For the year to 15th May 1926-the period dealt with in the last report received from the County Council-the Veterinary Surgeon, in addition to travelling over 10,700 miles on the mainland of Shetland and in the islands of Unst and Yell in answer to special calls, paid 131 visits to the smaller islands of Fetlar, Whalsay, Muckle Roe, Burra Isles, Papa, Papa Stour, and Trandra; he performed altogether some 440 operations.

The grant made to the County Council of Sutherland is one of £150 a year on conditions similar to those applicable to Shetland. The last report from the County Council deals with the 6 months to 30th June 1926, during which period the Veterinary Surgeon travelled 2,360 miles, making 106 visits for the treatment of small holders' stock.

SUGAR BEET.

Reference was made in the Board's last Report to the provisions of the British Sugar (Subsidy) Act, 1925, in regard to the payment of subsidy for sugar and molasses manufactured from home-grown beet. The Orchard Sugar Company, Limited, which opened their factory at Greenock in December 1925, manufactured from the home-grown crop of that year 2,913 cwt. of sugar and 3,022 cwt. of molasses, the amount of subsidy paid by the Board being £4,105. 5s. 10d., of which sum £2,759. 4s. 7d. was in respect of sugar and £1,346. ls. 3d. in respect of molasses. The crop handled by the Company was equivalent to 2,972 tons of washed and topped beets, the average sugar content of which was 17.3 per cent. The average price paid or agreed to be paid for these beets was 48s. 6d. per ton delivered. Heavy rains. during sowing time and severe frosts in the later months of the year were detrimental to the crop, and consequently the amount of beet available for the factory was less than had been anticipated.

In 1926 the area under sugar beet in Scotland was 3,649 acres as compared with 1,493 acres in 1925, and a new factory was opened at Cupar in November 1926 by the Second AngloScottish Beet Sugar Corporation, Limited.

At 31st December 1926 the Orchard Sugar Company had manufactured from the home-grown crop of that year 11,916 cwt. of sugar and 3,420 cwt. of molasses, the total subsidy payable therefor to the Company at that date being £12,000. 11s. 6d., of which £10,477. 3s. was in respect of sugar and £1,523. 8s. 6d. in respect of molasses. The contracts made with growers were on the basis of 50s. per ton of beets of 15 per cent. sugar content free on rail, in addition to which two contracts were also made at 54s. per ton delivered to the factory. The factory had not finished its season's operations at the end of the year, but it was estimated that nearly 9,000 tons of washed and topped beets, the produce of some 1,100 acres, would be delivered for manufacture. The counties in which this crop was grown included Ayr, Berwick, Moray, Ross, Roxburgh and Wigtown.

The Second Anglo-Scottish Beet Sugar Corporation, Limited, began to manufacture sugar on the completion of their new factory at Cupar on 8th November 1926. They finished operations in the last week of December, at which date they had produced from 22,218 tons 12 cwt. of beet, 50,457 cwt. of sugar, the subsidy therefor payable by the Board to the Company being £49,195. 12s. 4d. The total quantity of washed and topped beet grown in Scotland in 1926 and delivered into this factory was 18,659 tons 7 cwt. This was grown on an area of 2,290 acres, the average production being 8.15 tons per acre. The yearly contracts made with growers varied from 49s. and 54s. per ton of beets of 15 per cent. sugar content delivered to the factory to 50s. per ton free on rail at the grower's station. The number of separate contracts was 940. The counties in which the 1926 crop for this factory was grown were as follows:-Aberdeen, Banff, Berwick, Clackmannan, Dumbarton, East Lothian, Fife, Forfar, Kincardine, Kinross, Lanark, Midlothian, Moray, Perth, Ross, Roxburgh, Selkirk, Stirling and West Lothian; a quantity of beet from Northumberland and York was also dealt with.

The Board are satisfied from the information furnished by the two Companies that of the total cost of the plant and machinery installed in their respective factories, the proportion applicable to plant and machinery wholly manufactured in Great Britain. was 95 per cent. in the case of the factory of the Orchard Sugar Company, Limited, at Greenock, and 98 per cent. in the case of the factory of the Second Anglo-Scottish Beet Sugar Corporation, Limited, at Cupar.

The Board regard the progress made by the industry in Scotland since its inception as highly satisfactory, and as proof that under suitable conditions beet cultivation can profitably be undertaken by farmers. As greater experience is gained in the cultivation of this crop the results are likely to be still more encouraging. It is anticipated that the acreage under sugar beet cultivation will be substantially increased in 1927.

TESTING AND REGISTRATION OF SEEDS.

SEED-TESTING STATION.

The Board's last Report dealt with the activities of the Station for the year ended 31st July 1925. It has been arranged that for the succeeding and subsequent years a separate annnal report shall be issued regarding the work of the Seed-testing and Plant Registration Station.

SEEDS ACT, 1920.

During the year 240 official samples of seeds were taken from stocks exposed on seed merchants' premises. The majority of these samples conformed to the declaration given by the vendor, but a few were found on test to be deficient in purity or germination and the vendors were warned of the necessity for strict compliance with the requirements of the Act. In three cases

where the deficiencies were serious, proceedings were instituted against the merchants concerned, two of whom were convicted and fined, while the charge in the third case was found not proven. In another case proceedings were taken against a merchant for selling agricultural seed under a declaration of purity and germination not based on a test made in accordance with the provisions of the Act, which requires such test to be made either at one of the official seed testing stations or at a station which has been licensed under the Act. The purity of the seed in question was also found to be lower than that declared by the vendor. A conviction was obtained in this case and a fine was imposed.

All licensed private seed-testing stations were inspected throughout the year and were found to be conducted in accordance with the conditions of licence.

SEED POTATOES.

In nine cases which were reported by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries proceedings were instituted against Scottish merchants for contraventions of the Seeds Regulations in respect of consignments of seed potatoes supplied to merchants or growers in England. In three of the cases the potatoes failed to conform to the declaration as to size and dressing given at the time of sale, while in the remaining six instances the potatoes, though sold under a variety name, were much below the standard of purity of 97 per cent. thereby implied. Two Scottish merchants were also prosecuted for selling to merchants or growers in Scotland seed potatoes the purity of which fell considerably short of the prescribed standard. Convictions were obtained in all these cases and fines were imposed.

STATION FOR THE TESTING AND REGISTRATION OF
AGRICULTURAL PLANTS.

Potatoes.-The trials were conducted on the same lines as in previous years. The results are dealt with elsewhere in this Report. A public demonstration of the trials was again held.

Swedes.-Reference was made in the Board's last Report to the investigations carried out with regard to the comparative feeding values of different varieties of swedes as indicated by accurate chemical analysis. It was decided to test the practical value of the results by means of a sheep-feeding experiment. The varieties selected for this purpose were "Kinaldie " and " Picton," which in the chemical tests gave respectively the highest and lowest percentages of dry matter. The experiment was undertaken by the three Agricultural Colleges as a joint scheme on their respective farms, and a grant to meet the cost was made by the Board from the special fund provided under the Corn Production Acts (Repeal) Act, 1921.

The results of the experiment had not been reported by the end of the year.

Oats. Three samples of new varieties which were submitted for test with a view to registration were grown in small plots alongside of similar plots of commercial varieties in order to compare time of ripening, yield, and other features of commercial importance. Particulars have been noted of the characteristics and performance of the three varieties and it is proposed to carry out in 1927 extended growing trials at different centres.

Wild White Clover.-A committee has been appointed to deal with the identification of samples. About 420 plots, representing that number of samples of reputed Wild White Clover, were sown in May and it is anticipated that early in the summer of 1927 the plots will be in a sufficiently forward condition to admit of accurate determinations being made.

An interchange of samples was made between the Station and the National Institute of Agricultural Botany, Cambridge, and these samples will be examined at both centres by independent judges. One of the aims of this collaboration is to arrive at a reliable system of judging Wild White Clover samples by reference to field tests.

IMPROVEMENT OF LAND ACTS, 1864 AND 1899, ETC.

At the beginning of the year there were outstanding two applications for authority to charge estates under the provisions of these Acts with expenditure on improvements of various kinds. On completion of the necessary enquiries and of the procedure prescribed by the Acts, expenditure up to a total amount of £1,257 was provisionally sanctioned in these two cases. Four applications for the issue of Orders under the Acts were received during the year. One of these applications was subsequently withdrawn, and the other three were under consideration at the close of the year.

Four Absolute Orders were issued creating rent charges against estates in respect of a total expenditure of £2,033 incurred in the execution of works previously sanctioned.

LAND IMPROVEMENT AND DRAINAGE WORK.

Particulars were given in the Board's last Report of the allocation of grants amounting to £15,965 offered by them under the Land Drainage (Unemployment Relief) Scheme, 1925-26. At 31st December claims amounting to £9,109 had been paid and only two claims remained outstanding. It appeared that many of the applicants had failed to take full advantage of the grants offered to them. The total cost to the applicants of the work in respect of which these grants were paid was approximately £33,500, of which sum £25,000 represented the wages of the unemployed workmen engaged. It is estimated that employment was given under the scheme to about 1,500 men for varying periods.

The results of the Drainage Schemes for the relief of unemployment which had been in operation for five winters may be summarised as follows:

As part of the agricultural policy of the Government, the Board were authorised, subject to the necessary funds being voted by Parliament, to provide during the five years beginning 1st April 1926, financial assistance for agricultural drainage, including field, hill, and arterial drainage and such operations incidental to approved drainage as the removal of trees, hedges, whins, etc. The grant payable by the Board was to be limited to one-third of the cost of approved work, or in the case of tile drainage £6 per acre of land improved, whichever of these amounts should be the less. While labour was, if possible, to be obtained through the Labour Exchanges, and preference was to be given to married and ex-service men, it was not, as in the case of the unemployment schemes, a condition of the payment of grant that unskilled unemployed men should be engaged. The services of any person forming part of the normal staff of the farm could not rank for grant. In the case of tile drainage it was a normal condition of the grant that the applicant should render to the Board an accurate plan of the completed work. Of this plan the Board propose to supply copies at an appropriate charge to future applicants having an interest in the land improved.

Applications were to be dealt with in such a way as to spread the benefits of the scheme so far as practicable equitably over the country on the basis of agricultural importance and requirements. Regard was also to be paid to priority of receipt of applications.

The funds available for the 1926-27 scheme amounted to £20,625, and at 15th April 1926, the closing date of receipt, 950 applications had been received, the grants desired amounting to £38,573. Particulars are given in the following statement of the disposal of these applications :