piggery at Essiehill was completed in 1925, and there is now a herd of about 400 pedigree Large White pigs available for experimental work under practical conditions.

About half of the work of establishing the Poultry Department has been completed, and about 500 head of poultry are being used for practical feeding tests.

The buildings for dairy cattle were in course of erection at the end of the year, and it is anticipated that they will be completed by the summer of 1927. A dairy herd has been reared so that the animals required are now available for the practical experimental work which will be commenced so soon as the buildings are ready.

2. Research.

During the year research work has been continued on Mineral Metabolism, Ultra-Violet Radiation, Physiology of Lactation, Chemistry of Feeding Stuffs and the Pathology of Anaemias and Associated Conditions, and a number of practical feeding tests have been carried out. Such of the results of this work as appeared to be of scientific or practical interest have been published in various Journals. A short statement with reference to certain parts of the work is appended.

Mineral Content of Pastures.-This investigation, referred to in the Board's last Report, has been continued. The work prior to 1926 showed that poor pastures were deficient in minerals. In that year attempts were made on a small scale to feed to sheep grazing on poor pastures on various farms, a mixture rich in the minerals in which the pastures were deficient. As was anticipated, practical difficulties were encountered in this field. work. These were ultimately overcome, and the results of the preliminary tests seem to indicate that the feeding of small amounts of the mixtures referred to had beneficial results. Feeding tests on a practical scale are now being carried out on seven sheep farms in Scotland and two in England. This work is being carried out jointly with the Animal Nutrition Department at Cambridge.

Iodine.-Feeding experiments in which small amounts of iodine were added to rations commonly fed have been carried out with cattle, pigs and poultry. The results seem to show that in summer, when animals are allowed to graze on the pastures in the neighbourhood of the Institute, the addition of iodine has no effect on the rate of growth or health. In winter, however, when the ration consist chiefly of imported foodstuffs, the addition of iodine in some cases had a beneficial effect, but the results were not uniform. The water used at the Institute has been analysed and found to be moderately rich in iodine. It has been concluded that the amount of iodine in the water and the vegetation on the Experimental Farm is sufficient to meet the needs of farm animals. This conclusion would probably apply to many other districts. There appear, however, to be other districts in which the iodine in the water and vegetation

is insufficient for the needs of the animals, as beneficial results following the administration of iodine have been reported to the Institute. The amount of iodine in the water, milk and vegetation in these districts is being determined. The results so far obtained show that there are marked differences in the amounts of iodine found in water and vegetation in different districts.

It should be stated here that very small amounts of iodine have been found to be sufficient for animals even in districts where there appears to be an iodine deficiency. About half an ounce of potassium iodide per ton of concentrates is sufficient to meet all needs. This amount does not cause any harmful effects even under conditions where the animals are already getting sufficient iodine.

Poultry.-Joint work with the three Scottish Colleges of Agriculture and the Agricultural Department of Northern Ireland has shown that the rate of growth of chickens receiving separated milk or buttermilk is as great as that of chickens receiving whole milk.

Calf-rearing.-Calf-rearing experiments have been carried out jointly with the Edinburgh and East of Scotland College of Agriculture. The results show that rations of cereals used for rearing calves can be improved by the addition of minerals, proteins and cod-liver oil. These, if added in the proper amounts and proportions, make the total ration more like milk both in chemical composition and in physiological properties. The rate of growth on this improved ration is greater than that on the ration without these additions.

Pig-feeding. Several practical feeding experiments have been carried out with pigs. In unlimited feeding, where the animals receive at regular intervals all the food they can clean up and no more, the amount of food consumed per lb. of gain was found to be less than in unlimited feeding, where animals had food always before them in self-feeders. In the former method, of course, the amount of labour required was greater. The practical advantages of the one method as compared with the other depend upon the relative value of the extra food in the one case and the extra labour in the other, and this would vary with circumstances.

In the series of tests undertaken to determine the value of sunflower-seed cake for pig-feeding it was found that this feedingstuff is of about the same value as other commonly used proteinrich feeding-stuffs, and can be used with good results up to at least twenty per cent. of the total ration. It is understood that large amounts of sunflower-seed cake can be imported from Russia and put on the market at a price that would enable it to be used profitably for feeding farm stock.

Overseas Work.-Reference is made elsewhere in this Report to the work undertaken in Kenya on behalf of the Empire Marketing Board.

EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY AND EDINBURGH AND EAST OF
SCOTLAND COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE.

JOINT COMMITTEE ON RESEARCH IN ANIMAL BREEDING.

1. Administration and Development.

The outstanding event of the year was a provisional offer of £30,000 by the International Education Board of New York towards the building and equipment of the Department and the endowment of a Chair. This offer is conditional on a like amount being obtained from other sources, and also on the provision of certain funds for maintenance. Lord Woolavington made a gift of £10,000 to the University towards the further endowment of the Chair. A sum of £30,000 is still required in order that the conditions attached to the offer of the International Education Board may be fulfilled, and the University authorities have issued an appeal to the public for subscriptions to complete the endowment.

At 28th November the Department took over 28 acres of land at West Mains and the farm steading, the latter too dilapidated to be of much use. A grant of £470 was made by the Board to cover expenses of ingoing and new fencing.

A grant was also made by the Board of a sum amounting to £2,630 for the purpose of providing pigsties and goat-houses, and the erection of the buildings will be begun immediately.

Mr A. D. Buchanan Smith, M.A., M.Sc., was appointed to take charge of the farm animal section of the Department.

Courses of lectures were given to students of the University and of the Agricultural and Veterinary Colleges in addition to various scientific, students' and breeders' societies. At the request of the owners several farms were visited during the course of the year and advice of a specific nature was given upon reeding problems.

2. Research.
(a) Sheep.

Colour Inheritance.-Experiments are still in progress regarding the inheritance of various colours and patterns.

Fertility. Statistical investigations on fertility in sheep were continued, and a separate study was made of fertility of flocks kept under mountain conditions. This investigation was carried out in co-operation with the University College of North Wales. The great difference in the number of lambs produced per 100 ewes from sheep kept under mountain conditions and from sheep of precisely similar type and class kept under lowland conditions may be accounted for as follows:

(1) The greater percentage of twinning on the low ground.
(2) The larger number of barren ewes on the mountain.
(3) The larger losses from still-births and deaths soon after
birth on the mountain.

The Cotted Fleece." Cotted" fleeces are closely matted together and are much less valuable than normal fleeces. It has been found that cotting is due to the shedding of some of the fibres, their fine terminal portions becoming intertwined. The process occurs in winter and spring, but nearly all observed cases occurred during a very limited period, probably about February. There is every indication, therefore, that cotting is a reflection of the primitive shedding of wool in the spring, a characteristic that most modern sheep have lost except when the “rise occurs, when the fibres become thinner.

The tendency towards cotting is constitutional and increases with the age of the sheep. It also varies in intensity in a given flock in different seasons. The evidence points to variable influences acting on susceptible individuals at a susceptible period.

Dark Fibres in Suffolk Sheep.-Dark fibres in wool are the cause of much depreciation in monetary value. The problem in such breeds as the Suffolk, where the face and legs are heavily pigmented, is to select for fleeces free from dark fibres, and an investigation is in progress in which an attempt is made to delimit standards for early selection of breeding stock.

(b) Cattle.

A study of inheritance of coat colour in cattle is being continued. Several herds of Dun and Belted Galloway cattle have been visited and interesting data have been secured which seem to indicate that dun colour in the Galloway is inherited in a different manner from that which obtains in the Friesian and the Welsh cattle.

(c) Horses.

Inbreeding in the Clydesdale.-An analytical study was made of the Clydesdale with a view to determining the role played by inbreeding in the formation of the breed. Some 1,500 pedigrees have been examined and tabulated, using Sewall Wright's method of estimation of the co-efficient of inbreeding. It was found that during the early history of the breed there was but little inbreeding, but later there occurred distinct "waves of inbreeding, each of which could be traced to the influence of some particular sire. Line-breeding to members of one line. descent, together with careful selection, appear to explain the remarkable homozygosity of the breed to-day.

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It has been shown that compared with the Shorthorn breed of cattle, there has been remarkably little inbreeding in the Clydesdale, although the latter breed is probably just as pure (homozygous). This is possibly due to the fact that in the horse there is a greater number of recessively inherited defects than in cattle, and also that selection can operate more strongly in a horse than in a cattle population, owing to the larger number of females that a stallion can serve as compared with a bull.

C

(d) Pigs.

The Production of the Ideal Type of Pig.-With a view to correlating the ideals of the breeder with those of the baconcurer it was felt that some system of Advanced Registry in pigs along the lines already in use both in Denmark and in the United States should be adopted in this country. After observation of the anomalous results of the bacon competition at the Highland and Agricultural Society's Show, as conducted by the Scottish National Association of Pig Breeders, arrangements were made with the directors of the Stirling Bacon Factory for the Department to obtain facilities for the examination of carcases. Feeding affects largely the type of carcase, and if such tests are to be of any value from a genetical point of view the pigs examined must be uniformly fed. Accordingly, arrangements have been made with the Prison Commissioners for Scotland whereby pigs provided by the Department would be reared at Barlinnie Prison, near Glasgow. It is intended to study the various conformations of the individual pigs, to keep a record of the rate of live-weight increase in proportion to food consumption, and to correlate these facts with the quality of the carcase when the animals are killed. The new pig buildings, which it is hoped will be erected shortly at West Mains, are to be used partly as an experimental Type-Testing Station, with a view to the ultimate establishment in Scotland of Advanced Registry among pig breeders.

Physiological Studies.-An investigation is in progress involving the study of the composition of the gilt's blood, with the object of discovering whether it is possible to prevent gilts coming into season at the time of slaughter, a condition which greatly reduces their value.

(e) Goats.

Inheritance of Horns.-The mode of inheritance of horns in the goat was found to be similar to that which obtains in cattle. Inheritance of Milk Yield.-A beginning was made of an investigation into the inheritance of milk yield. The carefully selected experimental herd is now headed by a pedigree Toggenburg billy of one of the best milk strains. At the Highland and Agricultural Society's Show at Kelso, where four animals were shown, the Department won the Reserve Championship, two first prizes, one second, and one fourth.

EDINBURGH AND EAST OF SCOTLAND COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE.

INVESTIGATION INTO CAUSES OF CROP FAILURE ON
CERTAIN ACID SOILS.

This work was continued during the year. No correlation was found between the failure of the barley crop and either the lime requirement or the degree of acidity (pH value) of the soil, but there appeared to be a definite correlation between the amount of exchangeable calcium and the crop growth. This