has also noted the wide differences in susceptibility in plants of the F2 and succeeding generations.

In the following pages the author gives a preliminary account of his attempts to improve the methods commonly in use for the separation of the products of the hydrolysis of proteins.