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PAMPHLETS Nos. 1 to 25
—————
VOLUME I.
MELBOURNE, 1918-193¥
By Authority :
H. J. Green, Government Printer, Melbourne
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Recent Developments in the Organization of National Industrial Research
Institutions.
COnm) EN ES:
Engineering Standardization.
The Co-operative Development of Australia’s Natural Resources.
The Bionomics of Smynthurus viridis Linn, or the South Australian Lucerne
Flea.
Liver Fluke Disease in Australia: its Treatment and Prevention.
Standard Methods of Drying Sultana Grapes in Australia.
The Export of Oranges.
Methods for the Examination of Soils.
A Forest Products Laboratory for Australia.
The Health and Nutrition of Animals.
The Tasmanian Grass Grub (Oncopera intricata Walker).
The Cattle Tick Pest and Methods for its Eradication.
The Mechanical Analysis of Soils.
The Work of the Division of Economic Botany for the Year 1928-29.
The Work of the Division of Economic Entomology for the Year 1928-29.
The Work of the Division of Animal Nutrition for the Year 1928-29.
The Mineral Content of Pastures.
The Influence of Frequency of Cutting on the Productivity, Botanical and
Chemical Composition, and the Nutritive Value of “ Natural ’’ Pastures
in Southern Australia.
Black Disease ; a short Description of its Nature and means of Prevention.
The Identification of Wood by Chemical Means—Part I.
The Density of Australian Timbers : a Preliminary Study.
The Chemistry of Australian Timbers—
Part I. A Study of the Lignin Determination.
Refrigeration Applied to the Preservation and Transport of Australian
Foodstuffs. A Survey and a Scheme for Research.
The Preservative Treatment of Fence Posts (with particular reference to
Western Australia).
. Termites (White Ants) im South-eastern Australia.
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Advisory Council of Science and Industry
— SS eh
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA \
Recent Developments
IN THE
Organization of National Industrial
Research Institutions
Memorandum prepared under the authority of the Chairman,
foe oRiGHt HON: W. M. HUGHES, P.C., M:P.,
and the Executive Committee of the Advisory Council
By
GERALD LIGHTFOOT, M.A.
Secretary:
MELBOURNE, 1918
Sp Authority:
ALBERT J. MULLETT, GOVERNMENT PRINTER. MELBOURNE
CORBA E NTS.
I —IntrRopuction—
1. Importance and Significance of Movement
2. Scope of Report
Il.—Tue Uniteo Kincpom—
1. The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research—
(i) Industrial Research Associations ne
(ii) Standing and Special Committees ..
(iii) Other Investigations
(iv) Work carried out
2. The National Physical se ad
(i) Organization :
(ii) Departments
(iii) Importance of Work
3. The Board of Scientific Societies
4. The “ Neglect of Science ” Movement
5. Council for organizing British Engineering Industry
TiI.—CanaDa—
_1. The Canadian Industrial Research Department
2. The Forest Products Laboratories of Canada
3. The Natural Resources Survey
TV.—AvsTRALIA—
1. The Commonwealth Advisory Council of Science and Industry—
(i) Preliminary Work
(ii) Special Committees
(iii) Standing Committees
(iv) Conferences
(v) Miscellaneous :
2. The proposed permanent Institute of Science and Industry—
(i) Organization ae :
(ii) General Nature of Work 3 the duditiaten
(iii) National Laboratories
(iv) Urgency for Establishment of periinnene Institute
V.—New Zeatanp: Proposed National Advisory Council on Research
VI.—Sovrn Arrica: Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee
VIL.—Unrrep Stares or America: National Research Council
VIII.—France : Proposed National Laboratories
IX.—Japan: National Laboratories for Scientific ana Industrial Research
PAGE
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‘Price 6d. Post Free. < ; PAMPHLET No. 2 ~
‘
OF AUSTRALIA
Institute of Science and Industry
. CP Z
- ENGINEERING
|
|
STANDARDISATION
By
GERALD LIGHTFOOT, M.A.
~
DEC 9 1919
Q
: . 5 ee ~s
_ Published under the a rete ® ae
‘THE EXECUTIVE CON ————
; of the Advisory Council.
> s
Gy Guthoritp: f |
ALBERT J. MULLETT, GOVERNMENT PRINTER, MELBOURNE ‘<
19-69 ~~ F ]
fr
——=s
Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry
ADVISORY COUNCIL
MEMBERS OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
- y
€fairman:
F. M. Gellatly, “LL.D.
Vice-Chairman : >
Prof. D. Orme Masson, C.B.E., M.A., D.Sc., F.R:S.
Hlembers :
D. Avery, Esq., M.Sc. “ E. A. Mann, Esq.,, F.1.C.
S. S. Cameron, Esq., ee A. McKinstry, Esq., B. A., M.Sc.
. D.V.Sc., M.R.C.V.S.
Cees Nathan, Esq.
G. D. Delprat, Esq., C.B.E.
A.-B. Piddington; Esq., K.C.
H. W. Gepp, Esq.,
M.I.M.M., M.A.EME A. E. V. Richardson, Esq.
s -BiSc:
W. Russell Grimwade, Esq., B. Se. . Prof. J. Douglas Stewink ;
A. E. Leighton, Esq. B.V.Sc., M.R.C.V.S. ~
Prof.T.R. Lyle, M.A., Se.D.; F.R.S. Prof. R. D. Watt, M.As, B.Sc. ,
®
Ex-Officio Members (Chairnten of State Committees) 3
New South Wales : F. Leverrier, Esq., K.C.
Vidoria: Prof. T. R. Lyle, M.A., Se.D., F-R.S.
: .
‘Queensland: J. B. Henderson, Esgq., F,1.C. pt
South Australia : Prof. E. Rennie, M.A., D.Se
° Western Australia : Prof. J. W. Paterson, B.Sc., Ph.D. ac
Tasmania: Mejor J. H. Butters, M.lnst.E.E., M.A.LE.E., M:A.S.C.E.
Seeretarp and Chief of Bureau of Information:
Gerald Lightfoot, M.A.
. “. Danks’ Buildings, Bourke Dire Melbourne.
‘Gesistant Secretary:
E. N. Robinson.
OF AUSTRALIA |
Institute of Science and Industry
PAMPHLET No. 2
ENGINEERING
STANDARDISATION
Secretary and Chief of Bureau
of Information.
Published under the authority of
Pa ECAECUTIVE -COMMITTEE
of the Advisory Council.
MELBOURNE, 1919
Bp Authority:
Albert J. Mullett, Government Printer, Melbourne,
By
GERALD LIGHTFOOT, M.A.
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CONTENTS.
Summary
I.—Intropuction—
1. General
2. Benefits to Producers
3. Benefits to Consumers
4. Conditions in Australia .
If.—Tue British ENGINEERING STANDARDS ASSOCIATION—
1. General
2. Organisation
(a) The Main Garamatios
(6) Sectional Committees
3. Finance i
4. Registered Mark
IlI.—ExtTENsSIOoN TO OTHER CoUNTRIES—
1. General
2. Japan
3. The British rapiee
4. Other Countries
IV.—TuHE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR TESTING MATERIALS—
1. Historical
2. Objects
3. Administration
4. Methods
V.—Tue AMERICAN Socrety FoR TESTING MATERIALS—
1. Historical
2. Objects
3. Membership
4. Organisation
5. Finance
VI.—PrRoposED COMMONWEALTH ENGINEERING STANDARDS ASsOCIATION—
1. Relation of Institute of Science and Industry to Engineering
Standardisation
2. Scientific Research and Rivpincseate Btntdlardisdtion.
3. Conferences convened by Institute in each State
4, Suggested Commonwealth Organisation
(i) The Main or Executive Committee ..
(ii) Sectional Committees and Sub-committees
PxatE I.—Diagram of Scheme of Organisation for a Commonwealth Engineering
Standards Association Si he as Be Sc
AppenpDIx I.—British Engineering Standards Association. List of Sectional
Committees, Sub-committees, and Panel Committees, 1918 : re
AppenDix II].—The American Society for = aa Materials. List of RATE
Committees and Sub-committees, 1918 . :
Appenpix III.—Conferences on Engineering Standardisation convened in each
State by Institute of Science and Industry, 1918. Abstract of Information ..
17
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SUMMARY.
1. The main objects of standardisation are to cheapen manufacture,
to effect improvement in quality and design, to increase production, to
reduce maintenance charges and variety of stocks, and to secure inter-
changeability of parts. Broadly speaking, the benefits of standardisation
are mass production and reduced cost per unit product. Both producers
and consumers are therefore vitally concerned in standardisation.
2. In other countries, notably Great Britain and the United States of
America, engineering standardisation has reached a high stage of development.
In Australia, with few exceptions, the multiplicity of standards is in effect
tantamount to an absence of standards. The results are inconvenience,
waste of effort, increased cost, delay in executing orders, reduced output,
and a general lowering of efficiency.
3. Several factors, including the keen industrial competition arising out
of the war, the demands of labour for a higher standard of living, and the
importance of stimulating industrial enterprise, make it now more urgent
than ever that the engineering industry in Australia should introduce modern
order and system into all its methods of production.
4. The British Engineering Standards Association, established in 1901,
has developed a far-reaching organisation, consisting of some 170 Sectional
Committees, Sub-committees, and Panel Committees, dealing under one
central authority with practically the whole field of engineering. It is
financed by the British Government, by certain of the self-governing
Dominions, by various institutions and bodies, and by the engineering
industry itself, and has carried out a large amount of standardising work
of the highest importance.
5. Standardismg Committees have recently been formed, or are now
in process of formation, under the «gis of the British Association, in a number
of important countries throughout the world.
6. In Japan the question of engineering standardisation has been actively |
taken up. Special attention has been directed to the standardisation of
ships and ship-building materials.
7. The International Association for Testing Materials was established in
1895, and before the war had a membership of nearly 3,000, representing
31 different countries.
8. The American Society for Testing Materials was founded in 1898,
and by 1918 had adopted standard specifications, covering 132 engineering
materials. It is strongly supported by the technical departments of the
Federal Government, by engineering associations and societies, by corporations,
and by manufacturers and users throughout the United States.
9. The method adopted in Germany before the war for standardisation
and specialization through “ kartels ” is well known, and was largely respon-
sible for the remarkable progress in the engineering industry in that country.
6
10. Engineering standardisation is now being actively taken up throughout
the world, and if Australia neglects to take action in this matter, it will be
impracticable to maintain and develop her engineering industries, and other
industries dependent thereon, at the same level of efficiency as in other
countries.
11. The Institute of Science and Industry does not desire to establish
standards itself, but merely to provide the organisation and otherwise assist
the engineers of Australia to do the work for themselves. It thinks that
the matter is of such importance that the Commonwealth Government
should lend its moral and financial support to the movement.
12. Scientific research work is essential in the preparation of standard
specifications. The Institute desires to assist in carrying out such work
on lines similar to those in the case of the United States Bureau of Standards,
the British National Physical Laboratory, and other national research
institutions.
13. Representative conferences of leading engineers, convened in each
State by the Institute towards the end of 1918, unanimously supported the
movement for the formation of a Commonwealth Engineering Standards
Association. Practically all the engineering associations and societies in
Australia were represented at these conferences.
14. The outline of a scheme for the formation of a Commonwealth
Engineering Standards Association is furnished. It is suggested that a
Main Committee be appointed representative of Engineering Associations
and of Commonwealth and State Government Technical Departments. The
Commonwealth Government, through the Institute of Science and Industry,
would make the necessary arrangements for funds, partly by direct grant
and partly by obtaining contributions from other sources, and would
formally appoint the members of the Main Committee. The actual
standardising work would be carried out by Sectional Committees appointed
by the Main Committee, and, where necessary, the Sectional Committees
would appoint Sub-committees in various States. A technical secretary
would be appointed to take charge of the work under the Main Committee,
and the resources of the Institute of Science and Industry would be
available to the Standardising Association for the purposes of both research
work and general administration.
15. Standardisation cannot be attained by one section of the com-
munity endeavouring to impose its opinions on other sections. Effective
agreement can be secured only by common consent of all parties interested,
who must take full part in the discussions and in the initiating and working
out of the actual details of the specifications. Whatever scheme of organisa-
tion be adopted, mutual concession and the sinking of sectional interests
and individual opinions are necessary as a condition precedent to the
success of the movement.
ENGINEERING STANDARDISATION.
By GeraLp Ligutroot, M.A.
I._INTRODUCTION.
1. General—Perhaps the most notable step in the realisation of
engineering standardisation was taken in 1841, when Sir Joseph Whitworth
introduced the standard screw-thread. When urging the necessity for
standardisation he illustrated his argument by mentioning that candles and
candle-sticks were in use in almost every house, and that nothing would be
more convenient than for the candles to fit properly into the sockets of the
candle-sticks, which they seldom did. The lesson taught by this illustration
lies at the root of standardisation, which carries with it possible disadvan-
tage for the few for the distinct advantage of the many.
Standardisation is now generally recognised as being of paramount
importance to economic production. Its primary objects are to cheapen
manufacture by elimination of waste entailed in producing a multiplicity
of qualities and designs for one and the same purpose, to effect improvement
in quality, design, and workmanship, to increase production, to reduce
maintenance charges and variety of stock, and to secure interchangeability
of parts.
2. Benefits to Producers.—From the producers’ point of view the two
ultimate objects of standardisation are greater output and reduced cost.
Obviously a machine continuously producing an article of standardised type
or design will have a very much larger output than would be the case if it
were necessary to change the tools or dies to meet various specifications.
It is obvious that if this principle were applied to the whole of the machinery
_ in a large works, the production would be enormously increased. Moreover,
standardisation itself facilitates the adoption of improved processes and
types of machinery. For example, only a plant such as Fords could find
profitable use for multiple drills which bore dozens of holes into both the
top and the sides of several cylinder castings at the same time.
As regards economy in labour, standardisation leads to specialisation
in workmanship. In a multiple product factory there may not be enough
work of the same kind to keep one man engaged constantly on that work,
therefore he is required not only to change his work from time to time, but to
be capable of performing several kinds of operations. Apart from the effect
in such eases in decreasing the output, greater skill is ordinarily required in a
multiple product factory. In a standardised product factory the workmen
perform one operation practically continuously and become highly expert at
it, so with the aid of automatic machinery a man may operate a number of
machines at once. It follows, therefore, that with the same capital cost and
8
plant, and with the same expenditure on wages, a factory can produce many
more units of standardised product than its competitor manufacturing
multiple products. The cost is still further reduced when the overhead
expenses are taken into consideration. The two advantages mentioned are
by no means the only advantages resulting from standardisation from the
producers’ point of view, but all the others lead back to these two, mass
production and diminished cost per unit product.
3. Benefits to Consumers.—From the consumers’ point of view the main
advantages of standardisation are also twofold, viz., reduction in cost
and improvement in quality. Reference has already been made to the
former. As regards the latter, it has been found in other countries that one
of the most important results of standardised specifications is generally to
increase the quality of the product. The objection is sometimes taken that
standardisation tends towards crystallisation, and thus interferes with progress ;
but experience has shown that standardisation does not lower the standard,
but if anything tends to raise it. Standardisation reflects in effect the
consensus of opinion as to what constitutes the best modern practice, with the _
result that those manufacturers who, prior to the adoption of standards,
were producing an inferior article, have to increase the quality or design if
they desire to conform to the generally accepted standards. Standards
are revised periodically, so as to keep pace with technological progress.
This is all to the advantage of the consumers, who obtain a high-grade standard
article, and can do so merely by reference to the accepted standard specification.
This tends to eliminate disputes, and to simplify the preparation and enforce-
ment of contracts.
The supreme value of standardisation from the point of view of mass pro-
duction and economy in cost was strongly emphasised during the war. The
maintenance of an adequate supply of munitions of war was possible only as
the result of standardisation and specialisation, while in regard to civilian
clothes and various other materials the exigencies of economical production
necessitated the adoption of standardised methods. It is obvious that if in
normal times the standardisation of any considerable number of articles
and products could be efiected, while at the same time making sufficient
allowance for individual variations in style and taste, there would be an
enormous increase in the efficiency of production, accompanied by a corres-
ponding decrease in cost.
4. Conditions in Australia—The above remarks apply not only to
engineering standardisation, but to the question of standardisation of products
in industry generally. Coming now to the particular question of engineering
standardisation, it appears that the importance and extent of the progress
made in Great Britain, United States of America, and other countries is not
adequately and generally appreciated in this country. In Australia, with
few exceptions, the multiplicity of standards in some cases, and the absence
of standards in others, are a great burden on manufacturers and importers,
as well as consumers. One or two examples may be given. ~
In those countries in which engineering standardisation has been developed,
cement is regarded essentially as an engineering material, and standard
specifications for this material have been formulated and accepted. In the
Commonwealth there are at least eight specifications in use respectively
9
by various Railway departments, Public Works departments, Harbor
Trusts, Water and Sewerage Boards, and other bodies. In the opinion of
experts there is no reason why a single standard specification should not be
adopted in Australia, the specification allowing, where necessary, for certain
variations in the tests to which the material must comply according to the
use to which it is to be put, e.g., whether for ferro-concrete work, fresh-water,
or salt-water. The existing state of affairs causes loss of time, waste of
effort and inconvenience to manufacturers, and increased cost to users.
A similar state of affairs exists in regard even to such important materials
as railway sections and fish-plates. At the present time there are four speci-
fications for railway rails in use in the Commonwealth, though they differ in
minor respects, which cannot be regarded as material, except from the point
of view of loss of efficiency in production. For example, one State Railway
Department requires that the holes in the rails for the fish-plate bolts shall
be 1}-in. diameter, while a neighbouring State requires that they shall be
1{-in. diameter. Moreover, there are differences in the specified lengths
of the rails, and there is no uniformity even in the specifications for the
composition of the steel used, respectively, for such purposes as dog-spikes
on the one hand and fish-plate bolts on the other.
In the electrical engineering industry the multiplicity in the voltages of
generating stations in Australia causes great loss, inconvenience, and waste
of effort. For example, incandescent lamps are not manufactured in
Australia, and in order to supply the needs of the Commonwealth it is necessary
for merchants to stock lamps of each candle-power for about twenty
different voltages. A similar state of affairs exists in respect to many other
electrical fittimgs and apparatus. It is obvious that this not only causes
large additional expenditure in carrying stocks, but it renders it a matter of
great difficulty to establish in Australia the manufacture of such fittings
and apparatus.
Numerous other similar examples might be given of the multiplicity
of engineering standards in Australia and of the resulting inefficiency and
cramping effect on industry. In many cases the effect of the multiplicity
of standards is the same as if there were no standards at all. It appears
that there is not one engineering material for which a single standard speci-
fication is in general use in the Commonwealth. The resultant loss to the
Commonwealth, and the indirect effect in hampering industrial development
cannot, of course, be expressed in pounds, shillings, and pence, but it is ~
clear that it must run into very large sums annually.
Several factors, including the keen commercial and industrial competition
arising out of the war, the demands of labour for a higher standard of living,
coupled with the policy generally accepted in the Commonwealth for
stimulating industrial enterprise, make it now more urgent than ever that the
engineering industry in Australia should introduce modern order and system
into all its methods of production. If this is to be accomplished existing
individualistic methods must give way, where practicable, to co-ordination
and collective effort. It is in fact co-operation that will give the highest
value to individualistic effort. If through some comprehensive and
authoritative central body both producers and users of engineering materials
C.8336.— 2
10
can be induced to accept agreed standards, the community interests of
buyer and seller will thereby be realised and a high average efficiency
secured.
From the information given in the following pages it will be seen that the
organisations for engineering standardisation, notably in Great Britain and
the United States of America, have already reached a high state of develop-
ment and efficiency, and that work of the greatest value and importance has
been carried out by them. It is even more important to note that similar
organisations have recently been, or are now being, established in many
countries, including China, Japan, Chile, India, Portugal, Peru, Spain, South
Africa, and Canada.
If, therefore, Australia’s engineering industries, and other industries
dependent thereon, are to be maintained and developed along the most
efficient lines, the establishment of some effective organisation to take up the
question of engineering standardisation is of the highest importance.
IIl._THE BRITISH ENGINEERING STANDARDS ASSOCIATION. -
1. General.— At the beginning of the present century neither the necessity
nor the value of engineering standardisation, and still less its intimate
relations to economy and speed of production, were at all generally recognised,
and it was to remedy this state of affairs that steps were taken in 1901 by the
Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers to establish a British Engineering
Standards Committee. The Institution first appointed a Committee to
consider the standardisation of iron and steel sections. At the first meeting
of this Committee it was decided to invite the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers, the Institution of Naval Architects, and the Iron and Steel
Institute to nominate members on the Committee. Soon after this the work
of the Committee was enlarged, and the Institution of Electrical Engineers
was invited to nominate two members on the Committee. From this small
nucleus a far-reaching organisation has developed with some 170 Sectional
Committees, Sub-committees, and Panel Committees, including in all over
900 members, and dealing under one central authority with standards relating
to practically the whole field of engineering.
2. Organisation.—(a) The Main Committee.—The Main Committee, as
the governing Committee is called, consists of 24 members, nineteen of whom
are nominated by the leading technical institutions, viz., seven by the
Institutions of Civil Engineers, and three each by the Institutions of Mechanical
Engineers, Naval Architects, Electrical Engineers, and the Iron and Steel
Institute. The Main Committee also includes two representatives of the
Federation of British Industries, and three members, not representative of
any Institution or Association, but elected for their eminence in the engineering
profession. These five members are co-opted by the nominated members
of the Committee. The members of the Federation of British Industries
give the various manufacturing associations connected with the work of
standardisation a direct channel through which to place their views before the
Main or Executive Committee of the Association. One-third of each group
of nominated members retires annually.
1]
The Main Committee controls the whole organisation of the Association,
including the raising of the necessary funds, the controlling of the expen-
diture, the arranging of the subjects to be dealt with by the Sectional
Committees, and the passing of all reports prior to publication.
(b) Sectional Committees.—The procedure before embarking on any new
subject is to ascertain by means of a representative conference that there isa
volume of opinion favorable to the work being undertaken. If such is the case,
the Main Committee nominates the Chairman of a Sectional Committee to
take up the work in question, this Committee being formed of technical officers
representative of the various Government departments interested, consulting
engineers, manufacturers, contractors and users, and representatives of
the technical societies and trade organisations concerned. The Main Com-
mittee does not dictate in any way either the number of members or the
personnel of a Sectional Committee, only reserving to itself the right to
nominate the Chairman, though naturally it is guided in this matter also by
the advice of the members.
The Sectional Committee decides the broad lines upon which the speci-
fication is to be drawn up, leaving the detailed work of drafting to a
Sub-committee. In many cases the preparatory work in connexion with the
draft specifications is intrusted to a Panel, consisting of certain members of
the Sub-committee, with co-opted members having special expert knowledge
of the subject under consideration. Information is collected by means of
lists of questions sent to persons particularly interested, and, if necessary,
conferences are arranged from time to time. When the draft specification
is prepared, it is submitted to the Sectional Committee for consideration,
and when approved is sent on to the Main Committee for final approval
and publication.
In September, 1918, the number of Sectional Committees in existence
was 21, the number of Sub-committees 73, and of Panel Committees
77. A complete list of them is given in Appendix I. hereof. Members of
all Committees, Sub-committees, and Panels become members of the Assqcia-
tion, but members, as private individuals, are not asked to subscribe to the
funds.
3. Finance.—In regard to the question of finance, the funds for carrying
out the work of the Association have been provided by the Governments
and the industries concerned. In 1903 the British Government included in >
the Estimates a contribution of £3,000, which was subsequently increased
for the years 1904-5-6 by an annual grant equal to the amount contributed
annually by the supporting institutions, manufacturers, and others. This
was continued on a smaller scale down to 1916, and a further grant on the
same condition was continued to 1919. The Indian Government has been a
generous supporter of the Association, and the Governments of other Overseas
Dominions, including the Governments of New South Wales, Queensland,
South Australia, and Victoria, also contribute to the funds. A_ liberal
response to the Association’s appeal for funds has been made by the
engineering industry of Great Britain, and also by railway, shipping, and
other companies, and by some of the Local Government Boards and the
tramway and electricity authorities. The expense of the whole organisation
12
up to the war were under £4,000 a year, but, owing to the widening of the
field of its labours, this amount has been very greatly exceeded in recent
years.
4, Registered Mark.—The Association’s mark or brand, which was
introduced in 1993, has come very widely into use, and is now of great
importance to the British engineering industry. Mainly with a view to securing
undisputed legal right to its mark, to be used by manufacturers as a hall-mark
of goods made in accordance with the standard specifications, steps were
taken in 1915 for the incorporation of the organisation, so that the mark
could be held in the name of the Association. The mark has so far been
applied to railway and tramway rails, fish-plates, and salt-glazed ware pipes.
Arrangements have recently been made for its more extended use by British
manufacturers.
IIl._EXTENSION TO OTHER COUNTRIES.
1. General.— Although the activities of the British Engineering Standards
Association have in the main been confined to the home country, a considerable
amount of work of an international character has been undertaken. Thus the
Association is working in close co-operation with the American Institute
of Electrical Engineers in several directions in regard to electrical apparatus
generally, and a very considerable degree of uniformity has now been attained
in the two countries in regard to electrical standards. The Association has
also recently brought into operation a scheme for assisting in procuring the
wider dissemination of British standards, and is undertaking the translation
of its more important reports into various foreign languages.
Under the gis of the Association rapid progress is being made in the
formation of Standards Committees of British engineers and traders in
thirteen or fourteen of the important trading centres of the world. In the
United States of America and France, Engineering Standards Committees
are also being established. The importance and value of the work of
engjneering standardisation is becoming more and more recognised, and the
movement has now attained world-wide dimensions.
2. Japan.—In Japan the question of engineering standardisation has
been actively taken up, and special attention has been directed to the stan-
dardisation of ships and ship-building materials. The Japanese Government
has recently issued a report of a Committee appointed to investigate the latter
matter. The Committee has divided both freight and war vessels into a
number of standard types, and has also standardised the materials required
for their construction, including the boilers. The Committee states that the
adoption of standards will facilitate the supply of materials and increase
the efficiency of the yards, so that the cost of ship-building will be materially
reduced. It has recommended that the adoption of the standard types
should be enforced, if necessary, by legislation.
3. British Empire.—(a) In Canada a strong and_ representative
Engineering Standardisation Committee has been formed.
(5) In India the matter was taken up by the Bombay Chamber of Commerce
and referred to the Engineering Congress, held at Bombay in 1918. As a
13
result the Indian Government has decided to establish an Indian Engineering
Standards Committee somewhat on the lines of the Railway Board of India.
(c) In South Africa an Engineering Standards Committee has been
established.
4, Other Countries.—Engineering Standards Committees have either
recently been formed or are now in process of formation in the Argentine,
Brazil, China, Chile, Peru, Portugal, Spain, and Uruguay.
In the United States of America an Engineering Standards Committee was
established in 1918, and has been asked by the British organisation to send
a representative delegation to England to discuss the question of more direct
co-operation between the two countries.
“™ IV._THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR TESTING
MATERIALS.
* 1. Historical—The International Association for Testing Materials had
its origin in a conference of a small group of workers in experimental engineer-
ing, held in Munich in 1882. Meetings on a larger scale were subsequently
held in Dresden (1884), Berlin (1886), Munich (1888), Vienna (1893), and
Zurich (1895). At the Zurich Congress the International Association for
Testing Materials was formally organized, the second Congress was held at
Stockholm (1897), the third at Budapest (1901), the fourth at Brussels (1906),
the fifth at Copenhagen (1909), and the sixth at New York (1912). The
seventh Congress, which was to have been held at Petrograd in 1915 was
suspended on account of the war. The total membership of the International
Association (representing 31 countries) in July, 1914, was 2,769.
2. Objects.—The objects of the Association, as set forth in its by-laws,
are :— The development and unification of standard methods of testing ;
the examination of the technically important properties of materials of con-
struction and other materials of practical value, and also the perfecting
of apparatus used for this purpose.” The important subject of standard
specifications has, however, also been included more recently within the
scope of the Association’s activity.
3. Administration.—The affairs of the Association are administered ©
by a Council, consisting of the President and one representative from each
country having a membership of twenty or more.
4. Methods.—The original plan was to conduct investigations almost
‘exclusively through the agency of international committees. These committees
proved unwieldy, however, by reason of their large membership, with the
added difficulties arising from geographical separation and differences of
language. In pursuance of resolutions at the Budapest Congress (1901)
the Council discharged some of the committees, re-assigning the problems
in part to individual referees. In the case of questions of direct inter-
national concern, the original international committees are continued. At
the International Congresses the reports of these committees, as well as.
individual contributions by members, are presented and discussed.
14
V.—THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR TESTING MATERIALS.
1. Historical.—With a view of bringing the members of like nationality
into closer relations among themselves, and in order to simplify the manage-
ment and render the work of the International Association more effective, it
was decided at the Stockholm Congress (1897) to encourage the consolidation of
the membership in the various countries into separate national organisations.
In pursuance of this action the American members met in Philadelphia in
1898, and established the American section of the International Association
for Testing Materials. In 1902 the Executive Committee of the American
section applied for a charter under the laws of the State of Pennsylvania
for purposes of incorporation under the proposed new name of the ““ American
Society for Testing Materials.” This charter was duly granted, and at the
fifth annual meeting, held in 1902, it was unanimously adopted.
2. Objects.—The objects of the Society are essentially identical with those
of the International Association, with which it stands in direct organic
relation, both through its membership in the same as a body, and through the
individual membership on the’ part of many of its members.
As stated in the charter: “‘ The corporation is formed for the promotion
of knowledge of the materials of engineering, and the standardisation of
specifications and the methods of testing.”
3. Membership.—Membership may be held by individuals, firms, corpora-
tions, technical or scientific societies, companies, teaching faculties and
libraries. There are three classes of members—(a) Honorary members,
(b) members, and (c) junior members. A junior member must be less than
30 years of age, and his status is changed to that of member when he attains
that age. A junior member is entitled to the full privileges of membership,
except that he may not hold office. The total membership of the American
Society in 1917 was 2,167. The subscription per annum is £3, or £1 10s.
for junior members.
4, Organisation.—The work of the Society is carried out by an Executive
Committee, consisting of eighteen members, and by a number of Standing
Committees and Sub-committees. The Standing Committees present their
reports and recommendations at the annual meetings of the Society. In
general, proposed new standards or proposed changes in existing standards
are published for one or more years in the Proceedings of the Society as
tentative standards before they are formally adopted. The tentative
standards are published in the Proceedings with a view of eliciting criticism,
of which the Standing Committee concerned takes due cognisance before
recommending the formal adoption of the standards. Most of the Standing .
Committees have appointed a number of Sub-committees, each of which
deals with some special branch of the subject. In 1918 there were 38 Standing
Committees and 138 Sub-committees in existence. A list of the Standing
Committees and their respective Sub-committees is given in Appendix II. of
this pamphlet.
On the various Committees the practice has been adopted of maintaining
an equal numerical balance between the representatives of producing and
non-producing interests, but the latter may predominate numerically with
15
the consent of the former. The creation of new Standing Committees is
subject to the authorization of the Executive Committee of the Society,
acting on the recommendation of the annual meeting or on its own initiative.
The first appointments to Standing Committees are made by the Executive
and at a later stage additional members are added on the recommendation
of the Standing Committees themselves. When a new Standing Committee
is established, the President of the Society appoints a Chairman pro tem,
selected from the representatives of the non-producing interests. At the
first meeting of a Standard Committee a permanent Chairman and other
officers are appointed.
In the Report of the Society for the year 1918 the list of standards adopted
covers 132 engineering materials. Most of the standards have been revised
since their first adoption, some of them as often as six times. The tentative
standards numbered 49 in the same year.
5. Finance.—The current expenses of Standing Committees, including
stationery, postage, &c., are paid from the funds of the Society ; but expenses
for other items are not so paid, unless previously authorized by the Executive
Committee of the Society. Committees engaged on subjects having a commer-
cial bearing may solicit contributions from manufacturers towards research
funds, but contributions from consumers may be solicited only by the Executive
Committee.
The various technical and scientific departments of the Federal Govern-
ment, such as the Bureau of Chemistry, the Bureau of Mines, the Forest
Products Laboratory, the Bureau of Standards, and the Federal Arsenal
co-operate closely in the work of the Society.
VI.—PROPOSED COMMONWEALTH ENGINEERING STANDARDS
ASSOCIATION.
1. Relation of Institute of Science and Industry to Engineering
Standardisation.—From the very beginning of the movement to establish
a Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry it has been intended
that the Institute should concern itself actively in the work of standardisa-
tion. Thus, in the Report of the original Conference convened by the Prime
Minister in January, 1916, when the scheme of work and organisation of the
Institute was first outlined, it was stated that—‘ The highly specialized
intricate work of standardising electrical instruments and other scientific
apparatus for use as sub-standards by different Government departments,
and other institutions in which research work may be carried on, would also
naturally fall within the functions of the Institute.”
4 In a Report made by the Executive Committee of the Institute to the
Commonwealth Government in July, 1917, the importance of this work was
emphasized, and it was recommended that any new National Laboratories
which may be created for special purposes of research and experimental
inquiry, should include a laboratory for testing and standardising purposes.
The Institute has collected information both from published documents
and by personal interview with experts regarding the organisation and work
of standardising institutions in other countries, and has considered the probable
16
requirements of Australia in connexion with this class of work. As regards
the work of engineering standardisation in Australia, it should be clearly
understood that the Institute does not in any way desire to carry out this
work itself. It is believed, however, that the organisation is more likely
to be successfully established if the movement is initiated by some
Commonwealth body, which is entirely free from State or sectional interests.
It is thought, moreover, that the movement is of such fundamental
importance to the efficient development and organisation of our industries,
that it should be accorded the moral and financial support of the
Commonwealth Government, which is of course a large consumer of many
of the engineering materials for which it is proposed that standard speci-
fications shall be prepared. The Institute, therefore, desres to provide
the organisation, and to otherwise assist the engineers of Australia to do
the work for themselves through their Ass*ciations and Societies.
2. Scientific Research and Engineering Standardisation.—There is.
moreover, another consideration of fundamental importance which necessitates
that the national Government should actively concern itself in the standardisa-
tion movement. Scientific research work upon problems connected with
standardisation is a necessity. This work is based upon the modern view
that quality depends upon definite measurable or determinable properties,
and it therefore requires access to standard measuring apparatus and facilities.
Scientific problems are in fact constantly arising in all lines of standardisation
work. In many cases satisfactory methods of testing are not available,
and researches are necessary to devise new methods. Equally important is
the study of the practical and scientific basis for specifications, the desirable
qualities in materials, their accurate description in terms of physical and
chemical properties, which can be tested or measured by standard methods
and analysis, standard methods of sampling, and standardised instruments.
The relation of chemical research to engineering standardisation is very
important. Scarcely a problem can be taken up concerning the specification
of standards or properties of materials that does not involve chemical analysis.
or the co-operation and advice of chemical experts. Fortunately, in the work
of preparing standard specifications for Australia there will already be available
the results of the very valuable work already completed in other countries,
and it may be that in this country it will be practicable to adopt, possibly
with no or little modification, some of the standards devised in other countries.
Nevertheless it is probable that in certain classes of engineering materials,
such for example as paints and varnishes, scientific research work will be
necessary before standards can be laid down suited to Australian climatic
and other conditions and to Australian raw materials.
It is now generally recognised that scientific research work in connexion
. with standardisation can be done effectively only by an independent institution
under the national Government. Thus in England there is the National
Physical Laboratory, in the United States the Bureau of Standards, and in
Canada the Dominion Bureau of Standards at Ottawa.
3. Conferences Convened by Institute in each State.—As the outcome
of its deliberations on the matter the Institute decided in 1918 to convene:
representative conferences of engineers in the capital town of each State,.
17
with a view to focussing attention on the subject of engineering standardisation
and to eliciting the sympathy and support of persons interested. These
conferences were convened by the respective State Committees of the Institute
for the purpose of considering the following resolutions :—
(a) In view of the importance of standardisation of engineering materials
and methods, the desirability that such standardisation should
be considered for Australia as a whole.
(b) In view of the fact that great progress has been made in Great
Britain and the United States of America in such work of
standardisation, the desirability of accepting such standards as
have already been arrived at, provided they are satisfactory to
Australian conditions.
(c) In cases when British and American standards are equally applic-
able to Australia, the desirability of selecting the British
standards.
(d) The desirability of establishing in Australia a representative
authoritative body to take the matter in hand.
At each of the conferences resolutions substantially in the form stated
above were unanimously passed strongly supporting the movement. The
conferences in Victoria, Queensland, and South Australia also passed
resolutions affirming the desirability of the Australian organisation being
linked up with the British Engineering Standards Association. A
summarized statement of the resolutions passed by each conference is given
in Appendix III. hereof.
The following list of the persons present, and the organisations represented
at the respective conferences, shows that the proposal to establish a Common-
wealth Engineering Standards Association is supported not only by indi-
vidual leading engineers throughout the Commonwealth, but also by
practically the whole of the Engineering Institutes and Societies and of the
Commonwealth and State Government departments concerned.
STATE CONFERENCES ON ENGINEERING STANDARDISATION .—
PERSONS PRESENT AND ORGANISATIONS REPRESENTED, 1918.
(A) VICTORIA.
PROFESSOR T. R. LYLE, F.R.S. (Chairman), Chairman of the Victorian State Committee of the
Institute of Science and Industry.
Mr. A. E. AUGHTIE, President, Municipal Engineers Association of Victoria.
ENG. COMMANDER W. R. ARKINS, Navy Department.
Mr. W. CALDER, M.I.C.E., Chairman Country Roads Board of Victoria.
Mr. A. T. CLARK, Engineer of Roads and Bridges, Public Works Department of Victoria.
Mr. H. W. CURCHIN, Chief Executive Officer, Commonwea!th Ship Construction.
Mr. T. D. DOYLE, A.M.I.M.E., Assistant Engineer, Victorian Railways (Rolling Stock Branch).
Dr. F. M. GELLATLY, Director, Institute of Science and Industry.
Mr. A. GOUDY, Engineer, Victorian Railways (Ways and Works Branch).
Masor A. J. GIBSON, A.M.I.C.E., Commonwealth Arsenal and Defence Department.
Mr. F. GOLDING, Chief Electrical Engineer, Postmaster-General’s Department.
Mr. E. T. LEWIS, Victorian Chamber of Manufactures.
Mr. H. R. HARPER, City Electrical Engineer, Melbourne.
PROFESSOR T. H. LABY, M.A., University of Melbourne.
Mr. W. LEITCH, C.B.E., Director, Bureau of Commerce and Industry.
Mr. A. C. MCKENZIE, A.M.I1.C.E., Chief Engineer, Melbourne Harbour Trust.
Mr. A. MCKINSTRY, Electrical Association of Australia.
PROFESSOR PAYNE, University, Melbourne.
Mr. J. M. REESON, M.I.C.E., Chief Engineer, Metropolitan Gas Company, Melbourne.
Mr. E. G. RITCHIE, Metropolitan Board of Works.
Mr. J. SARVAAS, M.C.E., Education Department (Technical Schools), Victoria.
Mr. H. H. SCHLAPP, Australian Institute of Mining Engineers.
Mr. F. STAPLEY, F.R.V.I.A.. Vice-President, Victorian Institute of Architects.
18
(B) NEW SOUTH WALES.
Particulars of persons present are not available. The following were invited to send representatives,
and in nearly every case did so :—
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS.
CUSTOMS DEPARTMENT.
DEFENCE DEPARTMENT.
CAPTAIN IN CHARGE, NAVAL ESTABLISHMENTS. GARDEN ISLAND
GENERAL MANAGER, NAVAL DOCKYARDS, COCKATOO ISLAND.
RAILWAY COMMISSIONERS.
WATER SUPPLY AND SEWERAGE BOARD.
WATER CONSERVATION AND IRRIGATION COMMISSION.
SYDNEY HARBOUR TRUST.
ENGINEERING ASSOCIATION OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
ELECTRICAL ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA (NEW SOUTH WALES BRANCH).
INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
SYDNEY UNIVERSITY ENGINEERING SOCIETY.
CHAMBER OF MANUFACTURES.
IRON TRADE EMPLOYERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
MOTOR TRADES’ ASSOCIATION.
MUNICIPAL ENGINEERS.
BROKEN HILL PROPRIETARY COMPANY.
Messrs. G. HOSKINS LIMITED, LITHGOW.
STATE COMMITTEE OF THE INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.
The following individuals were also personally invited :—
PROFESSOR WARREN (Sydney University), Engineering.
PROFESSOR WILKINSON (Sydney University), Architecture.
ACTING PROFESSOR SUTHERLAND (Sydney University), Mechanical Engineering.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR MADSEN (Sydney University), Electrical Engineering.
Mr. H. J. SWAIN, Sydney Technial College
(C) QUEENSLAND.
Mr. NORMAN BELL (Chairman) \
Mr. D. WIENHOLT
PROFESSOR H. C. RICHARDS
Mr. GRIER, Public Works Department.
Mr. C. F. PEMBERTON, Railways Department.
Mr. W. J. DOAK, Institute of Civil Engineers.
Mr. PRESTON, Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. J. DOWRIE, Ironmasters’ Association.
Mr. E. MANCHESTER, Water and Sewerage Board.
Mr. J. HENDERSON, Chief Inspector of Machinery.
Mr. H- Bye MAY, B.E., Engineer, Central Technical College.
Mr. J.S. JUST, Manager, City Electric Light Company.
» State Committee of Institute of Science and Industry.
(D) SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
. J. B. LABATT, Deputy Chairman, South Australian Harbours Board.
Mr. J. C. B. MONCRIEFF, Chief Engineer for Railways.
J. G. STEWART. Engineer in Chief. Railways Department.
Mr. F. W. H. WHEADON, Adelaide Electric Supply Company Limited.
Mr. L. LAYBOURNE- SMITH, Institute of Architects.
Messrs. J. H. ROBERTSON, WICHK AM, and 8S. W. DURKIN, Institute of Engineers.
PROFESSOR RENNIE, State Committee of the Institute of Science and Industry.
(E) WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
Mr. J. R. W. GARDAM, M.L.E.E., President, West Australian Institution of Engineers.
PROFESSOR PATERSON, State Committee of Institute of Science and Industry.
Mr. W. LESLIE, M.I.M.E., Consulting Engineer.
Mr. W. J. HANCOCK, M.I.E.E.. Government Electrical Engineer.
ACTING PROFESSOR TOMLINSON, University of Western Australia.
Mr. C. E. CROCKER, M.I.E.E., General Manager, City of Perth Gas and Electricity Department.
Mr. T. M. CAREY, Assoc. M.I.C. E., Electrical Engineer, City of Perth Gas and Electricity Department
Mr. E. 8. HUME, M.I.M_E., Chief Mechanical Engineer, West Australian Government Railway.
Mr. E. A. EVANS, M.LM.E., Workshops Manager, West Australian Government Railways.
Mr. J. PIDGEON., M.1.C.E., Existing Lines Office, West Australian Government Railways.
Mr. W. H. SHIELDS, Consulting Engineer.
Mr. W. H. TAYLOR, M.1.E.E., Electrical Superintendent, Tramways Department.
Mr. J. PARR, A.I.C.E., Engineer, Water Supply Department.
Mr. E. H. GLIDDON, City Engineer, Perth City Council.
Messrs. J. E. LEDGER, R. BENNETT, and T. EILBECK, B.E., IronmasSters’ Association,
Mr. A. C. BUTCHER, M.I.M.E., Engineer Surveyor, Department of Harbours and Lights.
Mr. F. SHAW, Manager, State Engineering Works.
SUB-LIEUTENANT E. MCCANN, Department of the Navy.
Mr. J. HAMILTON, Broken Hill Proprietary Limited Steel Company.
(F) TASMANIA.
Messrs. J. H. BUTTERS (Chairman), SLAYTOR, and VINCENT State Committee of Institute ef
Science and Industry.
Mr. C. B. DAVIES and Mr. W. ROSS-REYNOLDS, the Tasmanian Institution of Engineers.
Mr. M. KENNEDY, Vice-President of the Chamber of Commerce.
PRoFessoR MACKAY, University of Tasmania.
Mr. MEREDITH, Electrolytic Zinc Company.
EE
7
19
4. Suggested Commonwealth Organisation.—In considering the ques-
tion of organisation, it is important in the first place to bear in mind that
standardisation cannot be attained by one section of the community
endeavouring to impose its opinions on other sections, but only by co-
operative action on the part of all concerned. Isolated attempts
to secure standardisation of certain materials in Australia in the past have
largely failed, for the reason that the organisations established to draft the
specifications have not been representative of all the interests concerned.
Effective agreement as to standard specifications can only be arrived at by
common consent of all the parties interested, who take full part in the dis-
cussions and in the initiating and working out of the actual details of the
specifications.
While it is hoped that the various engineering institutions and societies
in Australia will co-operate in establishing a representative association to
earry out the work of standardisation, the Institute of Science and Industry
has already, at the request of persons interested, arranged for representative
conferences to be held with a view to arriving at an agreement in regard to -
standard specifications for structural steel sections, railway rails and fish-
plates, and tramway rails, respectively. The first of these conferences
(Structural Steel Sections) has already been held with entirely successful
results. The action taken by the Institute in respect to these matters does
not in any way affect the proposal to establish a Commonwealth Engineering
Standards Association to take up the whole work, but it was considered
undesirable to postpone action in regard to the three matters mentioned
until the Association is established. The results already achieved in respect
tothe standardisation of structural steel sections afford a valuable illustration
of the importance and possibilities of the movement.
A skeleton scheme for the organisation of a Commonwealth Engineering
Standards Association is outlined in the diagram on page 21.
(i) The Main Committee—It is suggested that, as in England and the
United States of America, there should be a Main or Executive Committee,
consisting of not more than from fifteen to twenty members, nominated partly
by various Engineering Institutes and Societies in the Commonwealth, and
partly by the Commonwealth and State departments concerned. As the
work of preparing the specifications would be carried out through Sectional |
Committees, it is probable that, once the organisation was properly
launched, it would be necessary for the whole Main Committee to meet only
at infrequent intervals, probably not more than once a year.
The Commonwealth Governme:t, through the Institute of Science and
Industry, would be responsible for finding the funds for the work, partly by
direct grant and partly by obtaining contributions from various sources.
The Commorwealth Governmert would also formally appoint the members
of the Main Committee. The resources of the Institute of Science and In-
dustry in the several States would be available to the Association for general
administrative purposes, and economy in respect to clerical work and the
keeping of accounts, &c., would thus be effected, as it would not be necessary
to appoint special officers of the Association for these purposes. Neither the
Commonwealth Government nor the Institute of Science and Industry
20
would take any part in the standardising work of the Association, except
that the Institute would arrange for any experimental work to be carried
out when requested to do so by the Association.
The principal functions of the Main Committee would be as follows :—
(a) To decide what standardisation work should be undertaken.
(b) To appoint the members of the Sectional Committees to which
the work of preparing the specifications would be intrusted.
(c) To arrange for the carrying out of research work on the recom-
- mendation of the Sectional Committees.
(d) To receive and pass the reports and specifications of the Sectional
Committees.
(e) To control finance (through a Standing Committee).
(f) To arrange for publication of the specifications (through a Standing
Committee).
(g) To keep in touch with Engineering Standards organisations in
other countries and with the Institute of Science and Industry
(especially in respect to research work).
(h) To control the secretarial staff of the Association, which staff would
carry on the current work cf the Association.
(ui) The Sectional Committees and Sub-committees.—The Sectional Com-
mittee would, as indicated above, be appointed by the Main Committee,
and would be responsible for the preparation of the standard specifications.
They would consist of representatives of manufacturers, users and engineering
associations, and societies. Having decided on the general lines to be adopted
in any particular standard specification, the Standing Committee might find
it necessary or convenient to refer the actual detailed work of drafting the
specifications to Sub-committees, either in each State or in a number of the
States. In other cases the most suitable method of procedure might be to
convene an Inter-State Conference of representative persons to draft the
standard specification, without referring the question for the consideration
of Sub-Committees.
The work of the respective Sub-committees would as far as possible be
co-ordinated through the secretarial staff of the Association. The reports
of the Sub-committees would be considered by the Sectional Committees,
and all outstanding differences cleared up as far as possible by correspondence
or by consultation between individual members. If necessary a joint meeting
of the Sectional Committee and representatives of the Sub-committees
would be held to finally agree upon the specifications.
The Sub-committees would be appointed by the Sectional Committees,
and would generally consist of equal numbers of producers and consumers.
In carrying out its work in States other than in that State in which the
secretariat of the Association is established, the services of the State
branches of the Institute of Science and Industry would be at the dis-
posal of the Association.
21
COMMONWEALTH ENGINEERING STANDARDS ASSOCIATION.
SUGGESTED SCHEME OF ORGANISATION.
Pamphlet No.2. Engineering Standardisation. Plate I.
iti ineeri ¢ ith Institut
Seeeeene tote MAIN 5 ariiatoalse trent naaey
tion wi COMMITTEE with \-makes provision for
En ineering Standards SS Staff 2 eagle
Ordanisations in other and for-
CONSISTING OF
Countries.
|.Representatives of
Engineering Associations.
2.Representatives of
Commonwealth & State
Government Technical
Departments.
Finance Publications Technical General Accounts Scientific
Committee Committee Secretariat Adminis- Research
: tration.
SECTIONAL
| COMMITTEES
| Consisting of
I. Manufacturers
2.Users
| 3.Representatives of
Engineering Associations
Conference,if necessary,between
Sectional Committee and
Cement Cast Iron Pipes Steel Sections Tramway Etc.Etc.
for Agricultural Rails
Implements
1
| Sub Committees in Sub Commiitees,and
various States if found Conference,if necessary Sanie as Same as Same as
i necessary. as before. before before before
} —$ $4
|
|
Representatives of Sub~
| Commitee. —
22
The scheme of organisation suggested above differs from that adopted
either in Great Britain or the United States of America mainly for the reason
that it is proposed that the Commonwealth Government, through the Institute
of Science and Industry, should assist in establishing and carrying on the work
of the Association, and should formally appomt the members of the Main
Committee. It is thought that this arrangement is desirable for several
reasons. In the first place, it appears probable that by far the greater part
of the necessary funds will have to be provided by the Commonwealth Govern-
ment. Secondly, the Engineering Associations and Societies in Australia
are not generally organised on a Federal basis, and the individual associa-
tions and societies have not the same National status or scope as that of the .
institutes which control the standardismg movement in England. In view
of the conditions obtaining in Australia, it is not likely that the engineering
associations and societies will themselves establish a standardising organisa-
tion, at any rate, in the near future.
Moreover, the engineermg industry m Australia has not yet reached,
from the manufacturers’ point of view, the same stage of development as in
Great Britain or the United States of America, and it would appear to be
quite impracticable to establish in Australia an organisation like the American
Society for testing materials, which has a large membership behind 1%, and
which is financed mainly by members’ subscriptions.
In conclusion, it cannot be too strongly emphasized that, whatever
scheme of organisation be adopted, mutual concession and the sinking of
sectional interests and individual opinions are necessary as a condition
precedent to any effective agreements being reached in the work of
standardisation.
The writer is indebted to Mr. S. W. B. McGregor, H.M. Chief Trade
Commissioner for Australia, for information concerning the work and
organisation of the British Engineering Standards Association. Much
valuable information on the subject has been obtained from a paper read
by Mr. C. Le Maistre, Secretary of that Association, before the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers at its annual meeting at New York in
December, 1918.
23
APPENDIX I.
BRITISH ENGINEERING STANDARDS ASSOCIATION.
LIST OF SECTIONAL COMMITTEES, SUB-COMMITTEES, AND PANEL
COMMITTEES, 1918.
Sectional Committees.
|
Sub-committees.
Panel Committces.
1. Bridges and Building
Construction
2. Sections and Tests for
Materials used in
Ships and their Ma-
chinery
3. Railway Rolling-stock
Underframes
4. Locomotives
5. Notched Bar Tests
6. Cement
7. Electrical (British Sec-
tion of the Inter-
national Electrotech-
nical Commission)
8. Pipe Flanges
9. Rails oi
. Steel Castings and Forg-
ings for Marine Work
. Iron for Ship-building
and Ships’ Cables
1. Locomotive conference |
DOR Ww
Or He oo bo
| 10.
. Component Parts and
Types
. Tires, Axles and Springs
. Locomotive Steel Plates
Copper and its alloys
. Iron for Railway Rol-
ling-stock
. Standardisation Rules
for Electrical
chinery
Physical standards
Ma-
. Electric Lamps ~
. Electric Power Cables
. Electrical Accessories. .
. Telegraphs and Tele-
phones
. Electric Traction
. Prime Movers for Elec-
trical Plant
. Electrical Nomencla-
ture
Electrical Symbols
. Electrical Control
Gears
. Meters
. Instruments
. Heating and Cooking
. Accumulators
. Pipe Flanges
. Railway Rails
. Tramway Rails
. Tire Profiles
. Plugs:
. Steam Turbines : 2.
. Symbols
. Motor Starters : 2.
. Falling Weight
l. Rivet Heads
. Tramway Tires and Axles
. Rating : 2. Standard pres-
SUTES
. Lamp Holders
2. Switches: 3.
and Cable
Sockets: 4. Watertight
Fittings : 5. Goliath
Screw Lamp Holders
Terminals
Reci-
procating Engines: 3.
Oil and Gas Engines :
4. Nomenclature of
Prime Movers
for Electric
Lighting and Power
Installations : 2. Sym-
bols for Telegraphic
Work (including Wire-
less Telegraphy)
Fuses
Testing
Machine for Rails
. Analyses and Tests for
Railway Rails
. Analyses and Tests for
Tramway Raals
APPENDIX I.—continued.
24
BririsH ENGINEERING STANDARDS ASSOCIATION.—LIsT OF SECTIONAL
Sectional Committees.
ComMITTEEs, Etc.—continued.
Sub-committees.
Panel Committees.
10. Finance
11. Publications and Calcu-
lations
12. Cast-iron Pipes
13. Vitrified Ware Pipes .. |
Standards
14. British
Abroad
15. Rope Pulley Groves
16. Machine Parts, their | 1.
Gauging and Nomen-
clature
17. Wire Ropes
18. Road Material
19, Galvanized Corrugated
Iron and Steel Sheets
20. Automobile Parts ,,
Noe
bo
—_
— _
—
_
bho
—
w
. Hydraulic Power Pipes
. Water, Gas, and Sewage
. Heating,
. Electrical Pipes
. Rolled and Drawn Sec-
. Keys and Keyways
. Metal Tubes and Con-
3. Milling
. Sizes
. Bituminous Materials
. Concrete Flags
. Automobile
. Flanges, Tubes, &c.
. Unions, &e.
SOW rAA oP wt
. Ball and Roller Bear-
. Tungsten Lamps
Pipes
Ventilating, |
and House Drainage
Pipes
Screw Threads for all
Purposes and _ their
Gauging
. Limit Gauges for Cylin-
drical Work
tions for use in Auto-
matic Machines
nexions
Cutters
Small Tools
and
and Nomencla-
ture ot Broken Stone
Nomen-
clature
Screws, Keys, &c.
Springs
Metals
Frames
Wheels and Tires
Controls
ings
for |
Automobiles
. Magnetos
. Sparking Plugs
. Thickness
. Form
of Cast-iron
Pipes for Water, Gas,
and Sewage
. Salt-glazed Ware Pipes
. Screw Thread LExperi-
ments : 2. Aircraft
Screw Threads: 3.
Modification to form of
Screw Threads : 4.
Munitions Gauges: 5.
Threads for small
Screws: 6. Taps
. Limit Gauges
Relieved Cutters :
2. Non-relieved Cutters
and Shell-end Mills : 3.
End Mills : 4. Reamers
. Instruments for Testing
Tar and Pitch
25
APPENDIX I.—continued.
British ENGINEERING STANDARDS ASSOCIATION.—LiIsT OF SECTIONAL
ComMItTTEEs, Etc.—continued.
Sectional Committees. Sub-committees. Panel Committees.
21. Components of Aircraft | 1. Nomenclature
and Aircraft Engines | 2. Timber os .. | lL. Timber Specifications and
(British Section of the Testings: 2. Season-
International Air- ing: 3. Conversion :
craft Standards Com- 4. Glue, Cement, and
mission) Plywood: 5. Timber
; Protection
3. Propeller Hubs and Fix- | 1. Hubs: 2. Shaft
ing
4. Waterand Fuel System | 1. Flexible Connexions: 2.
Co-ordination of Parts
5. Electrical Parts .. | Ll. Switches and Plugs: 2.
Accumulators : 3. High
Tension Switches: 4.
Lighting and Heating :
5. Engine Starters :
6. Cables : 7. Navt-
gation Lamps: 8. Dis-
tribution
6. Instruments
7. Ball and Roller Bear- | 1. Ball Bearings
ings
8. Sparking Plugs
9. Magnetos
10. Wheels and Tires
11. Structuraland Exhaust | 1. Revisions
Pipe Tubing
12. Rigging and Com- 1. Eyelets and Eyebolts: 2.
ponents Cables, Wire, and Taper
Seckets: 3. Wires and
Rods : 4. Turnbuckles :
5. Pulleys and Faitr-
leads
| 13. Rubber and Miscellan- | 1. Shock Absorbers : 2. Pet-
eous Non-metallic | rol Resisting Tubing:
Materials 3. Rubber Sponge and
Armouring : 4. Fluxes
for Soldering and Braz-
ing
14. Dopes and Fabrics .. | J. Dope: 2. Cotton Fabric :
3. Linen Fabric: 4.
Protective Covering :
5. Ropes
15. Aircraft Steels .. | 1. Revisions: 2. Wrought
5 Steels : 3. Sheet Steels :
4. Cold-worked Steels :
5. Valve Steels
16. Copper Alloys .. | 1. Brass and Copper Tubes :
2. Brass Rods: 3.
Brass and Coppcr
Sheets: 4. Casting Al-
loys
17. Installation of Appara-
tus
18. Lubricating Oil and
. Petrol |
3 19. Cast Iron |
20. Paints and Varnishes
——— ee
AMERICAN SOCIETY
LIST OF STANDING COMMITTEES AND SUB-COMMITTEES, 1918.
Standing Committees.
26
APPENDIX IL.
FOR TESTING MATERIALS.
|
Sub-committees.
1. Steel
2. Wrought Iron
3. Cast Iron
4. Heat Treatment of Iron
and Steel
5. Corrosion of Iron and Steel
6. Magnetic Properties
7. Malleable Castings
8. Magnetic Analysis
9. Copper Wire
10. Non-ferrous Metals and
Alloys
(C)—CEMENT,
11. Cement
12. Reinforced Concrete
13. Brick
14. Clay and Cement Sewer
Pipe
15. Fireproofing
16. Drain Tiles
17. Lime
(A)—Ferrrous METALS.
1. Steel Rails and Accessories ; 2. Structural Steel for
Bridges, Buildings, and Rolling Stock; 3. Strue-
tural Steel for Ships; 4. Spring Steel and Steel
Springs; 5. Steel Reinforcement Bars; 6. Steel
Forgings and Billets; 7. Rolled Steel Wheels and
Steel Tires; 8. Steel Castings; 9. Steel Tubing
and Pipe; 10. Automobile Steels; _ 11. Boiler
Steel; 12. Methods of Chemical Analysis; 13.
Methods of Physical Tests; 14. Tool Steel; 15.
Cold-drawn Steel; 16. Cast Steel Chain; 17.
Literary Form
1. Tubes and Pipe; 2. Merchant Bar Iron; 3. Staybolt
and Engine Bolt Iron; 4. Plates and Shapes;
5. Chain Iron and Iron Chain; 6. Wrought Iron
Blooms and Forgings
1. Pig Iron; 2. Pipe; 3. Cylinders; 4. Car Wheels ;
5. Cast-iron Scrap ; 6. General Castings ; 7. Micro-
structure of Cast Iron; 8. Cast-iron Soil Pipe and
Fittings ; 9. Molding Sand
1. Construction; 2. Preservative Metallic Coatings for
Metals; 3. Inspection; 4. The Corrosion of Iron
and Steel in Cement and Patent Plaster
(In course of organisation)
(B)—Nown-FERROUS METALS.
. | 1. Definition and Chemical Limitations ;
1. Pure Metals in Ingot Form; 2. Wrought Metals and
Alloys; 3. Sand Cast Metals and Alloys ; 4. White
Metals, Tin, Lead, and Zinc Base; 5. Plates,
Tubes, and Staybolts for Locomotives; 6. Non-
ferrous Alloys for Railroad Equipment ; 7. Methods
of Chemical Analysis; 8. Aluminum Alloys, Cast
and Wrought
Lime, Gypsum, AND Chay Propucts.
2. Specific
Gravity; 3. Fineness; 4. Soundness and Con-
stancy of Volume; 5. Normal Consistency ;
6. Time of Setting; 7. Strength; 8. Sampling,
Storage, Packages, and Inspection; 9. General
Clauses ; 10. Natural Cement
1. Absorption and Hydrostatic Pressure Test Require-
ments; 2. Chemical Requirements; 3. Dimen-
sions and their Permissible Variations ; 4. Certain
Legal Definitions : 5, Glossary of Terms
APPENDIX I1.—continued.
AMERICAN Socrety For Testinc MATERIALS.—List or STANDING
COMMITTEES AND SuB-CoMMITTEES, 1918—continued.
Standing Committees.
|
Sub-committees.
(C)—Crment, Live, Gypsum, AND CLtay Propuctrs—continued.
18. Refractories
19. Concrete and Concrete
Aggregates
20. Hollow Building Tiles
21. Gypsum
1. Fusion Tests; 2. Analysis; 3. Industrial Survey ;
4. Thermal Conductivity and Thermal Expansion ;
5. Porosity and Permanent Volume Change ;
6. Load Tests at High Temperatures ; 7. Spalling
Action; 8. Slagging Action
| 1. Definitions; 2. Laboratory Tests for Concrete and
Laws of Mechanical Mixtures; 3. Sampling and
Testing Field Concrete; 4. Relative Values of
various Strength Tests; 5. Impurities affecting
fine Aggregates; 6. Methods of Tests for Voids,
Weights, Density, Specific Gravity, and Consis-
tency ; 7. Methods of Tests of Coarse Aggregates ;
8. Available Aggregates for Concrete; 9. Speci-
fications for Fine Aggregates
1. Strength and Load Test; 2. Fire Tests; 3. Absorp-
tion and Forest Resistance; 4. Insulation and
Acoustics
1. Gypsum for Various Uses; 2. Gypsum Plasters ;
3. Structural Gypsum Products ; 4. Testing
Methods; 5. Nomenclature
(D)—MiscELLtaneous MarTeERIALs.
22. Preservative Coatings for
Structural Materials
23. Lubricants
24. Methods of Sampling and
Analysis of Coal
25. Road Materials . .
26. Coal
27. Coke
28. Timber
29. Waterproofing
30. Electrical Insulating
_ Materials
81. Shipping Containers
| 1. Testing of Paint Vehicles; 2. Linseed Oil; 3.
Definitions of Terms used in Paint Specifica-
tions; 4. Acclerated Tests and the influ-
ence of Pigments on Corrosion; 5. Methods of
Analysis of Paint Materials ; 6. Varnish; 7. Paint
| thinners other than Turpentine; 8. Turpentine ;
9. Shellac; 10. Preparation of Iron and Steel
Surfaces for Painting; 11. Specifications for Pig-
ments dry in Oil when marketed in form; 12.
Terms used in reporting the Condition of Painted
Surfaces; 13. Testing of Pigments for Fineness
by the use of Screens; 14. Physical Properties of
Paint Materials
1. Bituminous Road and Paving Materials; 2. Non-
bituminous Road and Paving Materials ~
1. Classification and Designation of Southern Yellow
Pines ; 2. Uses of Untreated Yellow Pines ;
3. Pacific Coast Timbers; 4. Wooden Paving
Blocks ; 5. Methods of Preservative Treatment of
Timber; 6. Timber Preservatives; 7. Inspection
of Treated Timber ; 8. Fireproofing of Timber
1. Insulating Varnishes ; 2. Moulded Insulated
Materials; 3. Sheet Insulation; 4. Liquid Insu-
lation ; 5. Porclain Insulation
. | 1. Wooden Boxes
bo
8
APPENDIX II.—continued.
AMERICAN SocrETY FOR TEstTiING MatTErtats.—List oF STANDING
COMMITTEES AND SuB-COMMITTEES, 1918—continued.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38
. Textile Materials
Standing Committees.
Sub-committees.
(D)—MiscELLaANrous MatTertans—continued.
. Rubber Products
. | 1. Air Hose; 2. Belting ; 3. Cold-water Hose ;
4. Insulated Wire: 5. Packings, Gaskets, and
Pump Valves; 6. Steam Hose; 7. Definitions
and Nomenclature ; 8. Rubber Insulating Tape
4, Classification and Identification of Fibres and
Fabrics; 5. Nomenclature and Specifications ;
6. Imperfections and Tolerances
|
. | 1. Humidity; 2. Specimens; 3. Testing Machines ;
|
(E)—MiscELLANEOUs SUBJECTS.
Methods of Testing
Electrical Standards
Magnification Scales for
Micrographs
Standing Committees
. Papers and Publications
1. Hardness Tests; 2. Nicked Bar Impact Tests ;
3. Methods for determining Modulus of Elasticity
Elastic Limit, Proportional Limit, &c.; 4. Deter-
mination of Density; 5. Effect of Form and Size
of Test Pieces on Results of Tensile Tests ; 6. Speed
of Testing; 7. Form
29
APPENDIX III.
CONFERENCES ON ENGINEERING STANDARDISATION CON-
VENED IN EACH STATE BY INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND
INDUSTRY, 1918.
ABSTRACT OF INFORMATION.
1. With a view to focussing attention on the matter of engineering standardisation,
and eliciting the support of persons interested throughout the Commonwealth, in November,
1918, the Institute requested each State Committee to invite representative persons
in the respective States to hold a meeting to discuss the following points :—
(a) In view of the importance of standardisation of engineering materials and
methods, the desirability that such standardisation should be considered
for Australia as a whole.
(6) In view of the fact that great progress has been made in Great Britain and the
United States of America in such work of standardisation, the desirability
of accepting such standards, as have already been arrived at, provided
they are satisfactory to Australian conditions.
(c) In cases when British and American standards are equally applicable to
Australia, the desirability of selecting the British standards.
(d) The desirability of establishing i in Australia a representative authoritative body
to take the matter in hand.
Meetings in each State were accordingly held.
2. In New South Wales three members of the Institute and 31 engineers representing
various engineering organizations and Government departments were present. Five
resolutions were unatimously passed; the first four being in the terms of the points
referred for discussion, as specified in paragraphs (a) to (d) above. The fifth resolution
was as follows :—
(e) That, in view of the action in Great Britain, where the British Engineering
Standards Committee was formed in 1901 by representatives from the
Institute of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the
Institution of Naval Architects, the Iron and Steel Institute, and the
Institution of Electrical Engin:ers, and in view of the action of the United
States of America and other foreign countries where standardisation
committees have been appointed by the various engineering institutions
in those countries, it is recommended that the Engineering Standards
Committee of Australia be appointed by the various Engineering Associations
or Societies at present existing in Australia, and shall include engineers
appointed by the Government departments and public utilities.
This last resolution had been unanimously adopted at a preliminary meeting of
representatives of the New South Wales section of the Electrical Association of Australia,
the University Engineering Society, and the Engineering Association of New South
Wales. It was pointed out during the discussion that the proper body to take the matter
in hand is now in progress of formation, viz., the Institution of Australian Engineers.
3. In Victoria four members of the Institute of Science and Industry, and nineteen
representatives of engineering organisations, Government departments, &c., were present
at the meeting. Resolutions were passed affirming points (a) to (d) above, and in addition
the following was passed unanimously :
(e) It is desirable that such a movement be linked ce as a branch of the British
Engineering Standards Association.
4. In Queensland three members of the Advisory Council and nine other representatives
were present at the meeting. The points referred to in paragraphs (a) to (d) were unani-
mously affirmed. In addition the following resolutions were unanimously passed :—
(e) That it is the opinion of this meeting that Queensland should be represented
on the Local Committee in Australia, which will be in direct communication
with the British Engineering Committee in London.
(f) That this meeting considers that each State should be separately represented
on such sectional sub-committees as may be formed.
30
APPENDIX III.—continued.
ee
CONFERENCES ON ENGINEERING STANDARDISATION, ETC.—ABSTRACT OF
INFORMATION—continued.
5. At the South Australian Conference, in addition to Professor Rennie, Chairman of
the State Committee of the Institute, eight representatives of engineering organisations,
&c., were present. Resolutions affirming points (a) to (d) were passed unanimously.
In addition the following resolution was passed, with one dissentient :—
(e) It is desirable that such a movement be affiliated with the British Engineering
Standards Association. j
6. In Western Australia, in addition to members of the Institute, thirteen engineering
and technical organizations and departments were represented. The following resolutions
were passed :—
(a) That this meeting cordially supports the principle of standardisation, and
the Commonwealth, being part of the British Empire, the meeting is of
the opinion that the British standards should be as far as possible adopted
in Australia, in preference to setting up separate standards.
(b) That the President and Council of the Western Australian Institute of Engi-
neers, together with Professor Ross, of the University of Western Australia,
and Mr. Montgomery, of the Western Australian Committee of the Council
of Science and Industry, be appointed a committee to keep in touch
with the Advisory Council in Melbourne in matters affecting standardisation
in Australia.
7. At the Tasmanian Conference three members of the Institute and five representatives
of engineering organizations, &c., were present. The three following resolutions were
passed unanimously :—
(a) That the meeting heartily indorses the suggestion for the establishment of an
Engineering Standardisation Committee of Australia, and urges prompt
action in connexion therewith. It further recommends that the Committee
should be, in the first instance, formed by appointments on the recom-
mendation of the Engineering Societies of Australia, such appointments
to include manufacturers’ representatives, and also by appointments
representing Government departments and public utilities.
(5) That the meeting affirms the principle that British standards should be adopted
as far as possible.
(c) That the representatives present at this meeting undertake to urge upon the
bodies they represent to support the principle of standardisation, and to
prepare the ground for the Australian Engineering Committees by adopting
British standards forthwith wherever possible.
By Authority: ALsert J. MuLLterr, Government Printer, Melbourne.
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ral Resources.
cay
SERALD LIGHTEOOT, 2 MA A.
INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
‘Ghe
Co-operative Development
OF
Australia’s Natural Resources
By
GERALD LIGHTFOOT, M.A.
Published under the authority of
SIR GEORGE H. KNIBBS, K.B., C.M.G., Etc.,
Director.
MELBOURNE, | 1923
By Authority :
ALBERT J. MULLETT, GOVERNMENT PRINTER, MELBOURNE
ee pr a SS
- .
C.7912.
sei?
Resources
fad Pastoral Problems
-
PREFACE.
AUSTRALIA is a vast country of great but undeveloped resources, occupied
only by a small population. Both from the stand-point of world-politics and
in the interest of the inhabitants themselves, these resources need to be
developed to the best of our ability. This can be done effectively only by
the co-operation of all in any way concerned, and in such work the Institute
of Science and Industry could assist materially, by furnishing the necessary
scientific guidance.
In some quarters misconceptions have arisen in the past as to the
functions of the Institute and its policy in co-operating in scientific work.
Mr. G. Lightfoot, by whom this pamphlet has been compiled, has been
connected with the Institute since its’ inception, formerly as _ Chief
Executive Officer of the Advisory Council of Science and Industry, and,
since my appointment as Director, as Chief Technological Assistant and
Officer in Charge of the Bureau of Information. He is thus well acquainted
with the work which the Institute has carried out, with the plans which have
been formulated for its development, and with ‘the policy it is intended to
pursue.
The objects of this pamphlet are to indicate the part which the Institute
should play in the mobilization and development of Australian resources
and to show how that object can best be achieved. This, it is believed, will
be by investigations on a co-operative basis between the Commonwealth
Institute, the State Technical Departments, Universities, scientific societies,
industrial organizations, and other similar interests concerned.
G. H. KNIBBS,
* Director.
Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry,
314 Albert-street,
East Melbourne.
21st May, 1923.
he
Me
Wy
Th hd
42
a
} hi Ls POTS ci Ms) Hatiiant :
The (Co-operative Development of Australia’s
Natural Resources.
“TI believe that the next years are going to be as critical for Australia’s
history as the period of the war. They will lay the foundation stones of Australia’s
future development, and that should be enough to bring us together to carry out
our tasks.” —(The Hon. 8. M. Bruce, M.P., Prime Minister of Australia.)
“ The objective” (i.e., of creating the Institute of Science and Industry)
“was to apply to the pastoral, agricultural, mining, and manufacturing
industries the resources of science in such a way as to more effectively develop
our great heritage. . . . .’—(The Right Hon. W. M. Hughes, P.C., M.P.)
“A plentiful supply of cheap power and cheap fuel is the foundation of a
Nation's prosperity ; wpon that foundation rests also the well-being of its people
as a whole, reducing in all directions physical toil and increasing the comfort and
ease of every individual and every class of society.” —(Lieutenant-General Sir
John Monash, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., &c., Chairman, Electricity Commission of
Victoria.)
IAUSTRALIA’S RESOURCES.
One of the direct results of the war has been to vastly increase our national
debt, so that our Commonwealth estate of 1,900,000,000 acres is now
mortgaged for a total sum of £910,000,000, equivalent to 9s. 6d. per acre, or
£163 per head of population. Taxation has reached a height previously
unheard of, so that a substantial tribute is now levied on all forms of
production. Prices have riseri enormously and wages have followed in their
train. Fortunately with these new burdens there has also come to many an
awakened vision, a quickened sense of responsibility, and a determination to —
“more effectively develop our great heritage,” and in so doing to strengthen
the economic ties which bind the Empire together.
With new burdens on our shoulders, the-increased mortgage on our estate,
the higher taxes on production, how are these aspirations possible of realiza-
tion? There is one way to do this and one way only, and that is by the
creation of new wealth through the development of our natural resources.
Our resources are abundantly ample for all legitimate satisfactions of a
population many times as numerous as that which the Commonwealth now
supports. But our resources cannot be developed by labour alone, or by
capital alone, but only by labour and capital together backed by the effective
co-operation of our administrators and guided by the application of scientific
methods.
8
Increased production does not necessarily mean more work, or harder
work for the individua:. It does, however, mean more efficient work and
a new attitude towards work; the desire to make every stroke tell to the
utmost. It means the application of scientific methods to all forms of
production and the recognition of the fact that successful industry to-day—
whether on the farm or in the factory—demands technical knowledge of a
high order, skilful management, and organization in marketing. It means
the elimination of wasteful methods, the control and eradication of pests and
diseases affecting the agricultural and pastoral industries, the investigation
of many scientific problems affecting these industries, the systematic
assessment and classification of our resources, the adequate utilization of
our forest resources, the use of microscopes and pyrometers, slide rules and
graphic charts, and self-recording instruments, and the laboratory control of — .
materials and processes. In a word, it means willing, painstaking, and well-
rewarded effort, backed by capital, and above all guided by science and the
spirit of research.
In any plan for the broad development of the natural resources of the
Commonwealth necessarily the first step is the collection of definite and
accurate information regarding the resources themselves and its systematic
classification in such form that it shall be readily available to those who may be
expected to utilize it to advantage.
With full appreciation of the work which has been’ carried out by many
State Government Departments and of the valuable publications which have
been issued thereon by these Departments, it may be fairly said that,
regarding the matter from a national stand-point, information regarding the
natural resources of the Commonwealth is generally difficult to obtain
in convenient form. ; .
A vast amount of information of the highest practical value has been
accumulated by the State Government Departments and by various
scientific bodies, trade organizations, industrial corporations, and individuals.
The immediate need is, therefore, not so much for new agencies for obtaining
new facts, as for an effective organization to collate, classify, and analyze
data already available, and to recast into convenient form the immense mass
of valuable information regarding Australian resources already existing im
official Government reports, scientific and technical journals, company
records, and the special reports of individuals.
For a work of this magnitude to attain its full measure of usefulness, the
cordial support and concurrent effort of the various State Government Departments
and of scientific and industrial organizations having at heart the welfare of the
nation and the development of its resources is obviously essential.
If all available information were collected and sifted, it would enable
bulletins devoted to particular resources or immediate industrial opportunities
to be issued from time to time and special reports to be placed, as occasion
arises, before any authorities and individuals in Australia and abroad, who
9
may be expected to base industrial developments thereon. Collaterally
with the systematization of existing knowledge, in order to pave the way for the
adequate development of Australia’s resources, it would be necessary to
prosecute, on a co-operative basis, industrial scientific research on lines
selected for their promise of yielding results of broad general benefit or of
immediate advantage to individual communities or industries. This research
work would be a natural complement and correlative to any larger plans in
which the Commonwealth and State Governments may agree to co-operate
for mobilizing the resources of the Commonwealth,
IIl—AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL PROBLEMS.
The territory comprised within the Commonwealth is sufficient to allot
to each individual of our population about 340 acres. At the present time
only 15,000,000 acres, or about 1 out of every 130 acres is under cultivation.
That area is considerably less than the area in New South Wales and
Queensland alone now covered by the prickly pear pest (about 25,000,000
acres). This gives some idea of the extent to which some of the worst of our
pests have spread. The loss caused to our agricultural and pastoral industries
by various diseases, pests, and parasites now amounts to many millions of
pounds sterling per annum. Nearly all the serious pests have been introduced
from other countries. Many of them have now spread over the whole or a
great part of Australia, and thus in some cases the work of control and
eradication will be costly and will take a number of years ; in some cases the
operations may have to be continual.
From plant diseases alone the loss has been estimated at £5,000,000
annually. An attempt to estimate the loss from the sheep fly gives as much as
£4,000,000 in a bad year. Prickly pear already covers an area in Australia
considerably greater than the total area under all forms of cultivation. New
South Wales alone has expended £600,000 during the past fifteen years in an
attempt to keep back the cattle tick pest. The loss from fruit diseases and
pests is estimated at £1,000,000 annually.
The importance of the above figures lies in the fact that it is well within
our power not only to vastly increase the area of cultivated land, but also
to greatly supplement the productivity of the areas already occupied for
agricultural and pastoral purposes.
Fortunately, Australia already possesses- in each State a well-organized
and highly efficient Department of Agriculture, and it has also well co-ordinated
Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations. But these Departments are
largely occupied in work of an administrative and routine character, and
they are admittedly unable to devote the time, staff, and money necessary for
the adequate investigation of the many important problems affecting the
agricultural and pastoral industries. Nevertheless a considerable amount
of valuable work has been accomplished by them with respect to various
diseases and pests and other rural problems, but, by reason of the magnitude
and difficulty of the problems, that work has generally been of an uncorrelated,
C.7912—2
10
and, in some cases, fragmentary nature. It was for the purpose of remedying
so patent a defect and of supplementing and co-ordinating the experimental
work of the State Agricultural Departments that the Commonwealth Institute
of Science and Industry Act specifically provided for the establishment of a
Bureau .of Agriculture.
Co-operation between the Institute and the State Agricultural Depart-
ments has already proved to be effective in regard to various investigations
which the Institute has so far been able to undertake, e.g., (a) sheep blowfly
pest, (b) prickly pear pest, (c) cattle tick dips, (d) viticultural problems, and
(e) seed improvement ; and it is considered that the time has now come when
there should be a wide extension and development of these co-operative
investigations. :
The Commonwealth activities would not interfere in any way with the
work of the State Agricultural or other Departments now in progress, but by
the pooling of knowledge and resources through the agency of the Common-
wealth Institute of Science and Industry, research work on matters indicated
hereafter could be carried out more effectively and with greater prospect of
success than-under any conditions of isolated effort.
It would not be inappropriate if such bodies as the Pastoralists Association,
the Graziers Association, the Fruit-growers Association, the Farmers and
Settlers Association, and other organizations of primary producers not only
actively co-operated in this work, but also contributed to its cost. On the one
hand the members of these organizations are closely affected by the problems,
and would be the first to benefit by their solution ; on the other hand, they
could in many instances assist materially in the investigations, not merely
financially but also in the collection of information and in the provision of
facilities for field experimental work.
Let us glance for a moment at some of the more direct work that claims
the attention of those interested in the development of the agricultural and
pastoral industries.
Agricultural and Pastoral Industries._Scope of Investigations
Urgently Needed.
A.—PaAstToRAL’ INDUSTRY.
1. Stock Diseases., e.g., (a) braxy disease of sheep ; (b) contagious abortion
of cattle, (c) contagious pleuro-pneumonia, (d) swine fever, (e) tuberculosis,
(f) actinomycosis of cattle, (g) poultry diseases, (h) bee diseases, (7) Kimberley
horse disease, (7) Midland cattle disease.
2. Stock Pests (parasitological)—Life histories of internal and external
parasites affecting stock :—
(i) Life histories not previously investigated.
(ii) Life histories already studied, but likely to show variation under
Australian conditions. Examples—(a) Sheep louse fly, (b) cattle
tick (c) warble fly, (d) worm nodule, (e) blowfly.
11
8. Stock Disease Control_—The most effective and economical methods for
the control and final eradication of animal diseases and animal parasites.
4, Pest Eradication—The most economical methods for the suppression
of animal pests, such as (a) rabbits, (b) dingoes, (c) flying foxes, (d) rats, .
(e) white ants, &c.
5. Animal Husbandry.—Silage and fodder conservation, stock feeding,
and stock breeding problems.
B.—AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY.
1. Plant Diseases.—Diseases affecting plants of commercial importance,
e.g., (a) bunchy top of bananas, (b) tomato wilt, (c) thready-eye of potato,
(d) rust and smut of cereals, (e) brown spot in mandarins and other citrus
diseases, &c. bbayy
2. Plant Pests.—Life histories and best methods of control and eradication
of plant pests, e.g., (a) fruit fly, (b) cutworm, (c) maize grub, &e.
3. Plant Introduction and Plant Breeding—Introduction of—
(1) Plants allowing of the development of land at present of no value,
e.g., (a) sand binders, (b) arid district forage plants, &c.
(2) Plants suitable for extensive cultivation in Australia which would
open up new industries, e.g., (a) fibre plants, (6) plants yielding
essential oils, dyes, &c.
(3) New varieties of cereals, fruits, vegetables, &c., with special
powers of resisting diseases, droughts, Xe.
4. Native Plants —The economic possibilities of the native flora of Australia,
particular attention being paid to the use of native plants as forage crops
and fibre yielders.
5. Fodder, Forage, and Pasture——(1) The improvement of pasture lands
in drought areas, (2) restocking depleted native pastures, (3) the carrying
capacity of pasture lands.
6. Obnoxious Weeds and Poison Plants ——The best methods of eradicating
weed pests, e.g., prickly pear, St. John’s wort, African box thorn, Cape weed, —
onion weed.
7. Irrigation Problems —Cultivation of irrigation crops, quantities and
periods of application of water, viticultural and citrus fruit problems, canning
problems, &c.
8. The Registration and Standardization of varieties of (a) fruits, (b) cereals,
(c) root crops, (d) vegetables, (e) fodder crops.
Ill—_FOREST PRODUCTS.
Despite a long period of waste and destruction—with the end of the
reserves of some species of trees not only in sight, but almost within reach—
timber still constitutes one of our most important natural resources. Even
_ with adequate measures for re-afforestation it takes many years to produce a
12
crop of wood, and wood-waste, which now constitutes from one-half to two-
thirds of the entire tree is potentially too valuable a raw material to be
regarded simply as waste. It would therefore seem that the time has come
when we should recognise our responsibility to carry out research work on the
economical utilization of our timbers, and our forest and mill waste. This has
long been recognised in other countries, where properly equipped and staffed
Forest Products Laboratories have been established on a national basis, e.g.,
the U.S.A. Forest Products Laboratory, at Madison (originally costing £50,000
and with an annual expenditure of £42,000 as far back as 1916), and the
Canadian Forest Products Laboratory at Montreal.
Certain definite chemical researches on scientific lines have been carried
out in various States, especially at the Technological Museum, Sydney, and
much important information has been obtained. The work, nevertheless, must
still be regarded-as only in its infancy, and there can be no question that
further researches are urgently required.
The service which the Institute of Science and, Industry could render
would not overlap or duplicate the efforts of the State Forestry Departments.
Experience has shown (e.g., in the case of the paper pulp investigations) that
research work on problems of this nature can be undertaken most effectively
by a Federal organization working in co-operation with the State Forestry
Departments. By pooling their resources the Commonwealth and States
would be able to carry out the investigations much more effectively and
economically than is possible if each State proceeded independently.
The general nature of experimental work in regard to forest products
which should be undertaken is shown hereunder. This work could be carried
out most effectively by the Institute in co-operation not only with the State
Forestry Departments, but also with the Saw-millers Associations, the Carriage,
Waggon, and Motor-body Builders Associations, and other organizations of
persons in the timber-using industries :—
(1) Preservation of wood against dry rot, &c. ;
(2) Preservation of wood to afford protection against white ants,
borers, &c.
(5) Properties and uses of woods, including use of woods for various
industrial purposes, e.g., aeroplane manufacture, coach and
waggon building, tool handles, &c.
(4) Mechanical tests of timbers and standardization of results.
(5) Seasoning of wood, including standardization of conditions for
seasoning of different timbers to be used for various industrial
purposes, e.g., air-drying and kiln-drying.
(6) Chemical and mechanical utilization of waste wood.
. (7) Paper pulp, especially mechanical pulp for newsprint.
(8) Tanning agents.
(9) Essential oils.
(10) Gums and resins.
(11) Drugs and dyes. ’
ie a
13
The investigations already carried out by the Institute on paper pulp
and tanning materials afford excellent examples of the way in which co-operative
research may be conducted efficiently in Australia. As regards the paper
pulp investigations, the Institute, with the co-operation of the State Forestry
Departments, has shown not only that the poor results previously obtained
by individual investigators were largely misleading, but that it is practicable
to manufacture high-grade chemical pulp and paper from Australian timbers.
It appears, moreover, that the economic factors are such as would enable the
chemical} pulp industry to be established profitably in the Commonwealth.
In view of the valuable results already obtained it is clear that the investiga-
tions should be extended to include the possibilities of manufacturing
mechanical pulp and “ newsprint” in Australia.
Results of considerable prospective industrial value have also been
obtained from the tanning investigations carried on in co-operation with the
State Forestry Department. The results show that the barks of certain
trees formerly regarded as waste materials can be utilized commercially as
tanning agents.
IV.—_MINING AND METALLURGY.
The immediate need for research into Australian problems connected
_ with the mining and treatment of common metals such as lead, zinc, copper,
&c., does not appear to be so great as in the case of other primary industries.
This is mainly due to the fact that a large proportion of the Australian
production of these metals is in the hands of comparatively large and well
organized companies who are able to maintain their own research laboratories
and stafis of qualified chemists and metallurgists.
A totally different state of affairs exists, however, not only in the case of
the less common metals, but also in the case of a large number of common
economic minerals such as ochre, barytes, magnesite, mica, asbestos, &e.
Comprehensive information regarding deposits of these minerals, their
methods of treatment, &c., is not readily available in convenient form. Details _
of particular deposits are available in the publications of the various State
Geological Survey Departments, but these publications in general contain
little information concerning the chemistry of manufacture of the various
minerals, the purposes for which they are used, and the markets available.
Such information is, however, already to a large extent in the possession of
chemists and technologists in the several States. Again, accurate information
regarding markets and their potential needs for all products capable of
manufacture from the minerals under discussion is available in other quarters.
Further, the important information concerning the state of knowledge in
other countries of a particular mineral is only obtainable by a wide and
intensive expert examination of periodical literature, scientific journals, &c.
For the establishment on a stable basis of such industries, it is important
that a central body should co-operate with the various State authorities,
14
industrial organizations, and experts, chiefly as a collector of information
concerning deposits and their extent, composition, &c., but also to co-ordinate
research and, where necessary, to carry out further investigation. By
application to such a body an investor would be able to quickly obtain all
pertinent information.
It is desirable, therefore, that bulletins should be issued from time to time,
each confined to one particular mineral and containing information regarding
all known Australian deposits of that mineral, its principal uses, methods of
treatment, economic factors, markets, &c. Some work is already being done
in Australia along these suggested lines. For example, the Queensland
Government Geologist has published valuable articles on certain minerals ;
the South Australian Department of Chemistry has carried out researches and
published bulletins concerning some South Australian minerals; and the
Western Australian Geological Survey has issued valuable publications concern-
ing the economics of minerals occurring in that State. From time to time
other State Geological Surveys publish monographs on various minerals
of particular interest to their own State. These State activities
could form a basis from which the development of our resources could be
studied from a national stand-point. By co-operation between the Institute
and the State authorities and other bodies such as the Australian Institute of
Mining and Metallurgy comprehensive information for Australia as a whole
could thus be made available in convenient form.
V.—MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.
In other countries large institutions ‘have been established to carry on
scientific investigations for the development of their industries, and this
movement has been accelerated since the war. For example, in the United
States of America the Bureau of Standards was established at a cost of over
£300,000, and has an annual expenditure of about £460,000. The Mellon
Institute, at Pittsburgh, which engages in research in co-operation with
manufacturing industries, cost £100,000 to build and equip, and has an annual
expenditure of £77,000. In Great Britain the Department of Scientific and
Industrial Research, created about five years ago, has a fund of £1,000,000
for grants to industrial research associations and an annual vote of £200,000.
Its total expenditure in 1920-1921 was £550,000. The British National
Physical Laboratory expended about £213,000 in 1921-1922. A Fuel
Research Station, at a capital cost of no less than £140,000, has been established
near London, to investigate such subjects as powdered fuel, domestic heating,
power alcohol, the low temperature distillation of coal, and generally the
economic utilization of fuel resources. In Japan a National Laboratory for
Scientific and Industrial Research has recently been established at Tokio,
towards the cost of which the Government provided £200,000 and the Emperor
£100,000. These examples could be supplemented largely, but sufficient has
been stated to show the scale on which the nodern world is endeavouring to promote
the application of science to industry on a co-operative basis.
15
In other countries the industries themselves participate in research work
on a co-operative basis, and contribute towards its cost. For example, in
Great Britain no less than 24 Industrial Research Associations have been
established, many of them with large funds and adequate facilities in the
way of staff, laboratories, and apparatus. Again, at the Mellon Institute,
Pittsburgh, to which reference has already been made, industrial organizations
have established no less than 78 Industrial Fellowships for which sums
aggregating £200,000 were provided.
Australia could hardly develop immediately its scientific research work
on the scale of countries having many times its population and wealth. It is
obvious, however, that if this country is to develop her manufacturing
industries intelligently and efficiently and is to take her place among the
nations of the world she must at least follow the lead of other countries.
’ Those engaged in manufacturing industries should co-operate in formulating
and carrying into effect measures for the investigation and solution of scientific
and technical problems affecting their industries and should contribute
towards the cost of that work.
Since modern industrial development depends fundamentally upon
progress in scientific research, no limits can be set to the directions in which
such research is likely to be of benefit to the manufacturing industries of the
Commonwealth. The following, however, indicates the nature of the
investigations which should be undertaken :—
1. Lanning and Fellmongering—tImproved processes, utilization of
Australian raw materials and development of standard methods.
2. Pottery Manufacture of white earthenware and pottery, utilization
of clay resources. Manufacture of tiles, glazes, enamelled
ironware, &c.
3. Paints, Enamels, and Varnishes——Improvement of processes and
standardization of products.
4. Standardization in Industry.—Preparation of standard specifications
with a view to cheapening manufacture, effecting improvement
in quality and design, increasing production, reducing main-
tenance charges and variety of stocks, and securing inter-
changeability of parts.
5. Cold Storage and Food Problems——Cold storage of meat, fruits, and
other perishable products; investigations as to diseases and
organisms afiecting such products, and as to most suitable
conditions of storage for export.
6. General Investigations—New processes and methods for the utiliza-
tion of Australian raw materials, the application of known
processes and methods to such materials, improvement in
existing processes and methods, the investigation of manufac-
turers’ problems, the elimination of waste, and the co-ordination
of industries.
16
VI._POWER RESOURCES.
Cheap power is essential to the development of practically all other
natural resources, and is now recognised to be on a par with labour and
materials in so far as it effects economical production.. The value of the
application of electricity to practically all classes of machinery and processes
has been increasingly demonstrated during recent years. The extent to
which it may be further applied to cheaper and better mechanical production,
to improved transportation services, to electro-chemical and metallurgical
processes, to agriculture, and to domestic labour-saving apparatus is
incalculable. Cheap power is indeed essential to the industrial and social
development of the country and to its political security.
Energy is required to enable mineral ores to be won and refined, for the
adequate fertilization of the land, for the harvesting and transportation of its
crops and products, and for any comprehensive scheme for the extensive
development of Australia’s resources as a whole.
Developments in engineering and chemical science in the past decade,
and more particularly in_ electro-chemical, electro-physical, and electro-
metallurgical processes, and in the possibility of high-voltage electric
transmission, have rendered the importance of cheap power supply even more
exigent. Transmission lines exceeding 200 miles in length are in existence
to-day, and only financial considerations now set a limit to their possible
length. Any distance is feasible, electrically and mechanically. Electro-
metallurgy and electro-chemistry have rendered it possible to handle materials
not workable by any other means, have made available new materials, and
have greatly cheapened the production of many important materials of wide
use. Aluminium, calcium-carbide, chromium, cyanide, silicon, carborundum
are products rendered commercially possible only by electrical processes, while
ammonia from the air, cyanide, alkalies, hypochlorite, phosphorus, calcium,
magnesium, and sodium nitrate are produced most economically by such
processes. Great developments have recently taken place in the production
of electrolytic copper and zinc, in processes for the electric smelting and
refining of metallic ores and in the production of alloys, and during the last
decade in the utilization of atmospheric nitrogen for the production of nitric
acid and the manufacture of nitrates, &c. Important developments in the
electrification of both main and suburban railway lines have also occurred
recently. All these demand relatively large amounts of energy.
The adequate development of schemes for the supply of cheap power tends
to reduce the cost of living, to facilitate the payment of high wages, to improve
working and living conditions, to decentralize population from the large
towns, to encourage rural development, to maintain a much larger population
on the soil, to mitigate industrial troubles, and to add generally to the
prosperity and happiness of a Commonweaith.
These considerations indicate that the conservation and utilization of
the power resources of Australia are likely to be one of the most important
17
- *
problems in our national development. The solution of the problems
undoubtedly involves many complex questions of engineering, administration,
and economic investigation.
National systems have been developed for the transportation of passengers,
goods, and live stock ; for the transmission of letters by post and of messages
and news by telephone, telegraph, cable, and wireless. What is now needed
is the development of a comprehensive system for the transmission of energy so
as to nationalize the utilization of cheap power and make it available not merely
to those in favoured and restricted industrial areas, but‘ also in rural districts.
In view of the high cost of labour and standard of living, the extensive
use of power for farming and other operations in country districts is a matter
of great importance, to the Commonwealth especially. The introduction
of labour-saving devices, wherever possible, is of obvious importance in
rendering rural conditions more satisfying, more profitable, more comfortable
and attractive, and thus raising the status of the agricultural labourer.
Vil._WATER POWER.
No comprehensive records exist which set forth the amounts, locations,
and characteristics of the water powers of the Commonwealth. In Tasmania
the Hydro-Electric Department has carried out a large amount of develop-
mental work, and further investigations are in hand. In New South Wales
investigations have been made by the Public Works Department and the
Irrigation and Water Conservation Commission. In Victoria the Electricity
Commissioners and the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission have
carried out a large amount of work. Nevertheless in Australia the proportion
of total motive power developed from water power is very small. It is
striking to find on the Continent of Europe 27 per cent. of the total motive
power is derived from water power, in the United States 24 per cent., whilst
Australia uses in her manufacturing industries only about 2 per cent.
In the report of the British Committee on “‘ Water Power in the British
Empire,” it is pointed out that there have been many good reasons for
comparative neglect in the past of the developmen. of water power in the Empire.
The general abundance of coal in proximity to centres of industry ; the heavy
initial outlay necessary to develop large hydro-electric schemes ; the lack of
co-ordination between possible producers, users, and financiers of power ;
the lack of markets for the energy which would be made available ; and the
remoteness of many of the sources of power from present centres of activity
have all contributed. Moreover, the highly efficient combination of the
hydraulic turbine and the electric generator capable of handling large powers
is of comparatively recent development. In order that any hydro-electric
scheme comprising extensive hydraulic works and transmission lines shall be
economically sound the demand for, and supply of, power must be approxi-
mately continuous and uniform. Otherwise a hydro-electric scheme cannot
compete financially, excepting under very special, conditions, with power
generated from fuel near the place of consumption.
18
Whilst there is no doubt that, owing to wide fluctuations between summer
and winter flow of Australian rivers and to the incidence of drought years,
the development of hydro-electric schemes in Australia may present difficulties
not ordinarily experienced in other countries, yet the systematic investigations
that have beeen carried out in New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania are
now showing valuable results, disproving the oft-repeated assertion that
Australia is without water power. The Chief Electrical Engineer of New
South Wales, in his last Annual Report, pointed out that water power
undoubtedly exists, which can be made available at reasonable capital cost,
but that the question of economic development depends upon the population
to be served and the industries that may be carried on or the other uses to
which it may be applied. The whole question of economical power supply
is thus obviously associated closely with other problems, such as land
settlement, immigration, industrial development, and decentralization.
As already stated, the questions of hydro-electric development and the
supply of cheap power are of supreme importance to the development of our
natural resources, yet it is impracticable at present to obtain comprehensive
and authoritative information on this matter in convenient form. Co-
operation between the Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry
and the State authorities concerned could remedy this. If these authorities
would furnish the Institute with all available information regarding the water
power resources of their respective States, the latter could undertake the
compilation and publication of a Bulletin, presenting the information, for the
use of persons concerned, in suitable form. Collaterally with this work, an
effort could be made on a co-operative basis by the Institute and the State
Departments to furnish further information regarding natural resources which
might be developed concurrently with the development of water-power
resources.
Vill.—FUEL.
Under our present system at least 95 per cent. of our industrial requirements
for power are derived from coal. Coal, however, if properly utilized, should
be much more than a source of heat and power. It is a storehouse of chemical
products—ammonia, benzol, tar, and about 1,200 important coal-tar dyes
and products—and it lends itself readily to transformation into coke and
gas. We may therefore ask in what relation does this fundamental resource
stand to the co-operative development of the Commonwealth ?
Without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, it is obvious
that our bituminous coal is mined under conditions of industrial unrest which
have at times proved disastrous to the community. Its cost to the consumer
is generally too high to furnish him with the cheap power necessary for
industrial development ona large scale. Old-fashioned coke ovens and hundreds
of relatively small and isolated power plants now waste valuable chemicals
to an annual total of hundreds of thousands of pounds sterling. The erection
19
of central power plants and the widespread use of either gas or electricity for
power purposes would double the effective energy of the coal and would
permit besides by-product recovery the saving of large sums now needlessly
expended in the transportation of coal.
‘In other countries plans either have been developed or are now under
consideration for the establishment of super-power plants at centres favorably
placed for the receipt of coal, the distribution of gas, and the transmission of
electrical energy. On a restricted scale there is a similar tendency in Australia.
For example, in Brisbane seven municipalities have combined to form a
Metropolitan Electricity Board, purchasing electricity in bulk. In Sydney
the City Council has completed an arrangement whereby it will purchase power
in bulk from the Railways and Tramways Department. In Melbourne the
Morwell brown-coal scheme is being developed, and in South Australia the
Adelaide Electric Supply Co. is erecting a new power station at Osborne, on
the Port River, with an ultimate capacity of 60,000 kw., from which energy
will be transmitted to many country towns, including irrigation settlements
on the Murray. In Western Australia a scheme has been discussed for the
electricity supply of Perth from a large central station situated on the Collie
coal-field.
Even in such large super-plants, however, the coal is wastefully used,
since the maximum thermal efficiency of the steam generators alone does
not exceed about 80 per cent., while the efficiency of the prime movers is such
that the power output rarely exceeds 19 per cent. of that theoretically possible.
In addition, the valuable content of oils, &c., is burnt, and thus to a large
extent wasted. It is in this latter connexion that the concentration of heat-
power plant is so valuable. The day is quickly approaching when the natural
oil wells of the world will no longer be able to supply the demands made on
them for fuel oil, motor spirit, &. Recognising this fact, other countries
are carrying out intensive research on the methods of oil distillation from
coal, but while accumulated knowledge during the past few years has brought
a solution near, a full technical and economic solution has not yet been reached.
It has, however, become fairly evident that the best chances of economical -
success lie in distillation of oils from coal by carbonizing the latter in a large
seale plant, and by utilizing the carbonized residue for the generation of power.
Thus, if in the future it becomes technically and economically possible to refine
_ coal, by carbonization or otherwise, into oil’ products, gas, and solid fuel, the
existence of central power stations would facilitate such refinement.
Such a refining process is of particularimportance to Australia, as,in addition
to the advantages other countries would enjoy, Australia would also be largely
helped towards the very desirable position of making herself independent of
the outside world for her vital supplies of motor spirit, fuel oil, &c
Australia annually imports about 35,000,000 gallons of motor spirit.
Experimental work in connexion with the low temperature distillation of
coal has given indications that ultimately it will be possible to extract up to
20
10 gallons of motor spirit per ton of coal carbonized. Thus it would only require
the carbonization of 3} million tons of coal to satisfy Australian motor fuel
requirements. The coal output from the Northern District of New South
Wales in 1921 was 7} million tons, and of this total 44 million tons came
from the Greta seams. It is thus evident that Australia has a yearly output
of coal potentially sufficient to render her independent of outside liquid fuel
supplies. In the case of the interruption of sea transport by war or for any
other reason it is extremely important that Australia be in such a position of
independence.
Other sources of oil fuel are lignites, brown coal, and oil shale. As
regards oil shales, success has been reached with certain deposits in other
countries, e.g., in Scotland ; but the nature of oil shale differs from place to
place, and in order to achieve success with any particular deposit it is necessary
to experiment on a small scale, guided of course by the experience of other lands.
Similarly with regard to brown coal, a process successful with one deposit is ‘
not necessarily successful when applied to material coming from another
locality. Here again research intelligently guided by past work is very
necessary.
The whole question of power supply and the economic utilization of selid,
liquid, and gaseous fuel involves so many interdependent factors that the
most effective method of solving the different problems is for one body, in co-
operation with the other interests and authorities concerned, to consider
them ina broad way. Such a body exists in Great Britain and is known as the
Fuel Research Board. If Australia is not to continue to see her fuel supply -
developed in a precarious, haphazard, and uneconomical manner, it is
urgently necessary for her to establish a similar organization. One of the first
and foremost functions of this body would be to make itself thoroughly
conversant with developments in other countries. At present many individuals
in Australia no doubt are acquiring such information along specialized lines,
but practically no co-ordination exists and no organization is available
whereby their services can be used in the way of a systematic progressive
advance towards the most economical treatment of our available fuel supplies:
By Authority: Atgert J. MuLiterr, Government Printer, Melbourne.
t é 4
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Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
The Bionomics
: OF
Smynthurus viridis Linn.
OR THE
South Australian Lucerne Flea
By
F. G. HOLDAWAY, M.Sc.
MELBOURNE, 1927
By Authority:
H. J. Green, Government Printer, Melbourne -
C.14289.
L.
CON TERS.
General Pat if so se ss 3 ae =
Theegg .. re <2 Bs oe =a
Oviposition ae ers ie ae ni be sr
Hatching .. = oc 42 ee Se =|
Nymphs
The adult
. Life History ..
3. Feeding Habits and Host Plants
4. Natural Controls
5. Distribution .. st i pr! ars = co Bee
6. The Effect of Meteorological Conditions
ho
.
. Experimental Work
Experiment 1.—To test the over-summering of eggs
Experiment 2.—To hatch artificially eggs which had over-summered in the
laboratory of pe Le zs oes a3 =
Experiment 3.—To observe the effect of absence of soil
Experiment 4.—To ascertain if soil is essential ..
Experiment 5.—To observe the effects of changed hydrogen-ion concentration
of the soil
The Role of Soil in the Insect’s Physiology
. Recommendations
. Acknowledgments
References
FIGURES.
. Meteorological conditions at Adelaide .. te oe s :
Monthly average rainfall and evaporation at Adelaide Ps sc pe
Graphic representation of the effect of soil on growth
. Graph show:ng the duration of life of insects in Expt. 4
. Graph showing the duration of life of insects in Expt. 5
j. Graphic representation of egg production with and without soil
. Graphic representation of egg production with soils of different acidities
. Smynthurus viridis Linn. and Paederus cingulatus Macl. = —
Two at 13 days, one at 15, one at 18, two at 19, one at 25, two at 29, one
at 30, two at 32, and the last two at 35 days (all periods measured from
the 11th of May).
The experiments demonstrated that eggs could remain alive for a
considerable time, under adverse conditions, without moisture. It also
showed that soil moisture was the main factor in the development of
the eggs, and explained why the “ flea” disappeared in the summer and
reappeared soon after the first autumn rains of any consequence. The
results of these two experiments leave no doubt as to the over-summering
of Smynthurus in the egg stage.
Buperiment 3—To observe the effect of absence of soil.—Twenty
Smynthuri collected in the field on the 25th of May, 1926, were divided,
(1) This was considered necessary since it was suspected that different soil environments
affected the egg period and the hatching.
13
and half placed in a large glass tube with moist soil,“ and lucerne,
variety Marlborough, for food. The other half (A) were placed in a
similar tube with the same variety of lucerne but without soil. The
tubes were closed with fairly loose cotton wool plugs, and daily records
were kept of the number of eggs laid and the number of insects found
dead. The insects were removed to clean tubes and given fresh food
nearly every day, and in the case of the control tube (C) fresh moist
soil was given regularly. In (A), the eggs were laid naked on the glass
or on leaves of the food. Occasionally, females were found eating their
own eggs soon after having laid them. In such cases, a very fair idea
of the number laid could be obtained by counting the shrivelled remains
of the shells. After the experiment had been in progress three weeks it
was found necessary to adopt another food plant. Clover (Medicago
denticulata) was used in both tubes, and the change did not seem to
affect the insect materially.
Although at the beginning of the experiment, there was practically
no difference as regards size between the insects in the two tubes, after
two weeks it was very evident that those in the control tube were much
larger (vide Expt. 4). A comparison of the results from each batch
gave the following information :—The absence of soil from (A) did not
appear to affect the length of life, since the total number of insect days
lived by those in the control tube was 527, or an average of 32.7 per
insect; while in (A) they were 330, an average of 33 per insect. How-
ever, there was a marked decrease in the number of eggs laid in (A),
the average being 0.42, while the controls averaged 0.94 per day; so that
(A) produced only 45 per cent. of the number laid by the controls. It
is realized that these results alone cou!d not be considered very signifi-
cant, since the insects used in the experiment were not all of the same
age. But it is interesting to compare the results with those obtained in
Expt. 4, where the insects in tube (A) were prevented from obtaining
soil throughout their lives.
Experiment 4—To ascertain tf soil is essential—First instar
uymphs, just emerged from eggs collected in the field, were used in this
experiment, which was started on the 10th of June, 1926. Four nymphs
were placed in one tube (C) with damp soil and clover, and four in
another (A) with food but without soil. During the second week, it
could be seen that the controls had grown more and had a rotund, well-
fed appearance; whilst those without soil ‘were smaller and “ pinched,”
did not feed well, and were often observed inactive for a considerable
time. At the end of three weeks, all insects were measured, the average
length of the controls being 1.94 m.m. as against 1.30 m.m. in the other
cease. The former thus averaged more than one and a half times the
length of those deprived of soil. The smallest specimen in (C) was
1.25 times as long as the largest in (A).
(2) Unless otherwise stated the soil used in all control experiments was ordinary sifted clay
loam soil from the fields at the Waite Institute, where lucerne flea was known to thrive.
A typical analysis of such soil is as follows -—
Mechanical Analisis. Chemical A nalys: .
(Percentage taken on total dry matter.) Per cent.
_ Clay v2 % q. 5 = ee 3 te Al, O; + Fe, O, ai ee Sees
Fine silt = = fe ere ie CaO a gd 0,22
Silt ae Pi a eth, 'S MgO 0,48
Fine sand - z% Bie Bones oD K.0O : = — Be ae,
Coarse sand uJ Ps 4 ith P.O; 2 AS a .. 0,043
Fine gravel aa =¢ wor Os Total nitrogen = se .. 0,091
Loss on ignition .. as a ee p.H. value oe oe s, Ar
Total wis = -.99,9%
14
From this time, at intervals of three or four days, all insects in
both tubes were 5 the relative average length of the insects
being indicated in Fig. 3. (The widths of the columns are arbitrary,
and not to scale.) The Se? which is brought out clearly is that the
size of the insects (as shown by the length from the anterior of the head
to the tip of the abdomen) in the tube without soil is consistently
smaller than that of the controls.
Fig. 4 indicates the length of life of each insect in each tube. The
lack of soil did not appear to affect the duration of life, for in the
control four insects lived a total of 279 days, or an average of 69.7 days;
while without soil four insects lived a total of 278 days, or an average
of 69.5 days.
There was a marked difference in egg-production by the insects in
each batch (vide Fig. 6). In the control a total of 471 eggs were laid
by the four insects during their complete life, but in the tube devoid of
soil only 84. During ‘the egg-laying periods, the insects from both
batches were confined, “for portion of the time, in separate tubes, in
order to ascertain the number of females present. In the control, all
four were females and uniform in size. In the other batch one was
probably a male. It was much smaller, darker, and, as far as could be
observed, it never laid.
The main data from the experiment are set out in the following
tables. (C control. .\ == batch deprived of soil.) -—
{
|
| sat Average
Geto Total Life seit 2 Total number of
Batch. Insects. | in Days. ey Females. Eggs. ues per
as Female.
C Be ve 4 279 69°7 + 471 LEWGs
A sts bd 4 278 69°5 84 28°
| | |
Batch | Egg-laying Time to first Eggs per Percentage
aed | Period (days). Laying (days). Female Day. Egg-production.
C 40 30 1°69 100%
A 18 44 | :
It will be seen that egg-laying began fourteen days later in (A) than
in (C); that the period during which it occurred in (A) was less than
half that of (C); and that, although laying commenced fourteen days
later in (A), it was completed before it had ceased in (C).
The main points which the experiment seems to indicate are—
(a) soil is not essential for life (at least for one generation); (b)
absence of soil did not seem to affect the duration of life; but it (c) re-
sulted in less growth; and (d) reduced egg-production to 25 per cent. of
that in the control.
Experiment 5—To observe the effects of changed hyde ogen-i0n COn-
centration of the soil——The soil at the Waite Institute, where most of
the field observations were carried out, had a slightly acid reaction
(p.H. 6.0 to 6.7). The present experiment was planned to observe the
effect on the insect’s life of changing the soil reaction from acid to
alkaline.
—
cn
In the control tube eight first instar nymphs were placed with
ordinary sifted soil (p.H 6.7), which had been moistened with distilled
water. Hight more first instar nymphs of the same age were placed in
& second tube with similar soil, which had been made slightly alkaline
by the addition of calcium carbonate, the p.H. then being 7.45. Clover
was used as food in both tubes.
_ The difference in duration of life in the two tubes was very small.
In the control (C) eight Smynthuri lived a total of 308 days, or 38.5
per insect. In the other batch (A), seven—one was lost during the
experiment—lived a total of 257 days, an average of 36.7 per insect.
Fig. 5 shows graphically the length of life of each.
There was a slight difference in size between the insects in the two
tubes, those in the alkaline batch being slightly smaller.
The results were as follows »—
i
oer Total Average Total Eggs per
Batch, eee dy Life Lite Eggs Average. Insect
SELES in Days. in Days. Laid. Day.
CP... 343 8 308 38°5 630 Th 2°04
A 7 257 36°7 128 18°3 0°5
Batch. | Time to Egg-laying. Egg-laying Period. Egg Production.
C rk ae | 22 days 24 days 100%
A os |
23 days 15 days 24%
(1) At most there were three males in each batch. In (C) one of these died early before egg-laying
There was a striking difference in the number of eggs laid per egg-
mound in each batch. In (C) six mounds contained over 60 eggs each,
the highest number being 84; whilst in (A), the maximum per mound
was only 34.
It will be seen from the table that in (A) egg-production was only
24 per cent. of that in the control. Fig. 7 graphically represents the
egg-production by the insects reduced to four insects in each batch for
comparison with Fig. 6.
It is interesting to compare the controls in Figs. 4 and 5, which
indicate the duration of life in Expts. 4 and 5 respectively, drawn to the
same seale. It will be seen that life was much shorter in Expt. 5 than in
Expt. 4. Expt. 5 was carried out in the early summer (20th September
to 8th November) and bot dry conditions prevailed towards the eid.
Such conditions, which in the field kill off all nymphs and adults,
leaving only eggs, probably had the effect of cutting short the normal
life of the insects. Expt. 4 was carried out during the late winter
(10th June to 31st August). Although the average life in Expt. 5 was
much less than in Expt. 4 (39 days as compared with 70 days), the
rate of ege-production reckoned in insect days was much higher. In
ixpt. 4 it was 1.69 eggs per insect-day when all the insects were females,
whereas in Expt. 5 it was 2.05 with probably two or three males in-
cluded, which would thus tend to give too low an average. This shows
that at the approach of summer the rate of egg-production increased
more than 21 per cent.
16
8. The Role of Soil in the Insect’s Physiology.
It is too early to come to any definite conclusions concerning the
role which the soil plays in the physiology of Smynthurus. That there
is in the soil some factor (or more than one) which has a very marked
effect on the insect’s life is very evident. What the exact nature of this
“secessory physiological factor” is, has yet to be determined. Without
further experimental evidence one cannot do more than speculate. It is
certain that the soil is not merely serving as roughage, for in batch
(A) of Expt. 5, the mechanical constituents were similar to those of
the control. It would appear then that the soil factor is concerned
with nutrition.
Arrhenius (1) found that earthworms could live only in soil whose
p.H. value was in the vicinity of 6 and 7. In the case of Smynthurus,
the effect of changed soil conditions has not been quite so profound, but
the comparison is interesting. It seems that the changed hydrogen-ion
concentration itself may not be the factor directly responsible for the
altered physiology of the insect, but rather an indication of other
changed factors. The change of soil p.H. may have the effect of so
altering some soil substance concerned with nutrition, as to make it
unavailable for the insect, and thus upset its normal functions. The
various characteristics of the soil, physical, chemical, and biological,
inust all be considered in an investigation into this problem.
At present the situation stands as follows. If the p.H. of the soil
can be so altered from what appears to be an optimum for the insect,
end still be kept within a range advantageous to crop production, a
very important step in the control of the insect will be made. Some
growers have reported that where stable manure was abundant, “fleas ”
were bad; and some have noticed an increased attack after the applica-
tion of superphosphate. The question as to how do these substances
effect the insect thus arises. Do they affect it through the soil eaten,
or do they affect it indirectly through the plants? It is a matter for
future investigation to ascertain whether there is hope for ultimate
control of the pest by methods other than the use of insecticides.
9. Recommendations,
The over-summering as av egg in the fields definitely establishes
the fact that if “lucerne flea” is present in a field one season, it will be
present there again next season, after the autumn rains have caused the
hatching of the over-summering eggs. Any farm operation which causes
the destruction of eggs present on the surface of the soil during the
summer, or which results in deficiency of food for the insects in the
autumn, will assist greatly in checking the pest. A judicious system of
bare-fallowing, keeping in mind the life-history of the pest, will be of
major importance. The best system of fallowing and crop rotation is a
matter for future investigation, but with these suggestions, agriculturists
will in the meantime, by their own observations and experience, be able
to do a great deal along these lines.
It has been shown that an alkaline soil is detrimental to the insect
and reduces its rate of reproduction, hence the application of lime to
the soil should greatly assist in controlling the pest. As far as lucerne
and the clovers are concerned, the crop will benefit directly from such
application apart from its action on the “flea.” All headlands should
be kept quite free of weeds and growth of any kind, to minimize the
17
spread from adjoining pastures. These recommendations may be sum-
marized +—(a) bare fallowing in the rotation, (b) liming, (c) keeping
headlands free of vegetation.
10. Acknowledgments.
I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to the following members of
the Adelaide University staff:—Miss E. D. Macklin, who carried
through to completion Expt. 5 after I had left Adelaide; Professor
J. A. Prescott, of the Waite Institute, for his active interest and for
the preparation of soils for experimental work; and Professor Harvey
Johnston for leboratory facilities; also to Professor O. A. Johannsen
of Cornell University for reading through the manuscript.
11. References.
1. Arrhenius. O—Influence of soil reactions on earth-worms.
Ecology, 2; pp. 255-261, 1921.
2. Claypole——The embryology and oogenesis of Anurida maritima.
Jour. Morph. X1V.: 2, pp. 219-3800. 1898.
3. Davies, W. M.—Collembola injuring leaves of mangold seedlings.
Buil. Ent. Res. XVII.: 2, pp. 159-162. 1926.
4. Froggatt, W. W.—Australian insects. Syduey, 1907.
5. Geoffroy, E. L.—Histoire des insectes qui se trouve aux environs de
Paris. 1726.
6. Latreille, P. A.—Histoire naturelle générale et particuliére des
crustacés et des insectes. S$: pp. 79-82. 1802.
7. Lea, A. M.—The lucerne flea. Jour. Dept. Agric. South Aust.
XXVI.: p. 424. 1922.
Ss. Linnaeus, C.—Fauna Suecica, 1746.
9. Linnaeus, C.—Systema Naturae, 10th Ed., 1758.
10. Lubbock, J.—Collembola and Thysanura. Ray Soc. 276 pp. 1872.
11. Maenamara, C.—Remarks on Collembola; function of the ventral
tube. Canad. Ent. LI., pp. 73-81, 265-272. 1919.
12. Maecnamara, C.—Food of Collembeola. Canad. Ent. LVI., pp.
99-105. 1924.
13. Prescott, J. A——Unpublished data.
14. Shott, H.—Results of Dr. Mjoberg’s Swedish Scientific Expedition
to Australia, 1910-1913. 15. Collembola Ark. f. Zool., Stock.
XI; 8. p. 58, 1917.
15. Summers, W. L.—Lucerne springtail or Smynthurus. Jour. Dept.
Agr-., South Aust. IV., pp. 18-19, 1900-01.
i6. Taylor, Griffith—The Australian cnvironment (especially as con-
trolled by rainfall). Mem. No. 1. Austr. Advis. Council Se.
Ind., Melbourne, 1918.
cs
Air Temperalure
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(1925) Mar June Sept Dec. Mar. June (/92&)
Ym
Cpe ie
Humidity
Ry) Gas
Relslive
&
(925) Mar June Sept Dec. Mar (926 )
Fic. 1.—(a) Monthly average air temperature at the Waite Institute, Adelaide.
(6) Monthly average relative humidity for Adelaide (data supplied
by Commonwealth Meteorological Bureau),
wn
-
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¥ Hatching began®
Halching ceased
- 4
June Sept Dec. Mar Jure (1926)
Hatching SCRE; Hatching began
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—(2) Monthly rainfall at the Waite Institute, Adelaide. —
(b) Monthly average evaporation per day /
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Fic. 3.—Graphic representation of growth with soil (c) and without soil (4).
Fre. 4.—Showing the duration of life of insects in Expt. 4.
Fic. 5.—Showing duration of life of insects in Expt. 5.
* Laying period.
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Eggs
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Fria. 6.—Graphie representation of egg production with soil and without soil.
Calenlated for four females.
(c) Contro] with soil.
(A) Without soil.
Fic. 7.—Graphie representation of egg production with soils of different
acidities.
(c) Control with ordinary soil of p.H. 6:7.
(a) Alkaline soil of p.H. 7°45.
Eggs calculated for four females in each case.
22
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Fic. 8.—a Smynthurus viridis Linn.
Staphylinidae, predaceous on
Family
B Paederus cingulatus Macl.
Smynthurus viridis.
JSOUTM AUSTRALIA
LEGEND
DISTRIBUTION OF LUCERNE PLEA
Lucerng FA t
| Sie eent
Fie. 9.—Relation ef rainfall to the distribution of lucerne
H. J. GREEN.
GOVERNMENT PRINTER,
MELBOURNE.
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Australia: its Treatment —
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PAMPHLET No. 5.
and Prevention
|
|
in Australia: its Treatment
:
MELBOURNE, 1928
By
I; CLUNIES: ROSS, B.N.Sc.
By Authority:
H. J. Green, Government Printer, Melbourne
a
5
LIVER FLUKE DISEASE IN AUSTRALIA :
ITS TREATMENT AND PREVENTION.
BY I. CLUNIES ROSS, BV.Sc.;
Veterinary Parasitologist, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.
1. What is meant by Fluke Disease. 5. The two forms of Fluke Disease—
2. Its Economic Importance and Dis- (a) Acute, (b) Chronic.
tribution in Australia. 6. The Treatment of Fluke Disease.
3. The Life-cycle of the Fluke Parasite. 7. The Prevention of Fluke Disease.
4. How and when Fluke Disease is 8. Summary.
spread. 9. Acknowledgments.
1. What is Meant by Fluke Disease.
By fluke disease is meant those harmful effects caused by the presence
of a flat leaf-like worm, the liver fluke,* in the bile ducts or liver tissue of
the sheep or ox. Though cattle are frequently found infested by the liver
fluke, the harmful effects caused in these animals are very much less serious
than those in sheep. The information given in this pamphlet therefore
applies primarily to fluke disease of sheep.
2. Its Economic Importance and Distribution in Australia.
It is hard to form an accurate estimate of the annual losses in Australia
from fluke disease, since these may vary considerably from year to year
in each State, and even in each district. It must be remembered also, that
there must be included in the losses attributable to fluke infestation not
only the actual mortality from this cause, but also the deterioration in the
wool and mutton value of those sheep which are attacked but survive.
In addition, sheep which are affected by fluke are much more susceptible
to the attacks of other parasites such as stomach and lung worms. It can
be definitely stated that over large areas fluke disease is the most serious
disease affecting sheep, and throughout the whole of Australia the losses
directly attributable to it are not less than £100,000 per annum, while in
certain years this figure may be considerably exceeded. Fluke disease is of
importance in four States of the Commonwealth, namely, New South Wales,
Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania. The areas most seriously affected
are those of comparatively high rainfall, and these may occur either in high
undulating country such as is found on the tablelands, or in the flat, coastal
or lake country. Thus in New South Wales the disease occurs throughout
the tablelands of the Great Dividing Range, grows less on the western slopes,
and disappears on the plains. In Victoria, it is met with principally in the
Gippsland district, parts of the Western and Central districts, and particu-
larly along the valley of the Goulburn River. In South Australia, losses
Ee
* Fasciola hepatica (Linngus 1758).
t
are confined to the wet South-eastern part of the State, while in Tasmania
severe losses occur on the flat coastal areas of the North-east, the valley of
the South Esk River, and in some of the river and irrigated land of the
Midland Division. In Queensland fluke disease in sheep is very rarely seen,
while it is practically non-existent in Western Australia.
That this disease, which is to a very large extent preventible, should
continue to exact its toll is lamentable. Every stock-owner has his part to
play in its eradication, and this pamphlet has been prepared with the object
of assisting individual owners to do their utmost in that connexion.
3. The Life-cycle of the Fluke Parasite.
In order that the pastoralist may appreciate how fluke disease is spread
and how it may be prevented, it is essential that he should understand the
life-cycle of the parasite which causes the disease.
The adult parasite is a flat, yellowish or greenish-brown worm, leaf-like
in shape, and about 1 inch long by } inch wide (Fig. 1). In a fluky liver
the parasite may be readily demonstrated
Al Fic. 1. in the bile ducts. Here the worm lays
The Adult Liver Fluke. its eggs, and each fluke may produce
Fasciola hepatica. many thousands of eggs, which are
(Natural size.) minute yellowish-brown objects of the
i ae typical egg shape, and may be seen by
a worm in the liver Smearing some of the bile from the ducts
| causes fluke disease. on a glass slide and then holding it up to
the light. After leaving the liver the
eggs mingle with the bowel contents, and so pass out of the sheep
on to the pastures. Development now commences, but soon ceases
unless the eggs have fallen into water or some moist place, for if
the eggs become dry they soon shrivel up and die since it is only
in water that they are able to undergo further development. On reach-
ing water, development proceeds rapidly, and in eleven days in summer
weather but much longer in cold weather, a minute embryo fluke is formed
within the egg. The embryo now commences to make active movements
so that a cap at the end of the egg is pushed up, and the little fluke, which is
of microscopic size only, emerges and swims about rapidly by means of the
fine hair-like processes with which it is covered. This little fluke (miracidium)
can only live for a few hours unless it meets with a certain variety of
fresh-water snail in which it is to undergo further development. A par-
ticular Australian snail in which this development commonly occurs will be
described later. Having found its snail, the fluke bores its way into it and
then passes to the internal organs, where it commences a complicated course
of development. After some months, growth within the snail is completed,
and from each original young fluke (miracidium) which entered the snail
more than a hundred new individuals may have been formed. These new
young flukes are still of little more than microscopic size, but are heart-shaped
)
with long tails. They now make their way out of the snails and swim about
in the water for a short time, and then attach themselves to blades of grass
or weeds. Their tails drop off, and a secretion is thrown out which forms
_a protective covering or cyst wall around them. These young encysted
fluke (cercari@) are the final stage passed outside the sheep, and they are
now ready to infest sheep. How is this brought about ? Simply by sheep
(or other stock) swallowing the young fluke, while grazing over marshy areas
Fig. 2.
A—Young fluke (miracidium) at the
time of hatching of the fluke egg.
This young fluke swims about in
the water until it finds certain
fresh water snails in which it must
undergo development. Unless _ it
finds these snails it dies in a few
hours.
B—Younzg fluke (cercaria) on completing
development within the snail. After
leaving the body of the snail the
fluke swims about fora short period
and then attaches to blades of grass
growing in the water. Sheep can
only contract fluke disease by
swallowing young fluke which have
undergone development within the
A snail.
Both greatly enlarged.
or on weeds growing ai the side of streams and creeks. Some young fluke,
instead of attaching to grass, may float, surrounded by their protective coat,
on the surface of the water, and though this is a much less important method
of infestation, stock may become infested in this way as they drink from
snail-infested pools. Jt is only by swallowing the young fluke which have left
the snails and have attached to grass or are floating on the water that sheep become
infested with fluke. Having been swallowed, the protective coat surrounding
the fluke is dissolved by the digestive juices and the fluke bores its way
into the wall of the bowel. Passing through the bowel it falls into the
abdominal cavity. Here it wanders about for some days growing in size
till it is about an eighth of an inch long, and resembles the adult fluke in shape.
At the end of this period it makes its way to the liver, bores into the surface
of the organ, and then passes to the bile ducts. Here it becomes mature,
and produces eggs eight weeks later.
It is especially important to remember in connexion with the above
life-cycle that—
(i) Fluke eggs can develop and hatch only in water.
(u) The young fluke die unless they find certain fresh-water snails.
(ili) Stock become infested only by grazing on herbage to which fluke
have attached themselves after passing out of the snail; or by
drinking water on which the young fluke are floating.
Thus it will be seen that the two all-important factors in the spread of fluke
disease are water and snails, and without these the disease cannot continue.
C.14841.—2
6
4. How and Where Fluke Disease is Spread.
We have seen that snails are necessary for fluke development, but not
all snails will serve this purpose. It is desirable that the dangerous varieties
should be recognized. The common fresh-water snails met with in Australia
are of two types, which may be distinguished as follows. Place the snails
with the opening of the shell downwards, and with the point of the shell
towards you. It will be seen that in one type the basal coil of the snail
when traced downwards curves to the right, in the other to the left. Those
snails in which the curve is to the right belong to the dangerous group. The
a)
SG
Fic. 3.—Common Fresh Water Snails. (Natural size.)
A—Fluke snails (Limnea brazieri), These may be distinguished by the
fact that when placed face downwards on the palm of the hand
with the point of the shell towards the observer the final coil of
the shell curves to the right. Young fluke must undergo
development within these snails, so that without them fluke
disease could not occur.
B—Snails not known to be carriers of fluke. The final coil of the
shell curves to the left.
tentacles of these also will be found to be triangular in shape instead of having
the long and slender form of the others. Only one species of snail* has as
yet definitely been proved to be a carrier of fluke in Australia, and this is
usually small, being up to about } inch in length. It may vary in colour
from dull yellowish-brown to a dark brownish-green. Though stock-owners
may never have noticed it on their properties, either this snail or one of the
same type will certainly be present if losses from fiuke continue to occur,
and such snails should be sought for in paddocks known to be dangerous.
It is quite easy for them to escape detection in heavily weeded creeks or
marshes, unless a careful search is made. This variety of snail breeds actively
twice a year, the first period being in the late winter and spring (July, August,
and September), and the second in the summer (December, January, and
February). Some eggs, however, may be found at almost any time in the
year. The eggs are laid in cucumber-shaped masses of jelly which may be
3 inch long, and contain from 30 to 40 eggs.
Distribution of Fluke Snails.—The snails are widely distributed and may
occur in a variety of situations. They are perhaps most commonly found in
shallow marshy areas, such as those spreading out from springs and along
the beds of slow-running streams. They may also be found in the spring
itself, and in shallow rocky pools, and even in clear running streams or fast
flowing rivers. The snails occasionally exist in areas where losses from fluke
HoH a
* Limnea brazieri (Smith).
=]
are unknown, as, for example, in the bore drains or the dry north-western
plains of New South Wales. Both the dangerous and the unimportant
varieties of snail frequently occupy the same situations, but the latter are
perhaps most frequent in the larger pools and small lakes.
It is in certain definite situations that the presence of the fluke snail is
most dangerous, and these are those marshy areas which, while containing
sufficient water for snail life, are yet so shallow that sheep are able to graze
over them. It will be seen that young fluke leaving snails in these situations
are easily able to attach themselves to grass, &c., from which position they
can readily infest sheep. On any property where losses from fluke are met
with, the owner will almost certainly be able to recognize some spot having
these characteristics and probably will have associated it with fluke. Where
snails occur in clear streams with well defined banks, or in the deeper pools
the banks of which are free from weeds or grass, the danger is greatly
diminished for the following reasons. Firstly, there is much less chance of
sheep’s dung containing fluke eggs falling into water and of the fluke eggs
Fic. 4.—A Dangerous Fluke Area.
[Photo by courtesy of the Federal Capital Commission.]
A slow-running stream here spreads out to form a snail infested marsh.
Sheep are able to graze over the whole of this area, so that conditions are
highly favorable to the propagation of fluke life, and sheep are constantly
exposed to the risk of infestation with fluke.
hatching, so that the danger of snails becoming infested is proportionately
less. Secondly, the young fluke emerging from any snails which do become
infested are less likely to become attached to weeds or grass eaten by sheep.
This will explain why in some cases, though many snails have been noticed
in such pools or streams, yet heavy losses in these paddocks have not been
experienced, while in other paddocks where snails are hard to find losses
have been serious. In one place conditions are unfavorable to the infestation
of snails and sheep, in the other everything predisposes towards it. In Fig. 4
io)
is shown a typically dangerous fluky site where a slow-running stream spreads
out to form a snail-infested marsh over which sheep constantly graze.
Why losses from fluke fluctuate from year to year —It will have been noticed
that losses from fluke are subject to considerable variation, but that they
tend to be worst after one or two abnormally wet years. It will be readily
appreciated that in such years the area of marsh and bog land increases,
and new springs break out, so that everything conduces to the hatching of
fluke eggs and the spread of infected snails. The latter therefore increase
in numbers enormously. At the same time with the extension of the marshy
areas, there is a correspondingly greater risk of sheep picking up the young
fluke. For this reason, the presence of snails on a property where losses
from fluke in normal years are but trivial must be regarded as a source of
danger, since one or two years favorable to fluke and snail life may result
in serious outbreaks of fluke disease. Cases of this sort have occurred where
districts normally hot and dry suffered very serious losses, as in parts of
north-western New South Wales, though subsequently the disease has died.
out on the return to normal conditions.
Though in general wet years are responsible for the heaviest losses from
fluke, yet in those parts where losses are fairly constant, dry weather may te
some extent predispose towards infestation in certain paddocks. This is
due to the fact that in long periods of dry weather, perhaps the only green
area in a paddock will be found surrounding a spring or along the course
of a stream which almost certainly contains snails. In such a paddock,
all the sheep will often be found congregated along this green area,
and as long as it remains damp and marshy the chances of sheep becoming
infected will be very great, since they are thus forced into the very place
where infected snails and, therefore, young fluke are most concentrated.
In this fact will be found the reason why in some paddocks, even in dry
years, losses from fluke may be serious. At the same time long periods of
dryness are unfavorable to the spread of the fluke disease, and it will often
die out completely in a district at such times.
It has been said that where snails occur in clear streams or Trivers,
the chance of their being dangerous to stock is greatly lessened; but
they must not on that account be disregarded, since it is possible for
them to migrate from these situations up side streams and creeks,
till they arrive in situations where their presence is a direct menace.
They may also be carried by flood waters over the banks of the river and be
deposited in marshy areas at the sides. Another method of spread of fluke
disease which must be guarded against is the carrying of young fluke which
are floating on the surface of the water to other situations at considerable
distances from the place where they emerged from the snail. In this way
it is possible that infection may be carried from one property to another,
and cases have occurred of stock being infested in this way by water piped
to a trough from a spring some distance away.
9
At what period of the year do snails and stock become infested with fluke ?*—
It has been found that fluke eggs will not hatch during the winter over the
greater part of the country where fluke disease is common. Nevertheless,
the eggs passed out during the winter, though they do not hatch, remain
alive, and with the coming of the warm weather of spring development pro-
ceeds, large numbers then hatch within a short time, and infestation of snails
results. This latter infestation proceeds probably through the summer
mouths. Spring is therefore a specially important time from the point of
view of infestation of snails, and this point will be referred to when dealing
with preventive measures. Infestation of sheep will commence at the time
when those fluke which have infested snails in the spring have completed
development within them, have emerged, and have become attached to
grass or weeds. This probably does not occur to a large extent before the
late summer months, and then continues to a lesser degree through the autumn
and possibly the winter. Late summer and autumn, therefore, are the most
dangerous periods for infestation of sheep, though the results of this infes-
tation are frequently only noticed in the subsequent winter.
5. The Two Forms of Fluke Disease—(a) Acute. (b! Chronic.
Two forms of fluke disease occur in Australia, though farmers, for the
most part, have recognized only one. These two forms may be described
as acute and chronic fluke disease.
; (i) Acute Fluke Disease.
In describing the life-cycle of the fluke parasite, it was shown that after
the sheep had eaten blades of grass to which fluke embryos were attached,
these latter after being set free in the bowel, passed through the bowel wall,
and fell into the abdominal cavity, and finally after wandering about for
some days, made their way to the liver into the surface of which they bored.
In the last-named operation a considerable amount of damage to the liver
tissue is produced, and through the wounds thus caused there is an escape of
blood so that the animals bleed internally into the abdominal cavity. It
can easily be imagined that when a large number of fluke are piercing the
liver at one time, as for example when a sheep has grazed over a marsh heavily
infected with young fluke, the loss of blood and the liver injury may be so
great that the sheep may die suddenly without showing any marked signs of
ill-health. In the great majority of cases, losses from acute fluke disease
have usually been attributed by farmers to other causes, as for example
“black disease” in the Monaro district of New South Wales, or the braxy
like diseases of Victoria and Tasmania. Losses from acute fluke disease
are usually seen during the late summer or early autumn months of February
and March, because, as we have seen, it is at this time that young fluke emerge
in large numbers from snails. If sheep are attacked by only a few fluke at
one time, the liver damage and loss of blood are but slight and the great
majozity of sheep so attacked show no noticeable signs of ill-health. The
fluke then pass to the bile ducts, where they grow to maturity during the
winter months and give rise to the chronic form of the disease.
10
How acute fluke disease may be recognized.—If the carcass of a sheep which
has died of acute fluke disease be opened, it will be found that the abdominal
cavity contains a quantity of blood-staimed or straw-coloured liquid, this
being due to the blood which has escaped from the damaged liver. The liver
itself may be softened and black in colour, or the surface may be rough and
mottled in appearance. It may not be possible to see the young flukes, but
if the surface of the liver is carefully examined, they may usually be found
as small pinkish objects up to an eighth of an inch in length. It is very
desirable that stock-owners should be on the lookout for the acute form of
fluke disease, and should not attribute losses from this cause to other factors,
thus overlooking the measures necessary for its prevention.
(ii) Chronic Fluke Disease.
This is the form of the disease which was previously the only one recognized
in most cases as being caused by fluke. After the fluke have made their way
into the liver and have become mature, their presence in the bile ducts leads
to considerable irritation, damming back of bile, and great resulting thickening
of the ducts. In old cases these ducts stand out on the liver as white bands
Fic. 5.—Liver of Sheep affected with Chronic Fluke Disease.
Note how the bile ducts stand out on the normal liver tissue. On
opening one of these ducts numerous adult fluke would~ be found, while the
bile would be swarming with eggs. Medicinal treatment will greatly assist
sheep suffering from this form of fluke disease.
giving the appearance known as “ pipey liver.” All these changes in the
liver lead to derangement of digestion, while owing to the fact that the fluke
sucks blood, there is a continual drain on the body, so that the tissues become
paleand anemic. We have seen that infection of sheep usually commences in
li
large numbers in the late summer months, and that it takes over two months
for the fluke to become mature. It follows, therefore, that most sheep will
not commence to show marked symptoms of chronic fluke disease till the
early winter months, and these will gradually become more serious as the
winter progresses.
Symptoms of chronic fluke disease—Some time after infestation has taken
place, sheep will be noticed to be languid and easily fatigued if driven. When
caught and examined the membranes of the eye and mouth will be seen to
be pale and anemic. As the disease progresses, the gait of the sheep becomes
stiff, the loss of condition grows more marked, and dropsical swellings may
develop under the jaws and the abdomen. The animal may live for
two or three months and may finally succumb, especially if subjected to
unusual exertion or very cold weather. If the animals survive till the spring
they tend to throw off the disease and gradually recover. The loss of con-
dition and disturbance of growth, however, is often serious, even in those
cases which do not die of the disease. On examining a sheep dying of chronic
fluke disease, the body will be found to be wasted and emaciated, while there
is sometimes dropsical fluid in the abdomen. In old cases the liver is much
altered, the bile ducts stand out prominently, and on opening these large
numbers of fluke will be found. Once fluke are present in the liver they may
live for over a year, and their effects be felt by the sheep throughout this
period.
The ill effects caused by stomach worms may resemble those caused by
fluke, and the harmful effects of either of these parasites may be increased
by the presence of the other. Wherever fluke is suspected, measures for its
treatment should be carried out, and these will at the same time be found to
have a beneficial effect on stomach worm infestation should this also be
present. As far as possible, however, steps should be taken to ascertain
which of the two—fluke or stomach worm—is the primary cause of disease,
since if the trouble is due to a stomach worm, it will be advisable to give
treatment other than that prescribed for fluke.
Having arrived at a clear understanding of the life-cycle of the liver fluke,
and of its relationship to the factors on which infestation of sheep with this
parasite depend, it is now possible to consider measures necessary for the
control of fluke disease. Control may be attempted in two ways—either
(i) by treating sheep to kill the adult parasite in the liver or (ii) by preventive
measures designed to prevent infestafion of young clean animals and the
further infestation of sheep once they have been freed from fluke.
6. The Treatment of Fluke Disease.
In treating sheep for liver fluke, it has been found that most of the drugs
usually employed against other internal parasites of sheep, such as the stomach
worm, are quite ineffective. One drug, however, has recently been found
to surpass all others in efficiency against fluke. This drug—carbon tetra-
chloride—is a heavy colourless liquid, having a characteristic aromatic odour.
12
In its properties it is related to chloroform, and if inhaled it has a similar
anesthetic action. It may be conveniently administered and its cost is
relatively small.
Dose of carbon tetrachloride——The dose of carbon tetrachloride which has
been found completely effective against fluke is very small, being only 1
cubic centimetre, or in other words about 16 drops. This quantity may
be given with safety since it has been found that some sheep will tolerate
a dose 30 times as large. There is, however, no good purpose served in
increasing the dose, and in some cases there may be a small degree of danger
if this be done. Owing to the smallness of the dose, it is necessary to give
the drug in such a way that none of it is lost.
Methods of administering the drug.—(i) In solution, by means of a syringe.
By this method carbon tetrachloride is first diluted to form a larger dose
with some suitable substance, and is then given by the mouth by means of a
syringe. The most suitable substance for mixing with carbon tetrachloride
is liquid paraffin—a colourless oily liquid with which it readily mixes to form
a mobile fluid which may be easily given. Four parts of liquid paraffin
should be mixed with one part of carbon tetrachloride. The dose of carbon
tetrachloride is 1 cubic centimetre (16 drops), so that this must be
mixed with 4 cubic centimetres of liquid paraffin to form a total dose of 5
cubic centimetres. It is useless to try and dilute the drug with water since
the two will not mix, while the practice of mixing it with kerosene is to be
condemned since it may be dangerous to sheep. The dose can be administered
by using an ordinary hypodermic syringe (without the needle and of 5 c.c.
size), which when filled will contain the correct amount. Certain commercial
firms prepare a mixture of the two ingredients in the proper proportions
ready to administer, and supply special syringes made to hold the required
dose. If the mixture is prepared by the sheep owner, he should take care
to secure only chemically pure carbon tetrachloride from reliable wholesale
chemists, and the drug should be mixed only with liquid paraffin as above
described.
To estimate how much of the drug will be required to treat a flock, 1 quart
of carbon tetrachloride and 4 quarts of liquid paraffin should be allowed for
every 1,000 sheep to be treated. No more of the mixture should be prepared
at one time than is sufficient to treat the required number of sheep, the two
ingredients being thoroughly mixed. If not used at once, the mixture should
be kept in a well-corked bottle, since the tetrachloride is very volatile and a
considerable quantity may be lost by evaporation if it is exposed to the air.
When ordering the ready-mixed preparation from wholesale chemists, the
purpose for which it is required and the number of sheep to be treated should
be stated, and sufficient of the mixture for this number ordered. The con-
tainer should only be opened when the contents are about to be used.
How to administer carbon tetrachloride in solution.—Pour a small quantity
of the mixture into a wide-mouthed container in which the hypodermic
syringe (without the needle) can be inserted easily. In order to lessen the
evaporation of the carbon tetrachloride one should avoid pouring out large
quantities of the mixture at one time. Two catchers should bring the sheep
to the operator, who stands on the off side of the head, opens the mouth by
placing the left hand over the muzzle and inserting the fingers,in the mouth
on the near side, while raising the head slightly. The syringe, which is held
in the right hand, is then introduced over the tongue, pointed backwards
and emptied. (Fig. 6.)
= oe Cy ac Ce ee z.
Fig. 6.—Dosing Sheep with Carbon Tetrachloride
in Solution.
The drug is first diluted with liquid paraffin to form a larger dose, and
is then given by a syringe. Note that the sheep is dosed standing, and that
the head must not be forced back. The lower jaw should not be held, as
otherwise there is a danger of the drug getting into the windpipe.
(11) Giwing carbon tetrachloride in capsules —Carbon tetrachloride may also
be conveniently given in small gelatine containers or capsules. These are of
two kinds, viz., (a) soft elastic capsules, and (b) hard gelatine capsules.
(a) Soft elastic capsules ready filled with the required dose (1 c.c.) of
carbon tetrachloride are prepared by certain firms. By giving the drug in
this way there is no danger of evaporation or leakage, and the correct dosage
is guaranteed.
(b) Hard gelatine capsules are supplied empty and must be filled before
use. When ordering these capsules ask for empty gelatine capsules of the
size to hold 1 cubic centimetre. No measuring of the drug is then necessary,
the bottom half of the capsules when filled containing the proper dose.
Capsules should be filled shortly before use, and this is best done by two
assistants holding, opening, and closing the capsules as they are filled by a
third person. The drug can be run into the capsules conveniently and quickly
14
with little waste, by using an ordinary fountain pen filler, or a piece of glass
tubing drawn out to a point at one end, from which the flow is controlled by
means of a finger placed over the other end. The cap of the capsule should
be securely put on, since otherwise there is danger of leakage and loss by
evaporation.
When ordering capsules ready filled, an equal number to that of sheep
to be treated should be ordered, plus 5 per cent. for wastage. If filling the
hard capsules 1 quart of carbon tetrachloride should be ordered for evety
1,000 sheep, and a sufficient number of the empty capsules.
Administering capsules.—Capsules are best given by means of a small
balling gun, which can readily be made by taking a piece of stiff rubber tubing
of approximately 9 inches in length and with an internal diameter of } inch.
A plunger of cane or wood should be smoothed down so that it runs easily
in the barrel, and should be sufficiently long to form a handle. In order to
avoid the danger of injury to the sheep’s throat a guard should be placed on
the handle so that when the plunger is driven home the end is not less than
+ inch from the end of the tubing. The end of the plunger should be rounded
and smooth so that it will not break the capsules. (Fig. 7.) The operator
stands in front of the head, the catcher opens the mouth by grasping both
Fic. 7.—Balling Gun for administering Carbon Tetrachloride in Capsules.
A—Plunger. B—Barrel. C—Ready to load. D—Soft gelatine capsule.
Note the guard on the handle, so that the plunger will not project
beyond the end of the barrel, and so injure the sheep’s throat. The end of
the plunger should be round and smooth so as not to break the capsules.
upper and lower jaws, and the barrel is inserted and pushed backwards over
the base of the tongue, but not hard against the back of the throat. The
plunger is then driven home smartly but not too vigorously, and the gun
immediately withdrawn as the holder simultaneously releases the jaws.
In this way the sheep swallows the capsule automatically. The adminis-
tration of capsules by this means is quick and easy; by other methods,
such as the use of forceps, it is often uncertain and tedious.
i i
15
Cost of treatment.—The cost of treatment with carbon tetrachloride varies
somewhat according to the method used. If the drug is mixed with liquid
paraflin by the stock-owner himself, the cost, allowing for carbon tetra-
chloride at 3s. per lb. and liquid paraffin at 10s. per gallon, is about jd. per
sheep. If the mixture is bought ready prepared the cost is approximately
4d. per sheep. If hard gelatine capsules are used and filled by the stock-
owner, the cost for material is again about }d. per sheep, while if soft
elastic ready-filled capsules are used, the cost is approximately ld. per
sheep. After a little experience with the balling gun, capsules may
be given almost as quickly as the solution, and by either method one
operator, with two men catching, can dose up to 2,000 sheep per day.
It has been found that there is no marked variation in the efficacy of
the drug whether it be given in capsules or in solution. Usually, stock-
owners will be found to keep to the first method of administration of
which they have had satisfactory experience. Both methods have their
advantages and disadvantages. By giving capsules, there is always
the possibility that an occasional sheep may not swallow the capsule
and so escape treatment, while in using the hard gelatine capsules, though the
gelatine will not be dissolved by its contents for many weeks, there is often
leakage from under the cap. In giving the drug in solution, and especially
where sheep are roughly and carelessly handled, there is some risk of the
head being forced too far back, and some of the solution getting into the
windpipe ; also unless the mixture is carefully bottled and protected from
evaporation, a considerable proportion of the carbon tetrachloride may be
lost.
Precautions to be observed in dosing with carbon tetrachloride—Sheep
should be dosed standing. The head should be slightly raised but not forced
backwards, otherwise difficulty in swallowing will cause danger from inhalation.
In giving the drug in solution, the bottom jaw should never be tightly held
so that the sheep is prevented from swallowing easily when the dose is
delivered. Do not give more than the dose of 1 c.c (16 drops) since
larger doses will not increase the efficacy of the drug and may cause ill effects.
It is not necessary to withhold food or water before or after dosing, but
sheep are usually yarded overnight and treated in the morning. It is
advisable, however, where sheep have been hand-fed on concentrates such as
linseed nuts, to withhold these for one week before dosing.
When to treat with carbon tetrachloride.—Owing to the seasonal escape of
young fluke from the snail, sheep pick up their heaviest infestation in the late
summer and autumn months, though they may continue to pick up some
fluke throughout the winter. It has been found that carbon tetrachloride
will not kill the fluke until they have reached the bile ducts, and this does
not occur until several weeks after they have entered the sheep. The first
treatment should therefore be given in the early winter, as soon as possible
after the majority of the fluke picked up in the summer and autumn (January
to April) have reached the bile ducts, that is, about the middle of May. Owing
a
16
to the fact that some of the small fluke already in the sheep may not be killed
by a single treatment, it is advisable, in districts where infestation is usually
heavy, to give a second treatment about the beginning of July. Where it
is not practicable to give two treatments the first should be given a little
later, about the first week in June. The necessity for giving two treatments
will be largely determined by the effects of the first. Should the sheep a month
or six weeks later show little sign of improvement in condition and still
exhibit symptoms of fluke disease, a second treatment is advisable.
Sheep in advanced stages of liver rot may be treated without danger
other than that due to handling, and will usually commence to show a marked
improvement in condition within a few days. Ewes in lamb should not be
treated within three weeks prior to lambing owing to the danger from handling ;
otherwise dosing with carbon tetrachloride either before or after lambing
does not appear to be harmful to the lambs.
Reports of mortality in sheep after dosing with carbon tetrachloride are
made from time to time, but it is seldom that such mortality can be directly
attributed to its use. In many cases the mortality has commenced before
dosing, in others it has been due to other causes, while in some instances the
purity of the drug used has been questionable. In any case where sheep
are badly affected with fluke, the benefits accruing from the treatment are
such as greatly to outweigh all reasonable objections, and to justify taking
the risk of any slight mortality which might occur.
7. The Prevention of Fluke Disease.
Though medicinal treatment for fluke is very useful in improving the
condition of the flock and saving many sheep which would otherwise die of
fluke disease, it must be remembered that alone it will never effect the total
eradication of fluke, and it is therefore not the most desirable method of
controlling the disease. Moreover, it will not save a large number of sheep
which die of acute fluke disease at the time the young fluke enter the liver,
nor will it prevent re-infestation. It is therefore all-important that other
measures should be adopted by which the disease may be eradicated for all
time, rather than merely to lessen losses from year to year.
In considering the life-cycle of the parasite it was seen that two things
were necessary for its survival—(i) marshy or boggy areas over which sheep
can graze and in which the fluke eggs will hatch, and (ii) certain fresh-water
snails in which the fluke must develop. It was further shown that these
dangerous conditions existed particularly in the vicinity of springs and bogs,
or along the course of slow-running marshy streams. Preventive measures
must therefore aim at treating these dangerous sites so that the area of marsh
and bog is reduced to a minimum, and at the destruction of all fresh-water
snails present in these places. The first of these aims can be achieved very
largely by proper drainage, while the second is now made possible by the
use of chemicals.
17
Drainage of marsh land.—Where practicable. all marshy areas should
be efficiently drained. In the case of springs, a channe! should be dug to
carry water away so that it no longer spreads out to form a bog, but is drained
straight down to the nearest natural channel, which should also be cleared of
weeds and deepened. In the case of clear springs which are of value for
watering purposes, these may be rendered safe by bricking or concreting the
sides and then piping the water off to troughs from which stock are watered.
Where this is done, precautions must be taken to see that the overflow from
the trough does not again lead to new bog formation which would soon become
a breeding centre for snails. It is not uncommon to find both troughs and the
bog surrounding them to contain numerous snails. Owing to the danger
that exists of any young fluke which are floating on the surface of water being
carried a considerable distance, it is necessary before piping off water from
springs first to treat the spring so that all snails in it are killed.
Slow-running streams with swampy backwaters should have their central
channel deepened, the sides cut clean and freed from all grass and weeds.
Other extensive areas of boggy land should be drained by digging lateral
drains opening herringbone fashion into a central channel which leads down
to some safe watercourse. By these means the greater part of the dangerous
areas dry up and the majority of the snails die, while those remaining alive
are forced into the cleared channels. It will be seen that, by proper drainage,
the risk of sheep becoming infested is greatly reduced, since not only is the
number of snails greatly diminished but also those surviving are no longer
able to exist in those sites over which sheep can graze, while any young fluke
escaping from the snails in the cleared watercourses are much less likely
to become attached where they will be eaten by sheep or cattle. In addition
the treating of the watercourses to kill the survivirg snails is greaily facili-
tated.
Fencing not advisable——The practice of fencing off fluky places so as to
prevent stock being exposed to infection is seldom advisable, since it often
involves considerable expense, causes in some cases the loss of considerable.
grazing areas, and often creates serious difficulty in watering. Fencing of
small areas such as the bog surrounding a spring often results in an overgrowth
of weeds and the blockage of all drainage so that by the gradual extension
of the original area the fence ultimately becomes uselsss.
Tn addition to drainage or instead of it, where owing to the nature of the
area involved and labour difficulties, drainage is not practicable, the destruc-
tion of snails may be brought about by the use of chemicals.
The use of bluestone—The most suitable chemical to use for this purpose
is copper sulphate or ‘“ bluestone,” which, when present in very minute quan-
tities in water, is rapidly fatal to all snails. The aimin the use of “bluestone”
is to form a weak solution of this chemical in all the water of the areas in
which fluke snails exist. In the case of pools and springs this may be done
by first breaking the copper sulphate in small pieces, tieing them in a bag
attached to the end of a pole, and then dragging this bag backwards and
1
(o 6)
forwards through the water till the latter acquires a faint blue tinge. In the
case of running streams, bags of bluestone may be placed at intervais along
the course of the stream so that the chemical is gradually dissolved. While
these methods are effective in certain cases, they are quite ineffective in others,
as, for example, slow-running streams with stagnant backwaters and in
irregular marshy areas. It can be seen that in a shallow, slow-running stream
(see Fig. 8), though the bluestone is carried down along the main channel
and may kill all the snails there, it often entirely fails to reach the weedy
backwaters and disconnected pools at the sides. These are just the places
which are most dangerous to sheep, and in a stream so treated they will often
be found to contain numerous snails though the stock-owner is confident
that he has rendered the area quite safe. Such streams, and all shallow
boggy areas, can best be satisfactorily treated by broadcasting bluestone,
after grinding the latter to a fine powder and mixing it with sand.
Broadcasting bluestone —A satisfactory mixture is made by mixing 1
part of bluestone with 4 of sand and then broadcasting by hand at the rate
of 30 lb. of bluestone per acre. Thus 30 Ib. of bluestone are mixed with 120
lb. of sand, making 150 Ib. of the mixture to be applied per acre. Just before
use, the bluestone should be freshly ground to a fine vviform powder and then
thoroughly mixed with the requisite quantity of sand. Before grinding,
it is important to see thai the bluestone is in the form of hard blue crystals,
and that it is not white and powdery. In estimating the quantity to be used
the approximate length and breadth of the area to be treated is taken and
number of acres so found. Just a sufficient quantity of bluestone to treat
the area in question should be used.
For example, a shallow weedy stream 200 yards long by roughly 4 yards
wide is to be treated-—
200 x 4 = 800 square yards.
As there are 4,840 square yards in an acre
800
—— = acre.
4,840
One-sixth of 30 Ib.=5 lb., therefore 5 lb. of bluestone would be required to
treat this stream, and should be mixed with 20 Ib. of sand, making 25 |b.
of the mixture.
Before applying to the whole area, a small section should be measured
and sufficient of the mixture weighed out to treat this at the required rate.
This small section should then be treated and the experience so gained will
prove useful in helping the operator to determine how thickly he must dis-
tribute the mixture to cover the whole area everly.
The cost of this method of treatment is not great. Bluestone may be
purchased at approximately 4d. per lb. in cwt. lots (less for larger quantities),
and about 2 acres per day can be thoroughly treated by one man. One of
the chief labour items is that entailed in powdering the bluestone before use.
This is best done by first breaking vp the big pieces with a large hammer
is
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20
until they are of a size to be taken by a small domestic hand crusher. These
crushers can be purchased for about: 30s., and at least 10 lb. of bluestone can
be powdered by them in an hour.
Cost of broadcasting.—The approximate cost of broadcasting bluestone
should not be more than 25s. per acre, made up as follows :-—
30 lb. of bluestone at 4d. per lb. ~ £0 10 O
Powdering of bluestone, 30 lb., half-day’s alone at Lis.
day =: is aoe
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In treating streams by this method, care must be taken that the bluestone
is spread not only over places actually covered by water, but also those places
which though not under water are still moist. It is known that the fluke
snails though killed by complete dryness are able to exist for considerable
periods in apparently dry places. As the water recedes, the snails make
their way into the cracks in the mud, and situations which are apparently
dry and free from snails may actually harbour considerable numbers of them
in the moist mud below the surface. With the first shower of rain, snails so
hidden will emerge. It is therefore necessary when treating a slow-running
stream, or marsh, to spread the copper sulphate over a margin beyond the
limits of the obviously wet areas.
It is not sufficient to broadcast only here and there along a creek, since
the action of the “ bluestone” will not extend for more than a very short
distance above or below the area actually covered. Less than 50 yards
below a thoroughly treated stretch of water snails may be found in large
numbers. It is therefore necessary to broadcast along the entire length of
the creek if it is to be rendered safe. Where deep pools occur in a marshy
stream or bog, these, in addition to broadcasting, should receive special
treatment by means of bluestone tied in a bag, and where the central channel
of a stream is deep and the water swift flowing, deposits of bluestone should
also be placed at intervals along its course.
When broadcasting over the bed of a stream, care should be taken to
observe and treat any springs or seepage patches which sometimes arise on
the banks several feet above. Snails may be numerous in these places and
from them reinfestation of a treated stream may take place. Though the
use of bluestone will rapidly prove fatal to snails, it does not affect vegetation
nor has it been found to cause any ill effects to stock. -In order, however,
to avoid all risks of poisoning through stock grazing over freshly treated areas
animals should be kept off these for one week, or preferably until a shower
of rain has fallen. It should be remembered also that the use of bluestone in
the manner prescribed will kill fish.
When to broadcast bluestone.-—Broadcasting of hiecueiee at any period
of the year will confer a great measure of protection on stock, but there are
21
certain periods when it is especially desirable to do this so as to lessen the
immediate danger. Owing to the fact that the principal escape of young fluke
(cercariae) from the snail takes place during the late summer and autumn
months, every effort should be made to carry out the first treatment on all
properties where losses from fluke occur before the end of December. If this
is done thoroughly, the great majority of snails will be killed before the young
fluke are ready to leave them. Sheep are thus protected from the following
seasonal infestation. Where it is not possible to adopt preventive measures
in December they should be carried out as soon as possible in the new year.
A fortnight after treatment, all the areas should be thoroughly examined
and if live snails are still present these places should be retreated at once.
In sites where snails were numerous previously, it should now be possible
to find the empty shells of the snails killed by the treatment.
Unfortunately it is known that snail eggs are not destroyed by bluestone,
and these may hatch after treatment and lead to reinfestation. During the
summer the snails breed actively, and in December and January egg masses
are very numerous. Large numbers of young snails may thus emerge after
a treatment which completely destroyed all the adults. It is necessary,
therefore, to give a second treatment to all fluky areas at such a time when
all eggs from the summer breeding season have hatched, and before the next
egg-laying period begins in July. This second treatment should therefore
be given before the end of June. Carrying out treatment at this time also
ensures that all snails will be destroyed before fluke eggs, which have passed
out of sheep in the winter, commence to hatch in the first warm weather of
spring. The young fluke (miracidia) being unable to find a snail, cannot
survive. Where preventive measures are first carried out in June, the second
treatment should be given in December. Some stock-owners think that
having once treated areas with bluestone its action will continue over a
long period, rendering a second treatment unnecessary. This is not the case,
and the bluestone on the pastures probably does not remain poisonous to
snails for more than one week. It is preferable to broadcast just before rain
falls or whale light rain is falling. Tn this way the bluestone is washed off the
grass and herbage to where it will reach the snails, while any risk of poisoning
of stock is simultaneously eliminated. Doubt is sometimes expressed as to
whether treatment carried out in winter will prove effective, since it is thought
that at this time snails may be hibernating in the mud where they will not be
affected by the bluestone. So far from this happening, snails may be found
alive and active in the coldest winter weather and may be seen moving about
rapidly in ice-covered pools.
Dangers of reinfestation.—When “ fluky ”’ paddocks have been rendered
safe by thorough preventive measures, care must be taken that they do not
again become infested. This may easily occur where a stream runs through
two adjoining properties in one of which treatment is carried out while in the
other nothing is done. Snails may travel considerable distances up stream
against the current, while they are often carried down stream after heavy
rains, and may thus pass from the untreated to the treated property. Stock
22
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owners should therefore co-operate as far as possible in the work of fluke
eradication, so that the work of one is not rendered useless by the neglect
of the other. It has been said that fluke snails may be found in large streams
and even fast flowing rivers, and though their presence in these situations is
often not a serious menace to stock, they may eventually make their way
up side streams until they arrive in marshy situations where they will be a
direct source of danger. Reinfestation of clean properties in these ways must
therefore be watched. It should also be remembered that rabbits may be
infested with fluke, and the mere keeping of sheep or cattle out of a paddock
where snails are allowed to remain will not necessarily render it free from
infestation by the parasite. In all paddocks therefore destruction of all snails
must be aimed at.
Fluke disease is preventible.—lt is hoped that it has been made clear that
fluke disease in the great majority of cases is preventible, without excessive
expenditure of labour or money. That losses from this cause should be
allowed to continue, when the means for prevention are in the stock-owners’
hands, is unthinkable.
ACT NOW.—Aiter one or two wet years your present slight losses from
fluke disease may become disastrous, while prompt action now will result in
immediate benefit.
SUMMARY.
I. Fluke Disease is caused by a leaf-like parasite in the liver. See page 3.
Il. The eggs of the fluke can hatch only in water, and the young fluke
must pass through certain snails before they infect sheep. See
Page 4.
Ill. Fluke may cause either acute or chronic fluke disease. Acute fluke
disease is often mistaken by stock-owners for other diseases, See
Page 9.
IV. Sheep suffering from chronic fluke disease may be freed from fluke by
dosing them with carbon tetrachloride. See page 11.
VY. Fluke disease may be eradicated completely by—
(i) Draining “ fluky ” areas (see page 16).
and
(ii) Snail destruction (see page 17).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
The thanks of the author are due to the Chief Veterinary Officers of the
Departments of Agriculture of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South
Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania for the information which
they have kindly given in regard to the distribution of fluke infestation of
sheep in their respective States, and also to the Federal Capital Commission
and to Professor J. D. Stewart, Veterinary School, University of Sydney,
for the assistance they have afforded in the preparation of this pamphlet.
HH. J. GREEN,
GOVERNMENT PRINTER.
MELBOURNE.
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PAMPHLET No. 6.
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“Council for Scientific and Indastrial
ANDARD METHODS:
-
IN AUSTRALIA.
- MELBOURNE, 1926
—_-_-_-----
Oh | a Executive:
G. As Salus, Esa., B. Seay B. E.
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As c. D. Rivett, peas MA. D. Sc,
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Sir Charles Nathan, K.B., CB. E. ;
| 5 Sie Bag Member).
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‘Professor R. D. Watt, MAy B. Be.
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SR Professor H. &. Richards, D.Sc. ;
Boe “(Queenan
‘B. Perry, Esq. tuiee
( Western Australia), 4
P.E. Keam, oes
PAMPHLET No. 6.
COMMONWEALTH as estos
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
LS
STANDARD METHODS
OF
DRYING SULTANA GRAPES
IN AUSTRALIA.
By
A. V. LYON, M.Agr.Sc.
|| MELBOURNE, 1928
By Authority:
H. J. Green, Government Printer, Melbourne
—_—————————————KS as eens eee. —
a
PREFACE.
This pamphlet was compiled for the purpose of standardizing the three
principal processes used in Australia for drying sultana grapes.
In November, 1927, the producers, packers and market representatives
of the dried fruit industry in jomt conference unanimously decided that
a reduction in the number of types of dried sultanas was essential for
successful marketing. They further requested the Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research to issue standard recommendations in order to
eliminate the many variations which had arisen during the transition
period in which two new dips for sultanas were introduced.
This present pamphlet has accordingly been prepared.
Standard Methods of Drying Sultana Grapes
in Australia.
By A. V. LYON, M.Agr.Sc., Officer in charge of the Commonwealth
Viticultural Research Station, Merbein.
I.—INTRODUCTION.
1. General.—-The major portion of the sultanas produced in Australia
is grown inthe Murray River Valley. The grapes are dried onroofed racks,
as the possibilities of summer rains and consequent damage to the fruits
are such that full exposure for sun drying is not warranted. Artificial
drying is not a common practice, because in the majority of seasons the
atmosphere dries the fruit at a rate sufficient to prevent injury and to
preserve colour.
In oceasional seasons, however, summer rains occur so frequently in
the drying period (February and March), that inferior quality results
from a retardation of the drying rate and an increase in the moisture
content of the exposed fruit. For this reason, it is not possible to obtain
proportionate quantities of the various grades from year to year, the
best quality resulting only during such periods of the drying season as
are favorable.
2. General Factors Affecting the Quality of Dried Fruits.—
The quality of the resultant dried product is dependent on three chief
factors :—
(a) The quality of the fresh fruit.
(b) The method of processing.
(c) The weather during the drying period.
The first of these three factors has been discussed in a previous
publication.* Quality is affected by practically all routine field operations
and also by uncontrollable circumstances such as climate, weather, soil
types, and the previous history of the vineyard. With so many factors
operating, it is inevitable that variations in the quality of the fresh fruit
will result, and that they will be reflected in the dried product.
As the duration of the drying period extends beyond the period of
any reliable weather forecasts which it is possible to make at the time
of picking, it is not practicable to vary processing—which is applied
mainly to the fresh fruit-—according to the weather of the subsequent
period during which the grapes are dried. The result is that the choice
of method is chiefly determined by the class of fresh fruit available, the
climate of the district, and the capacity of the drying plant. The extent
to which the choice may justifiably be affected by these conditions will
be discussed after the three chief methods of processing have been
described.
* Institute of Science and Industry, Australia, Bull. 28 (1924).
t
Il.—_THE BOILING DIP.
1. General.—The boiling caustic dip consists of a solution of caustic
soda, at or just under boiling point, in which grapes are immersed prior
to their exposure for drying. The dip results in a quicker drying rate,
by removing the waxy “bloom” of the grapes and by slightly cracking
the berries. It also gives a characteristic brown colour to the fruit, due
to the action of the soda on the pigments of the grape.
2. The Dipping Tank.-—The boiling dip has been in general use in
the Murray River Valley for over thirty years, and many types of suitable
tanks have been evolved. The requirements are a circulatory system,
in which hollow iron tubes, through which the water passes, are used
as fire bars; and a tank capacity of 75 to 100 gallons, in order that the
temperature may be maintained. The tanks are usually bricked in for
preservation of heat. Wood is used as fuel, the furnace taking lengths
of 3 to 4 feet.
3. Concentration of the Solution.—The solution should be of
such a concentration that the waxy bloom of the dipped grape is entirely
and easily removed. In the case of the boiling dip, this condition is
invariably accompanied by a cracking of the berries.
A concentration of from 0.3 to 0.4 per cent. of caustic soda (3 to 4
lb. per 100 gallons) is the range within which the desired results are
obtained in the majority of cases. Variations in the maturity of the
fruit and in the quantity of bloom may render it necessary to go outside
this range in special circumstances. The removal of the bloom, rather
than the cracking of the fruit, should be the guide as to the effectiveness
of the dip.
The dipping of fruit of uniform quality presents little difficulty.
Persistence of bloom is counteracted by an increase, and over-cracking
by a decrease, in the strength of the solution. With uniform quality
fruit, the removal of the bloom can be obtained at a concentration which
cracks the fruit little or not at all, and in general it is secured at a
concentration which does not crack excessively.
With mixed fruit, the problem is more difficult, as under-dipped fruit
(on which bloom persists) and over-dipped fruit (excessively cracked)
may result from the same treatment. Asa matter of policy. underdipping
of individual bunches in a mixed sample should always be avoided, as
the resultant dark berries reduce the quality of the sample to a greater
extent than do the dark-brown cracked berries resulting from over-
dipping. Under these circumstances the best results are obtained only
by dividing the fruit according to its characteristics, and regulating the
dip accordingly. Cases where this is necessary, however, are compara-
tively rare.
In practice, the concentration range over which satisfactory results
are obtained is a somewhat wide one. It is advisable, in the first instance,
to prepare a dip at a low concentration (2 lb. caustic soda per 100 gallons
water) and to increase the concentration by } lb. additions until results
are satisfactory.
5
4. Alterations in the Concentration of the Dip.—During use
the solution in the dip tank decreases in volume as the result of evapora-
tion and removal of the quantity that adheres to the bunches. In
addition the caustic soda is slowly neutralized by the acids of the fruit.
The net result is a slight increase of concentration and a considerable
diminution of total volume. Additions to the dip should thus be
relatively weaker than the solution in use. They are conveniently
made by adding water until the original volume is restored, and caustic
soda at the rate of approximately | lb. for every 300 “ buckets ” of fruit
that have passed through the solution. The ultimate guide for strength,
as in the first instance. is the condition of the dipped fruit. Additions
of caustic soda to a heated dip should be made carefully and in small
quantities.
5. Dipping the Fruit.—The fruit is usually picked direct into
perforated tins, which allow quick draining. These tins hoid 14 to 16 lb
of fruit. Overfillmg must be avoided, as it results in crushing the upper
bunches during cartage and in a less uniform wetting and period of
immersion in the dip.
A quick immersion (14 to 2 seconds) is sufficient, the tin of fruit
usually being passed through the solution, from right to left in a circular
line. This ensures greater uniformity, that portion of the frmt which
first enters the solution being also the first to leave it.
Ii.
1. General.—This dip is prepared and used in a similar way to the
boiling dip. The essential difference is that it is used at a lower tempera-
ture (190°-196° F.). As a result the browning due to the action of the
caustic soda soiution is less intense, and a slightly higher concentration
is required to remove the bloom satisfactorily.
2. The Dip Tank.——All types of tank suitable for the boiling dip
have been successfully used for the modified temperature dip.
3. The Temperature.— Alteration of temperature is a frequent
cause of variation in colour of the resultant dried fruit. The browning
effect of the caustic on the grape pigments decreases materially as the
temperature is lowered, and the tendency for “* bloomy ” and subsequently
dark berries increases. Temperatures above the range tend to the
formation of a dark-brown colour typical of fruit from the boiling dip.
Care must therefore be taken to avoid these extremes. In particular.
a regulation of the fuel supply according to the rate of working is
necessary. In practice it is found convenient to have a prepared cold
sotion for quick reduction should the temperature become too high
and a supply of light wood to maintain the temperature during rush
periods. Although more difficult than in the case of the boiling dip—in
which the maximum temperature is fixed—it is practicable, w ith a little
experience, to keep the modified temperature dip within the desired
range of temperature without unduly influencing the rate of working.
6
A mercury thermometer, with a wooden frame and extension as a
handle, is a necessary part of the equipment. The thermometer should
be long enough for the bulb to remain within the solution while the reading
is being taken, or alternatively a maximum thermometer should be
used.
4. Concentration of the Solution——The guide for effectiveness
of this dip is somewhat similar to that of the boiling dip, excepting that
removal of the bloom without perceptible cracking of the berries occurs
more frequently. The range of the effective concentration is slightly
higher. usually falling betwéen 34 to 43 lb. of caustic soda per 100 gallons
of water. :
The concentration of the solution increases with use, though naturally
not to the same extent as in the case of the boiling dip. The net result
is that comparatively more caustic soda and less water are necessary
for replacement.
5. Dipping the Fruit.—No alteration of the process as described
for the boiling dip is required.
IV.—_THE COLD DIP.
1. General.—The cold dip is a solution of potassium carbonate, at
air temperature, in which an emulsion of olive oil has been incorporated.
The grapes immersed in this solution undergo a change, the natural bloom
being removed and a thin oily coating substituted.
The process differs from the caustic soda dips previously described
in that the solution does not appreciably affect the natural colour due
to the pigments of the grape. These pigments, particularly the chloro-
phyll, must be destroyed by exposure to the sun’s rays subsequent
to dipping.
2. The Dip Tanks.—Three types of plant are used—
(a) The rectangular tank (6 ft. x 3 ft. x 14 ft. deep), in which 80
to 85 gallons of solution will cover 12 dip tins.
(b) Single or double lever systems, by which the group of buckets
is immersed and withdrawn on a platform.
(c) The wheel system, by which a number of platforms holding
the fruit revolve on an axle, and pass through the dipping
solution in turn.
All the above types have proved satisfactory, though a disadvantage
of (a) is that the hands of the operator need to be immersed in the solution
and any small abrasion may become a painful sore.
3. Concentration of the Potassium Carbonate Solution—A
solution containing approximately 5 per cent. of potassium carbonate
(1 lb. to 2 gallons of water) gives the best results. Excessive concentra-
tion results in discoloration at the ends of the berries, while a weak solution
increases the proportion of “bluish” berries tending to the colour of
undipped fruit. The solution is usually prepared in the dip tank.
7
4. Preparation of an Emulson of Olive Oil.—Olive oil readily
emulsifies in a solution of potassium carbonate in the cold. Emulsification
in a separate vessel is recommended, for the following two reasons :—
(a) A solution containing 1 per cent. of potassium carbonate
gives a finer emulsion than the 5 per cent. solution used for
dipping.
(6) By withdrawing the emulsion from a tap at the bottom, it
is easy to discard the un-emulsified (floating) substances which appear
under certain conditions. The emulsion, if left standing, separates into
layers. For this reason it should be stirred, and left for one minute to
allow floating substances to rise, before being withdrawn.
The emulsion may be conveniently prepared in a kerosene tin, to
which a tap has been fitted near the bottom. With the exception of
the oil, quantities may then be measured in terms of the depth of the
solution, as under :—
(a) Pour 2 inches of the 5 per cent. solution of potassium carbonate
into the tin.
(b) Add water to a depth of approximately 10 inches.
(c) Add three pints of olive oil and stir rapidly.
(d) Make up to a depth of 12 inches with water
Four inches of this emulsion then represents one pint of olive oil.
5. Quantity of Olive Oil in the Dip.—The emulsion is run directly
into the 5 per cent. solution of potasstum carbonate previously prepared
in the dip tank. It is necessary that sufficient should be added to coat
the fruit completely after an immersion of four minutes. The quantity
required varies with different classes of fruit and with the quality of the
emulsion. The ultimate guide is the appearance of the “ fruit,”’ which
should show no dry or “bloomy” patches, after being dipped. (The
small waxy shot-size dots are excepted.) The minimum amount of oil
may be stated at 13 pints (6 inches of the emulsion previously described)
per 50 gallons of solution.
It is well to commence testing at this stage, and to add oil progres-
sively in quantities of a 4+ pint (1 inch), until the berries are coated after
a four-minute immersion. This represents the minimum amount of
olive oil. An excess, equivalent to half a pint of oil per 50 gallons, should
be added before use. This is essential, as proportionately greater
quantities of oil than of solution are taken out on the fruit during use of
the dip, and it is therefore necessary to work from an excess to the
6. Additions during Use.—Continued immersions of tins of fruit
cause little alteration of the concentration of potassium carbonate in
the dip. Such additions as are necessary for replacement of liquid used
in wetting the fruit may be made by adding potassium carbonate solution
of the same concentration as originally made in the dip.
8
Filtering through coarse sand is useful for cleaning the dip when
suspended soil particles are too much in evidence. The brown coloration
due to substances dissolved from the grapes appears to do no harm.
In practice, a dipping solution with two or three filtermgs and additions
at full strength, may be used for three or four thousand tins of fruit
before it is necessary to discard it on account of stickiness from the
dissolved sugar of the grapes. The soluble salts dissolved from earthy
substances on the fruit and tins serve as a drying agent, and are not a
matter for concern. .
Additions of olive oil emulsion at frequent intervals are essential.
The practical rule is to make additions, equivalent to a } pint of olive —
oil per 50 gallons of dip solution, when traceries of bloom begin to appear
on the dipped fruit.
7. Period of Immersion in the Dip.—An immersion of the fruit
for four minutes in the solution gives the best results. Shorter periods
(three, or even two minutes) have been successfully used by increasing
the quantity of olive oil, though shortening the period tends to a greater
percentage of dark berries on mixed samples of grapes.
All prelimiary trials should be made at the period of immersion at
which the dip is to be used.
V.—TREATMENT OF DIPPED FRUIT.
1. General.—The following remarks, except where otherwise
indicated, are common to fruit from any one of the three dips previously
described. It must be clearly recognized, however, that although correct
dipping of the fruit is an essential to quality, any advantage thus gained
is completely lost if any damage to the fruit occurs subsequently.
2. Draining.—Thorough draining of all dipped fruit is essential as
otherwise the drippings discolour the grapes. Drainings from the cold
dip are usually clean and may be returned directly from the draining
stand to the dip tank. Hot dip drainings contain more sediment and
should be collected in a separate vessel. After settling, the upper hquid
may be decanted into the tank, and the sediment discarded. The run-off
from the draining stand is the practical guide for completeness of draining.
A useful precaution is to remove tins from the draining stand in the same
order as that in which they were placed thereon.
3. Spreading.—Thin spreading on the racks is essential for quality,
otherwise retardation of drying and deterioration of quality will result on
a proportion of the fruit. Overlapping of bunches must be avoided.
The use of the “spreading tray” is an aid to quality, as if spreading is
done on the netting, laceration of the bunches and an increase in the
proportion of fallen berries are inevitable. A little experience will enable
the operator to spread direct on to the tray and to withdraw the latter
leaving the fruit in its final position. It is preferable to spread the upper
tiers first, in order that the detached berries shall fall through and not
become mixed with fruit previously spread on the lower tiers. In
9
order to attain uniformity of drying weather for each division of the
fruit, it is preferable to till each section or “bay” completely before
proceeding to the next one.
4, Shading.—A roofed rack is essential in the majority of seasons.
Otherwise wetting and certain deterioration of the fruit results. Uniform
shading and consequent uniformity of the dried product are not possible
if the upper tier is exposed. The best results are secured by building
the rack on a north and south line and roofing with galvanized iron allow-
ing an overlap of 14 to 2 feet beyond the edge of the netting on which the
fruit is placed. This ensures shade for all the fruit during the hottest
portions of the day.
Side curtains (hessian) give an advantage in preventing excessive
browning, and a disadvantage in reducing the drying rate. On the
whole, they are not recommended except to prevent rain beating in, as
the deterioration from delayed drying is a more serious matter than is
sun browning on the edges.
5. Spraying.—Spraying definitely hastens the drying rate and this
preserves quality. It is essential on all cold-dipped fruit, except during
exceptionally hot weather in which the drying rate is satisfactory.
It is of advantage after the modified dip in normal weather, and essential
on all fruit if showery and dull weather sets in. The solution for spraying
is similar to that of the cold dip, except that it is not possible to adjust
the proportion of oil by trial. The equivalent of 14 pints of olive oil
per 50 gallons gives the best results, though the oil may be increased or
diminished within limits of a } pint per 50 gallons according to the amount
of oil showing on the fruit. In normal weather, the first spray should
be applied on the third day of the drying period, and thereafter at intervals
of three days.
6. Removal from the Rack.—The fruit should be thoroughly dry
before removal from the rack. Disturbance of partially dried fruit results
in a very mixed sample, as enzyme and ferment action follow on some of
the berries, dulling and darkening them. Bundling in hessian, if the
fruit is only partially dry, is never satisfactory, as the darkening becomes
general and is seldom uniform.
The practical rule is to remove fruit from the rack only in settled
weather and when there is a certainty of further drying on the hessian
before handling may become a necessity.. The fruit should be so dry
that it falls from the rack on shaking the tiers. The use of pitch forks
or sticks for removing dried fruit is a very bad practice, and the necessity
for such measures indicates that further drying is required.
7. Drying on Hessian.—The degree of dryness usually attained
on the rack is not sufficient for boxing. Further exposure of the fruit,
thinly spread on hessian, is necessary both for additional drying and for
greater uniformity of colour. The experience of recent years has demon-
strated that producers can judge the desired moisture content correctly.
Nevertheless a continuance of rigid inspection is necessary to ensure
compliance with regulations in this respect.
10
8. Boxing.— Except for the prevention of wetting by rain, bundling
in hessian prior to boxing should not be done until evening, when the
fruit has become cool. —
Prior to boxing, the standard of dryness should be a little more rigid
than the standard accepted on delivery. Alteration of the distribution
of the moisture, from the interior to the outside of the individual berries,
renders this precaution necessary.
9. Final Treatment of Cold Dipped Fruit.—On removal from the
rack, cold dipped fruit is more or less unsightly. The green ‘* chlorophyll”
colour is preserved to varying degrees on different berries ; browning
due to “* edge” exposure is also in evidence ; and a coating of potassium
carbonate from the dip and the spray is also a feature.
Correction is secured by direct exposure to the sun’s rays, until the
green tinge is removed. This may take two to four days according to the
weather. Usually, by the time bleaching is completed, the fruit is over
dry. For this reason, the final washing for removal of potash and for
the moistening of the skin should be performed after bleaching. In
practice, plunging the fruit wrapped in hessian into a large tank containing
the wash proves cheap and efficient. The rectilinear tanks used for the
cold dip are in general use for this purpose. Two or three old porous
pieces of hessian are used for washing, the fruit being received on these
from dry hessian on which it is replaced after draining.
As soon as practicable after washing, the fruit is exposed to the sun
until the desired degree of dryness is secured. In practice the washing
is usually done in the forenoon and in ordinary weather the fruit is re-dried
by the evening of the same day. Selection of a fine day for washing is
always possible, as prior to the operation the fruit is dry and may be
“bundled” without damage until favourable weather is experienced.
10. Preparation of the Wash.—The wash in general use consists
of a solution containing 0.5 per cent. of potassium carbonate (24 lb. in
50 gallons) to which 14 pints of olive oil, emulsified im the usual way,
have been added for each 50 gallons of solution. As in the case of the
spray, slight variations in the percentage of olive oil are made according
to the condition of the fruit.
An increase in concentration results as the potassium carbonate on
the fruit dissolves in the wash. This is not a matter for concern, as the
wash is discarded for other reasons—chiefly dissolved sugar—before the
concentration is sufficient to give a coating of carbonate to the dried
product. The appearance of the washed fruit indicates the point at which
a used wash should be replaced. In practice approximately 3 tons of
dried fruit can be efficiently washed before replacement becomes necessary.
VI.—_SPECIAL EQUIPMENT.
i. The Baume Hydrometer.—Hydrometers graduated on the
Baumé scale are in common use in Australia, as viticulturists have long
been accustomed to interpret maturity of fruit in terms of the Baumé
scale. A 5-inch scale, graduated from 0° to 16°, proves satisfactory.
This scale is sufficiently wide to measure the density of grape juice, as
well as all needed concentrations of potassium carbonate solution.
11
The standard cold dip solution (1 lb. to 2 gallons water) has a Baumé
reading of approximately 5.7°. The instrument is not required in the
first instance, as the solution is made up with greater accuracy and less
trouble by weighing the carbonate and measuring the water. Its use
in connexion with the cold dip is practically limited to checking the
concentration after additions have been made.
2. The Thermometer.—A good thermometer is essential for the
modified temperature dip. The type previously described (a mercury
thermometer in a wooden frame) is convenient. Spirit thermometers
are not satisfactory at such high temperatures. Many growers use a
floating thermometer, or alternatively, hang one in the dip. The dis-
advantage of this practice is the greater liability to breakage. Excepting
with maximum thermometers, all readings should be taken while the bulb
of the instrument is well below the surface of the sclution.
3. The Burette.—During recent years, the burette has been added
to the equipment in some settlements, and with the use of standardized
acid solutions and appropriate tables, determinations of the concentration.
of the caustic soda solution are made. The instrument, however, is of
little practical use, as sufficient accuracy is obtained by weighing and in
any case the appearance of the dipped fruit is the ultimate guide as to
the required strength of the solution.
4. Measuring Vessels.—A kerosene tin, which holds approximately
4 gallons up to the holes for the handle, gives sufficient accuracy. In
practice a preliminary measurement of the dip tanks and washing tanks
to the required capacity is made and the distance from the bottom of
the tank to the surface of the solution (or from the surface to the top of
the tank) is marked on a notched stick. Thereafter the vessels are filled
to this known capacity.
A pint measure for determining quantities of olive oil, a weighing
scale for chemicals, and a 1-in. scale for measurement of the emuls’on as
previously described, are also necessary.
5. Cleaning Apparatus.—A “skimmer” shouid be kept at hand
for removing accumulated scum from the dip.
For the cold dip, a perforated false bottom, below which the sediment
and broken fragments of the vine can accumulate is of value in keeping
the fruit clean. For the caustic-soda dips the usual practice is to suspend
near the bottom of the tank (by wire hooks from the top of the tank)
a number of small tins with their openings directed upwards. The
sediment collects in these tins, which are withdrawn and emptied at
suitable intervals.
After standing overnight, used dip solution may be cleaned to some
extent by syphoning. The syphon is used in such a way that floating
scum and sediment is left undisturbed and discarded when the bulk of
the liquid is recovered. Dissolved and suspended matters are not
separated by this method. Suspended matters, however, seldom appear
in harmful quantities. On the other hand it is necessary to discontinue
the use of a dip in which the dissolved substances, principally sugar,
have any noticeable efiect on the berries.
12
VH.—CIRCUMSTANCES AFFECTING CHOICE OF DIPS.
1. General.—In deciding which of the three dips will best suit his
special requirements, the viticulturist should be guided by the following
considerations :—
a) The quality of his fresh fruit.
b) The climate of his producing area.
)
(
(
(c) His personal experience of the processes.
(d) The practice of his neighbours in so far as his fruit will form
a unit of the district pack.
(e) The capacity of his drying plant in relation to the quantity
of fruit to be dried.
The transition period durimg which the cold dip and the modified
temperature dip came into general use commenced in the drying season
of 1925. Previously, dipping was practically limited to the boiling dip,
though the modified temperature dip has been used on a small scale at
various intervals during the past 30 years. It is apparent that the short
experience (three seasons) of the new methods is insufficient to determine
fully the average commercial results and suitability over a number of
seasons. :
2. The Quality of the Fresh Grapes.—By examination of the
fresh fruit, it is possible to some extent to foretell the behaviour of the
fruit during the process of drying.
A common example is wilted and partially-dried fruit, always present
if harvesting is delayed, and frequently resulting earlier in the season if
exceptionally hot weather or mistakes in irrigation have occurred. In
its early stages wilting and natural drying on the vine is a feature of
individual berries rather than of all the berries on the bunch. With
present methods of processing, wilting berries invariably become much
darker than the rest of the sample. The dark berries are very noticeable
if the fruit is processed by the cold dip, owing to the light éolour of the bulk
of the sample. Under such conditions, the boiling dip has several advan-
tages. It hastens drying whereby the darkening of the faulty berries is
not so intense, and further it gives an intense brown to the good fruit
in the sample, thereby tending to uniformity.
As faulty fruit usually occurs late in the season, the quicker drymg
rate from the boiling dip i is of importance in giving a greater chance of
avoiding bad w eather and of preserving quality. With late drying and
the probability of dews and humid conditions, the drying rate of fruit
from the cold dip and the modified temperature dip may be so delayed
that “blueing” and “ brownmg” from enzyme and ferment action
may occur on a large proportion of the berries. These features are not
so much in evidence earlier in the season, when the shorter drying period
results in a quicker concentration and consequently in a more efficient
preservative action of the grape sugar.
The chief disadvantage of the cold dip results from its slower drying
rate during the early stages giving a longer time for natural deterioration.
13
For this reason, the process proves successful only on good quality fruit
and in districts where the fruit ripens sufficiently soon to warrant picking
early in the season (15th February to 15th March).
Although deterioration occurs subsequent to picking and dipping,
it has been found practicable, before processing, to determine the type
of berry which is liable to deteriorate during slow drying. In general,
large green berries, the small immature ones at the ends of the bunches,
and any berries with a tendency to breakage at the point of attachment,
tend to deteriorate. Such characteristics indicate faulty development,
and are usually correlated with a low density of the “must.” Faulty
berries are present in greater proportion if the yields are abnormally
high, or if the growth of the vines has been checked during the season.
Compared with the cold dip, the modified temperature dip gives a
quicker drying rate during the earlier stages of the drying period. With
late drying, when the number of berries exhibiting natural deterioration
is likely to be excessive, this constitutes an advantage, as deterioration
appears to commence in fully distended berries rather than in those par-
tially dried and wilted.
3. The Climaie of the Producing Area.—Grape drying is practised
in a number of districts in Australia, under varying climatic conditions.
The comparatively mild climate of some of these districts reduces the
length of the drying season, by delaying maturation and by the early
occurrence of low temperatures and dews.
Deterioration resulting from delayed drying, particularly if occurring
in unfavorable weather, reduces quality considerably and in extreme
seasons may render the fruit unsaleable as a dried product. In such
circumstances, the boiling caustic dip, with its quicker drying rate, will
probably give the best average results over a number of seasons.
4, Experience Necessary for Successful Processing..—Two
essentials in successful grape drying (efficient dipping and satisfactory
reduction of moisture) are dependent on human judgment. It is necessary
that the processor should acquire correct standards in these particulars.
This applies particularly to the newer methods which have been intro-
duced comparatively recently and in which variations due to the indi-
viduality of the processor are much in evidence. The introduction of a
new process to any district should be by demonstration on a small scale,
and its general adoption should be preceded by evidence of its commercial
suecess in the previous seasons.
5. The Practice of the District——The continuance of a method
that has been proved is warranted in any district until such time as
other methods are shown to be more suitable, and until instructional work
has been given to ensure a high and uniform standard of individual effort.
In localities producing small amounts of fruit and where it is necessary
to reduce types to secure sufficient quantity of saleable “ lines,” a common
dip for each district is essential.
6. The Capacity of the Drying Plant.—In former years, when
the use of the boiling caustic dip was common, the capacity of the drying
14
racks was adjusted to give continuity to the work. The introduction
of slower drying methods should be accompanied by the erection of
additional drying racks. Otherwise it may be necessary to cease picking
at times and over-maturation of the fruit and less favorable drying
weather, may result. The drying period of fruit from the boiling dip,
dried on a shaded rack in normal fine weather, is usually 9 to 10 days,
the period fluctuating with changes in the weather. Cold dipping
lengthens the drying period by approximately 50 per cent., while the
period following the modified temperature dip is slightly less than that
of the cold dip. Humid weather retards drying under all methods, but
to a lesser extent if the grapes have been cold dipped.
VIH.—THE PRE-HARVEST IRRIGATION.
1. General.—In community settlements it is not possible to irrigate
at the optimum time in respect to the maturity of the various varieties
of fruits grown in those districts. The requirements are a watering late
enough to last over the harvest period, but not so late as to interfere with
maturation. This is not wholly attainable in most districts, but advance
is being made in some areas by first watering early varieties, such as
Zante currants ; completing the irrigation two or preferably three weeks
before the normal date at which sultanas are ripe, and affording an
opportunity of rewatering vineyards which were necessarily irrigated
too early.
2. Effects of Irrigating Vines at or near Ripeness.—A decrease
in density of the fruit juice—probably due to greater distention by water
—invariably results if vines are irrigated when the grapes are nearly ripe.
This feature may persist for a week or even more after irrigating. Grapes
in this condition are more easily damaged and show a greater tendency
to natural deterioration during drying. In the case of the Zante currant,
it is accompanied by a retention of the undesirable red pigment. A delay
in picking will correct inferior quality caused by delayed ripening, but
this is bad policy, as it reduces the length of the drying period, and, in
most seasons, the quality. .
IX.—ECONOMICS.
With an export proportion in Australia of approximately 80 per cent.
of the total production, it is necessary to produce dried fruit of a colour
and quality suitable to the overseas requirements. Market reports on
quality, though showing some inconsistencies, indicate that light coloured
uniform fruit gives the best results. These reports are confirmed by
the realizations of the fruit from the cold dip and the modified hot dip,
and a continuance and expansion of these methods on standardized
lines appears to be a sound policy, except in districts where the drying
season is short. Objections have been made during the past two seasons
to the multi-coloured samples and to the greenish tinge occasionally
present. The multi-coloured fruit is mainly due to the application of
the cold or the modified temperature dip to fruit of inferior quality, and
1
or
to handling the grapes before they are sufficiently dry. Correction will
come with experience, and with an extension of instructional work.
Removal of the green colour by thorough bleaching entails extra expense,
which so far has been justified by increased realizations.
In respect to the modified temperature dip, most of the mistakes
of past seasons are due to weak dips, whereby the processor aimed at a
very light brown, which too often was accompanied by a green tinge on
some berries and natural deterioration of others. It appears sound policy
to increase the strength until browning is definite on the dried product.
In this way, though the small proportion of “fancy” samples may
disappear, the faults of the past season will not be so much in evidence,
while a higher average grade and greater uniformity will be obtained.
The best method or methods for areas of similar climate will ultimately
be decided on processing costs considered in relation to realizations, and
to the quantity of the special types absorbed in the various markets.
The transition period in respect to dips has been so recent, and varia-
tions due to individuality so great, that a decision on this point is not at
present justified. It is certain, however, that the better quality secured
in recent years has been reflected not only in a higher realization per ton
but also in increased sales.
X.—SUMMARY.
1. The Boiling Caustic Dip—
(a) Prepare a solution containing 23 lb. of caustic soda per 100 gallons
of water.
(6) Test the efficiency of this dip by trial at boiling point. An immer-
sion of one and a half seconds should be sufficient to remove all bloom,
and slightly crack some of the berries.
(c) If not effective, add caustic soda progressively at the rate of
3 lb. to 100 gallons of dip solution, until the desired results are obtained.
Excessive cracking indicates that the concentration is too great and it
causes “stickiness” after packing. Testing is necessary after all addi-
tions.
(d) All dipping (including testing) should be done at the boiling point.
2. The Modified Temperature Caustic Dip—
(a) Prepare a solution containing 3 lb. of caustic soda per 100 gallons
of water.
(6) Test the efficiency by trial, at 190° to 196° F. If effective, the
bloom is entirely removed from all berries on an immersion of one and a
half seconds. Removal of bloom may be accompanied by slight cracking.
(c) If not effective, add caustic soda progressively, at the rate of
4 Ib. per 100 gallons of water until the desired results are obtained.
Testing is necessary after all additions.
16
(d) All dipping, including testing, should be done at a temperature
of 190° to 196° F.
(ec) Spraying with the cold dip solution is essential during bad drying
weather and preferable in nortnal weather, This does not materially
alter the characteristics resulting from the dip.
3. The Cold Dip.—
(a) Prepare in the dip tank the required volume of solution containing
1 lb. carbonate of potash to 2 gallons of water.
(5) Add olive oil emulsion equivalent to one and a half pints of oil to
50 gallons of solution.
(c) Test by immersing the fruit for four minutes. If efficient, the
bloom will be wholly removed, and an oily coating substituted.
(d) If not satisfactory, add oil emulsion progressively, at the rate of
+ pint of oil per 50 gallons of water, until an effective test is obtained.
(e) Add an excess of emulsion equivalent to } pint of olive oil to 50
gallons dip solution, before using.
(f) Continue in use until slight traceries of bloom appear on the
dipped fruit. Then add excess of emulsion as in (e).
(7) Additions of carbonate solution are made as a solution at original
strength (1 lb. to 2 gallons of water), and entail further testing and
additions to oil emulsion before using.
(h) The fruit should be sprayed with the “ cold dip solution” at the
third day, and thereafter at intervals of three or four days. A special
spraying should be applied during or immediately after rainfall.
4. Genera!—
(a) Fruit should be spread as soon as practicable after dipping.
(6) Quick drying improves quality. Therefore effective dipping and
thin spreading are essentials.
(c) Removal and particularly bundling of partially-dried fruit
invariably results in a multi-coloured sample, due to deterioration of
individual berries to a varying degree.
(d) Bleaching of cold-dipped fruit should precede final washing, as
otherwise regulation of moisture content is not possible.
(e) Thin spreading for exposure on hessian is essential for uniform
results.
(/) The cold dip and the modified temperature caustic dip give best
results in early and mid-harvest period, and with fruit of good quality.
H. J. GREEN,
GOVERNMENT PRINTER,
MELBOURNE.
PAMPHLET No.
Ww. RANGER :
of the - Qacnd, Committee ‘of Direction of
“Fruit Bo adetest
Aeris | ‘Praleaal of tis. Chom: tr
aivenity. of Melbouree. a Ma Rees Pore a 2
“MELBOURNE, 1928:
7.
- Professor H. He Richards, D.Sc.
PAMPHLET No. 7.
|
OF AUSTRALIA
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
AG os th =
EXPORT OF ORANGES
By
W. RANGER
Manager of the Queensland Committee of Direction of
Fruit Marketing
AND
W. Jc YOUNGS DiSc:
Associate Professor of Bio-Chemistry,
University of Melbourne
MELBOURNE, 1928
By Authority:
H. J. Green, Government Printer, Melbourne
CONE NES:
PAGE
1, INTRODUCTION —
(a) Necessity for Export from Australia not 50: soe 3)
(6) Export past Experimental Stage ... ate ae ae 5
2. MerHops UsEp ELSEWHERE—
A. California—
(a) Picking 5
(6) Packing house procedure 6
(c) Size and capacity of cases ... 7
'(d) Brogdex process = os ae es 7
(e) Colouring by ethylene Sac ae ae sce 8
(f) Pre-cooling ose 502 ae S00 506 8
(g) Stacking in railway cars... “6 So se 8
B. South Africa—
(a) Picking and packing aA So ae Acc 9
(6) Borax treatment
(c) Transport by rail oss dex ee one 9
(d) Inspection oie Ce aoe Ser een i)
(e) Pre-cooling aes oo aie sac ok 9
(f) Temperature during transport sis ax fs 9
(g) Control of export es so = rf 10
3. RECOMMENDATIONS. = nea aes si Ee 10
oe
The Export of Oranges.
1. INTRODUCTION.
(a) Necessity for Export from Australia.—Australia is stated to be
second to the United States of America in the consumption of oranges
per head of population, and at present consumes practically all the
oranges she produces. In the near future, however, a large number of
young trees will come into bearing, and even at present, an abnormally
good season would yield a surplus over the consumption. An external
market is therefore essential, if the industry is to progress.
This necessity for export has engaged the attention of the Citrus
Associations of Australia, and the Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research has been approached by the Victorian Association to under-
take experimental shipments of oranges on a commercial scale,
(6) Export past Experimental Stage.—In view of the fact that oranges
are successfully exported from other countries, and that standard
methods of treatment have been evolved and are now in regular practice,
the Council decided that the best interests of the Australian citrus indus-
try would be served by making such information available, rather than
by repeating experiments which have already been conducted elsewhere.
In accordance with this decision of the Council, the writers have been
asked to prepare a pamphlet embodying the practice obtaining in
California and South Africa, with recommendations to the Australian
industry.
It seems to the writers that practically no modification of the methods
used successfully elsewhere need be made to meet Australian conditions.
There appear to be no complicating factors.
2. METHODS USED ELSEWHERE.
A. California.
The citrus industry in California has adopted a standard method for
fruit handling. The following description, therefore, applies to the fruit
marketed within the United States as well as to the fruit exported. It
takes a period of about 14 days for Californian oranges to reach the
markets of the Eastern States, but frequently the fruit remains in the
railway cars for much longer periods—up to 40 days. Of the fruit
exported, probably that sent to Australia travels furthest. The sea
journey is one of three weeks, which means that the fruit is probably a
month old from the time of leaving the packing houses to arrival in
Australia. Its keeping qualities in Australia are well known.
(a) Picking.—All the fruit is cut, and the pickers wear canvas gloves.
At all stages the fruit is handled with the utmost care.
6
(b) Packing House Procedure.—The following is the general procedure
adopted in the Californian packing houses. Some variation exists when
the Brogdex system is used. This is described later.
lst Operation.—The field boxes are placed on an endless belt which
carries them to the washer. Here the case is automatically tilted and the
fruit emptied down an inclined plane into the washing tank. This tank
contains a series of revolving brushes over which the fruit has to pass.
The water has soap powder dissolved in it. The fruit then passes from
this soaking tank through another series of brushes over which pure water
is constantly sprayed. This completes the washing operation.
2nd Operation.—The fruit is passed into a tank containing a solution
of borax and boric acid in the proportion of one part of the former to
two parts of the latter in a 43 to 5 per cent. solution. The temperature
of the solution is maintained at 95° to 100° F. by means of a gas heater.
This heater consists of a drum inside the after end of the tank. Through
this drum pass several pipes open at both ends so that water from the
tank can circulate freely through them. At this end the tank is deepened
to accommodate the drum. Several gas flames impinge on these pipes
and so heat the water. A small pump draws water from this end and
delivers it through an outside pipe to the fore end of the tank. A slowly
rotating series of paddles causes the fruit to travel forward and be
immersed for the period required, viz., 5 minutes. The fruit is then
delivered to an ascending platform, which is placed above the heater
drum so that the fruit does not come into contract with the heated water
ascending from the heated pipes. At the top of this platform the fruit
meets a small spray of water which washes off any excess of borax. The
strength of the solution is determined by a hydrometer, and the
concentration is maintained by the addition of more borax and boric
acid as required.
3rd Operation.—This consists of drying the fruit by passing it slowly
through a drier where air is drawn over it by a series of fans. This
operation takes 15 minutes.
After these operations the fruit presents a clean, bright appearance,
much superior to the natural appearance when picked from the tree.
The skin shows a polish that much enhances the value.
4th Operation —The fruit is then passed to the grading belt, where
girls hand-grade it for quality. Various belts convey it to the sizing
machines.
5th Operation.—In the highest grade the oranges are passed through
electrical marking machines which imprint the name “ Sunkist ” on each
orange. This mark refers to quality only, and not to the size of the fruit.
6th Operation.—Sizing.—The sizing machine (similar to the type used
in Australia) simply consists of wooden revolving rollers and a rope belt
travelling longitudinally. The distance between the two gradually
increases as the fruit is carried along by the rope belt while the rollers
keep it revolving. Thus the smaller fruit is dropped first, and the larger
fruit carried to the farther end.
7
7th Operation—Packing.—This is done by girls, who are paid 3d. per
box for normal sizes, but 6d. per box for the small sizes. Small sizes
are those from 2 inches to 2} inches in diameter—490 to 252 per American
box (equivalent to 326 to 168 per Australian box). To give every gir!
the same chance, the positions are changed every half hour, so that no
girl is handicapped by being always on the same size.
8th Operation.—The packers place the full case on a travelling belt,
where it passes to an automatic nailer, which nails the two ends. A
metal strip is nailed over the middle of the lid by hand and the case is
then ready to be loaded directly into the railway car or placed in the
pre-cooler.
(c) Size and Capacity of Cases.—The orange case used has two
compartments and measures inside 11} in. x 114 in. x 24 in. The net
weight of the contents is 72 lb.
(d) Brogdex Process —The Brogdex process consists of two parts—
1. The Borax or “ Brogdite ” treatment, effected in a somewhat
different way from the method previously described ; and
2. The Paraffin or “ Brogdex” treatment, whereby the fruit is
given an exceedingly thin coating of melted or dissolved
paraffin wax. It is claimed that this restores the natural
oil removed during the washing and borax operations,
prevents evaporation, and that it is sufficient to slow down
the rate of respiration of the fruit, but not sufficient to close
the pores entirely. It also affords protection to any cuts
on the skin of the orange.
The Brogdex Company claims a patent over this process, and of any
process using borax. Most of the packing houses have been using the
borax process without paying any royalty to the Company. The Company
took action against one of the Associations, and recently the verdict was
given in favour of the Company.
The procedure in houses using the Brogdex process is as follows :—
1. The fruit is first passed through a soaking tank containing a
4 per cent. solution of borax. No boric acid is used. The
temperature is maintained at about 115° F. The fruit is
completely immersed by a series of slowly revolving paddles
as described previously, and the time of soaking is about
33 minutes.
bo
. The fruit is then passed to the washer, where it is brushed in
another borax solution of the same strength, to which soap
powder is added when necessary.
oo
. The fruit passes through the drier.
poe
. The fruit passes under a thin spray or mist of paraffin wax
supplied from a small electrically heated tank. A series of
revolving brushes removes excess of paraffin so that a thin
invisible coating only remains.
8
5. The fruit is carried by time-killing elevators in order that the
fruit may dry, to the grading table, after which the
operations are as previously described.
(e) Colouring by Ethylene —A considerable amount of experimental
work has been done in America on the colouring of fruit by means of
ethylene gas. The procedure is to place the fruit in a fairly gas-tight
room, and ‘liberate ethylene gas every 24 hours in the proportion of 1
cubic foot of gas to 1,000 cubic feet capacity of the room. The rooms
are ventilated each night for a short period, and the dose repeated. The
temperature should be about 65° F. to 70° F.
The use of ethylene is standard practice in all American citrus packing
houses for oranges received too green for ordinary packing, and for
colouring lemons quickly when the market j isfavorable. The managers of
the houses, however, are not enthusiastic over the process, and only use
it when it is really necessary. They state that the fruit is softened by
the treatment. Whilst, therefore, colouring by ethylene will be of value
for local sales in Australia, it cannot, at the present stage, be recom-
mended for export {ru t.
(f) Pre-cooling.—Practically every citrus house has a cool store
attached, and oranges are generally, but not invariably, pre-cooled before
loading into railway cars. If the fruit be not pre-cooled it usually takes
three or four days in the refrigerator cars to bring the temperature down
to about 40° F. The aim is to carry the fruit between 38° F. and 42° F.
(g) Stacking in Railway Cars.—The cases are stacked on end seven
wide by two high, with air spaces between to provide ventilation. As
soon as one row of cases is stacked, two strips of wood are nailed to each
case. The wa: are the width of the car in length, about 13 inches wide
and about } inch thick. The idea is to brace the load and also provide
ventilating space. When the two ends of the car have been stacked, or
when only four more rows remain to be inserted, a “‘car squeeze” is used
to force the cases together sufficiently to make room for these four rows.
Otherwise there would not be sufficient room, and with three rows the
car would be slackly stacked. The ‘‘ car squeeze” is simply an expanding
screw press.
Further details of the American citrus industry will be found in
‘What America Can Teach Us,” a report by W. Ranger on his investi-
gations of the American fruit industry in 1927, and published by the
Queensland Committee of Direction of Fruit Marketing.
B. South Africa.
Approximately two-thirds of the oranges exported from South Africa
are grown in the Transvaal; other citrus areas are situated in the Cape
Province and in Natal. Citrus in South Africa is grown both with sum-
mer rainfall and winter rainfall.
9
The bulk of the fruit is exported from Cape Town, but a considerable
quantity is also shipped from Port Elizabeth, in the Kastern Cape
Province, and from Durban in Natal.
(a) Picking and Packing.—In South Africa the picking and packing
are done by black labour with white overseers. In most of the citrus
districts there are co-operative packing houses which are fitted with sizing
machinery, but some growers still have their own packing houses where
sizing 1s still carried out by hand. The fruit is cut and very carefully
handled during the whole of the operations involved. It is not the usual
custom to sweat the fruit. The oranges are cleaned, sized, wrapped in
paper and packed in a 14-bushel case similar to the Australian export
case,
(b) Borax Treatment.—Treatment with borax is not in general use, but
is employed in some places. The largest citrus orchard in South Africa
is that at Zebedelia (near St. Petersburg) in the Transvaal, and all the
fruit is treated by the Brogdex process. The machinery has been
imported from America for treatment with borax and paraffin as described
in the previous section.
(c) Transport by Rail.—The iruit is sent to the port by rail in louvred
trucks without ice. Even from the Transvaal to Cape Town (over 1,000
miles) no.iced trucks are required ; indeed, oranges are sometimes damaged
through the frosts, which are very severe in the high lands over which
the railway passes in the journey to Cape Town.
(d) Inspection.—At the port 5 per cent. of each consignment is
inspected by a special staff of inspectors under the Department of
Agriculture.
(e) Pre-cooling.—All oranges are pre-cooled to 40° F. before loading
into the ships. In Cape Town this is done in the new Government Pre-
cooling Station on the wharf. The train runs into an air lock on one side
of the building, and the fruit cases are unloaded, tallied and inspected
and put on to skids on wheels. These skids are then run into the pre-
cooling chambers, and, after the temperature has been reduced, are
wheeled out on to the wharf side of the building and transferred by the
quayside hoists into the ship’s hold. The fruit is thus not handled from
the time it is put on to the skids until it arrives in the hold. This pre-
cooling takes 12 to 24 hours.
In Durban pre-cooling is carried out at present in a privately-owned
store, and the fruit is transported to the ship in refrigerator trucks. A
pre-cooling station similar in design to that at Cape Town is to be erected
by the Government on the sine at Durban.
At Port Elizabeth, where there is no wharf, and where the ships anchor
in the shelter of a breakwater, pre-cooling is carried out in specially
constructed refrigerator lighters which take the fruit out to the ships.
({) Temperature during Transport—The temperature recommended is
40° F., and the hold is ventilated from time to time.
10
(g) Control of Export.—The export of fruit is controlled by the Perish-
able Products Export Control Board, on which one member out of six
represents the citrus industry. This Board arranges shipping accom-
modation for the fruit, and allots space in the ships in order of priority of
arrival of the fruit at the port. The Board employs an executive officer
who has control of all transport and handling from the unloading from
the trains to the loading into the ships’ holds.
Cost.—The following charges are made to the growers in addition to
the transport charges :—
Inspection, 5s. a ton (cubic measure) or about 4d. a case.
Pre-cooling, 5s. a ton or 4d. a case.
Handling charge, 5s. 6d. a ton.
Further details of the South African industry will be found in a
report by W. J. Young in the Journal of the Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research, Vol. 1, No. 2.
3. RECOMMENDATIONS.
The following recommendations are made to the Australian citrus
industry :—
|. All the fruit should be cut and not pulled from the tree.
2. Gloves should be used whenever the fruit is handled, whether in
picking, grading or packing.
3. Packing houses and equipment should be kept as clean as possible,
and all discarded fruit should be cleared away at once. Mouldy fruit
lying about in the packing house or in the bins of the machines is lable
to contaminate the air and machinery with mould spores which may
infect fresh fruit.
4. The borax process should be used. In this connexion attention
is drawn to the fact that apparently the Brogdex Company holds an
Australian patent over any process using borax. The terms under which
it was prepared to license users in Australia are contained in the
accompanying letter from the Company. Since this letter was written
the Australian rights have been taken over by an Australian company.
** Brogdex Company,
Los Angeles, California.
5th August, 1927.
Pursuant to your understanding with our Vice-President, Mr. H F. Keenan, the matter
of making a tentative proposition, embracing the terms upon which we would be willing
to license the use of our processes to citrus packing Associations in that country, was
discussed with our officers and the writer was authorized to submit the following
proposition :—
We are willing to execute a license contract for the use of the ‘ Brogdite ’ and * Brogdex’
processes and equipment for their application upon a royalty basis; the licensee to pay
a royalty or license-fee of 54 cents per box for each U.S. standard box packed, or its
equivalent. The U.S. standard box for oranges and lemons contains 72 lb. of fruit, and
the royalty could be figured on that basis if the size of your cases and the weight of
11
their contents differ from ours. The licensee would be required to pay the cost of
construction, crating, freight, insurance and duty f.o.b. point of shipment, as well as the
salary and expenses of our representative, who would go to your country and take charge
of the installation and familiarize the licensee’s employees with the machinery and
methods of application. As you are aware, the equipment furnished by us for the
application of these processes in this country is operated in conjunction with other
standard packing house equipment consisting of conveyor belting, which carries the
fruit from its last contact with the borax solution to the standard drier, the drier itself,
conveyor belting taking fruit from the Brogdex (paraffin) applicator to the grading tables
and belts, grading tables, sizers and bins for receiving the sized fruit.
Our smallest type of machine is that which we install in packing houses having a
capacity of two carloads, or approximately 925 boxes per day, and the cost of that
equipment crated, but not including freight, insurance, consular charges or duty, would
be approximately $4,650.00. The additional equipment necessary to complete such a
standard packing house unit, which can be procured from Stebler Parker Company of
Riverside, California, would include a 24-in. drier, 28-in. absorber, 18-in. roller elevator
24 feet long, for conveying fruit through the drier, double grader, with 24-in. belt,
distributing bins and with 16-in. feeding conveyor 12 feet long for feeding and sorting
for quality, f.o.b. Riverside, California, crated for export, at a cost of approximately
2,875.00. The license contract would not contain any provision for maintenance,
repairs or renewals of parts of our equipment by this Company, but would provide that
extra parts and all materials forming the basis of the solutions used in our processes, with
the exception of water, would be furnished at cost f.o.b. point of shipment. This contract
would also provide for monthly payment of royalties on the basis of the amount of fruit
packed during the preceding calendar month, for certified statements of the quantity of
‘ruit packed each month, and for the appointment of a representative of this Company
in your country to receive and forward royalties paid ; the books of account and records
of the licensee to be subject to inspection by our representative at reasonable times. The
term of the license granted would be for the life of our Australian patents and any
renewals thereof, and the licensee will be entitled to the benefit of any improvements
in processes or apparatus. The licensee should acknowledge the title and ownership of
this Company of such patents and the processes and apparatus covered thereby and
agree not to assaii such title during the life of the agreement, also not to use the equipment
furnished for applying any other processes, and to abide by the instructions of this
Company as to their manner of application. The contract would contain suitable
provisions for termination in case of breach of contract and would give the licensee the
right to terminate the contract at any time, upon six months’ written notice to this
Company in advance,
On 4th August we received telegraphic advice from out patent counsel in Washington,
D.C., that a decision had been rendered in favour of this Company in the suit brought
by us against American Fruit Growers, Inc., for infringement of our borax patent. The
decision was sweeping and upheld all process and article claims relied upon by us. We
consider this a great victory, which should enable us to soon come to terms with all citrus
packers covering the use of our process under license.
With reference to water export of citrus fruit, our local licensees all agreed that the
best results are to be obtained in citrus shipments made by vessels without refrigeration,
where the fruit is packed in spaces below deck which are equipped with fans to insure
the circulation of cool air throughout the hold, where the fruit is stored. It is our under-
standing that many freight carriers are now thus equipped.
Yours very truly,
BROGDEX COMPANY
By (Sgd.) WILLIAM R. MILLAN, Secretary.”
It seems to us that the merits of the borax process are conclusively
established. The fact that this process is universal in Californian packing
houses and is being adopted in South Africa appears to be sufficient
evidence.
The paraffin process seems to have considerable merits, and from the
evidence supplied it would appear very desirable that this should be used
for long distance shipments. As the Brogdex Company’s royalty covers
both processes, practically no additional expense would be incurred by
using this.
5. The value of a distinctive mark on the individual orange needs no
argument, and we believe it would be of considerable benefit to the
industry. In this connexion, we suggest that the word “ Kangaroo,”
such as appears on some of the orange wrappers, might be used as a
distinctive mark for our first quality export fruit.
6. We recommend that the number of individual oranges in the case
(instead of the diameter of the fruit) should be marked on the outside
of the case. This affords much better information to the buyer and is in
accordance with practice elsewhere.
7. Attention is drawn to the fact that the Californian case consists
of two divisions each 11} in. x 113 in. x 114 in., and the cases are stacked
on end so that there is no undue weight on the bottom layer. A similar
case, but somewhat smaller, has been used for export from Australia, and
it seems to us highly desirable that we should adopt a similar method of
stacking on end, so that the heavier boards carry the weight. By this
method there would also be better ventilation, as the bulge of the case
would provide air spaces. The necessity for vertical dunnage might be
obviated by this means. To prevent movement of the cases, due to
shrinkage of the contents, it may be necessary to provide strips similar
to the car strips used in California.
The records obtained by the officers of the Cambridge Low Temper-
ature Station show that big variations in temperature occur in different
parts of the ship’s hold during the voyage, and pre-cooling of the fruit
would reduce such irregularities. We would strongly advise, therefore,
that all fruit be pre-cooled to 40° F. before shipment.
8. No fruit should be exported from any district where there is no
packing house properly equipped in accordance with these recommenda-
tions.
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PAMPHLET No. 8
| J.-A. PRESCOTT, M.Sc.
( abled of Crees aay :
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PAMPHLET No. 8
COMMONWEALTH 2% Se » OF AUSTRALIA
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
METHODS
FOR THE
EXAMINATION oF SOILS
By |
J. A. PRESCOTT, M.Sc. i
(Professor of Agricultural Chemistry)
and
© S52 PIPERW BSc:
(Assistant Chemist)
South Australia
Waite Agricultural Research Institute, University of Adelaide,
MELBOURNE, 1928
By Authority :
| { H. J. Green, Government Printer, Melbourne |
oo
PREFACE.
The following pamphlet is the result of a realization that greater
co-ordination is desirable between the various laboratories in Australia
engaged in advisory or systematic work on soils. Up to the present
time the methods adopted have been largely determined by the special
outlook of the department concerned with probably a general tendency
to follow analytical practices and standards common in the United
States. The rapidly changing outlook in the chemistry of soils brought
about in recent years by the newer work on hydrogen-ion concentration
and replaceable bases, and the increasing importance of soil investigations
in Australia in connexicn with the problems being investigated under
the auspices of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, make
the present time a convenient one for attaining such uniformity of
method throughout the Commonwealth.
The methods recommended are the result of some years of experience,
together with critical studies of technique conducted at the Waite
Institute during the past three years in dealing with Australian soils,
and are suggested as a basis for discussion in reaching such standardiza-
tion.
Adelaide.
January, 1928.
C,2760.—2.
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CONTENTS.
J]. Frrtp MretHops—
1
. General
2. Soil Profiles
If. PREPARATION OF SAMPLE
Ill. MecuHantcaL ANALYSIS—
1
2
. General
2. Standard Pipette Method for Mechanical Analysis. .
3. Equipment for Mechanical Analysis
TV. Cuemican ANALYSIS—
te
2.
coo Tt DD oO Fe w&
Soil Carbonates
trated Hydrochloric Acid—
(i) Ferric Oxide and Titanium Dioxide
(ii) Manganese Oxide
(iii) Iron, Aluminium, Calcium, and Magnesium
(iv) Potash and Phosphoric Acid
. Citric Acid Extraction
. Methods for the Determination of Replaceable Bases
. Water Soluble Salts
. Total Nitrogen
. Nitrogen as Nitrate and Ammonia
. Organic Carbon and Humus
. Soil Reaction. Hydrogen-ion Concentration—
(a) Electrometric determination of soil reaction
(b) Colorimetric method
10. Lime Requirement
VY Lasoratory EXAMINATIONS REQUIRED FOR SOIL SURVEYS
Mineral Substances brought into Solution by Digestion with Concen-
PAGE
20
GENERAL REFERENCES.
In compiling these methods, the following text-books have been
consulted :—
Washington, H. S.—Manual of the Chemical Analysis of Rocks,
3rd edition. 1919.
Hillebrand, W. F.—The Analysis of Silicate and Carbonate Rocks.
U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 700. 1919.
Association of Official Agricultural Chemists—Official and Tenta-
tive Methods of Analysis. 2nd edition. 1925.
Russell, E. J—Soil Conditions and Plant Growth. 5th edition.
1927.
In many cases the methods have had to be suitably adapted to the
conditions encountered in soil analysis.
In addition to the above, the original papers have been consulted
for some of the methods of analysis, such references being given in the
text.
REAGENTS.
Throughout the following methods, when reference is made to con-
centrated reagents, the following strengths are understood :—
Concentrated sulphuric acid sappy etre 1:84
Concentrated hydrochloric acid .. 8.G. 1.18
Concentrated nitric acid .. J+ Be hee
Fuming nitric acid - Apne 6 an 2!)
Concentrated ammonia .. De Oat
When referring to diluted reagents, the strengths are indicated, as
for example, dilute sulphuric acid (1+4) means one part of the above
concentrated sulphuric acid diluted with four parts (by volume) of
water.
IFIELD METHODS.
1. General.
The choice of the methods of field examination and of sampling depends
on the purpose for which the sample is required. Where the sample is
to be representative of a given area of land, it will be necessary to take
a number of samples scattered uniformly over the field or block which is
to be examined. As examples of laboratory determinations requiring
such composite samples may be mentioned—moisture determinations in
fallowed land for judging purposes in fallow competitions, the salt content
of irrigated soils, or the lime requirement of acid soils. For such sampling
a cylindrical borer such as is recommended by E. J. Russell* is of value.
(Fig. la.)
It is preferable to sample where possible on stubble land. Where
there is a surface mulch, this should be sampled separately and swept
clear of the consolidated layer below. This is very important where
water soluble material is to be determined. Under Australian conditions
the soil is frequently very dry and hard, and it is almost hopeless to use
the cylindrical sampling tools. The ordinary post-hole auger of commerce
(Fig. 1b) is an excellent substitute in this case, and can be obtained
down to 3 inches in diameter. The main objection to the use of this
auger is the fact that the diameter of the top is slightly larger than at
the bottom. The combined cutting and digging edge makes this tool,
however, easily the most serviceable for general use in hard ground.
Where only small samples are required, as for moisture determination
or bacterial numbers, particularly in a growing crop, the Frankel borer
(Fig. 1d) may be recommended where the ground is reasonably moist.
This borer is pushed down or hammered down in a closed condition and
filled by a clockwise rotating movement which opens the receptacle and
scrapes the soil into the opening; a half turn in the opposite direction
closes the opening again, and the borer can be withdrawn.t+
For survey work it is not necessary to keep samples from every hole.
The auger is used principally to determine the nature of the soil and the
character of the soil profile. For light soils, reasonably moist, a screw
auger with a specially cut digging edge is rapid and convenient (Fig. le).
The pitch of the screw should be sufficiently narrow to bring up the
sample. For harder soils the post-hole auger is again the most rapid
sampling tool. When a type sample is required, no attempt should be
made to secure a mixed sample representative of a given area. The
sample is intended to represent soil conditions at some particular point
on the map, and this position must be carefully selected so as to be repre-
sentative of the soil formation which has been defined from previous
bores over the area. To determine the nature and magnitude of the
natural variations from type a number of independent samples should
be collected. The method usually employed by Australian land surveyors
* Russell, E. J., Soil Conditions and Plant Growth, p. 453 (1927).
+ In heavy clay Egyptian soils reasonably moist, this sampler has been used successfully to depths
¢ a4 a — W.L., Journ. of Agric. Sci., 5,p. 469 (1913) ; Prescott, J. A., Sultanie Agric. Soc. Bull.
0. 7, 1921).
0 1 2 3 4
Fig. 1—Sorm Samprina Toots—
(a) Rothamsted cylindrical auger.
(b) Post-hole auger.
(c) Screw auger.
(d) Frankel borer.
is to dig a pit by means of a pick, crowbar, and spade, sufficiently large
and deep to make it possible to examine the profile of the soil. This
system is similar to the one recommended by Glinka.* From the side
vf such a. pit it is possible to remove samples, horizon by horizon, and
the Russian workers frequently transport the whole of such a sample
profile in a metal frame which can be pressed into the side of the pit.
The colour and texture of the profile should be noted, and a tinted drawing
made recording the colour of the various layers and their depths. Where
the original vegetation is known, as is usually the case in Australia, this
should also be noted.
* Glinka K. Die Typen der Bodenbildung, p. 12 (1914)
2. Soil Profiles.
The soil profile is assumed to be made up of three zones or horizons
which, in international nomenclature, are known as the A, B, and C
horizons. A is the eluvial horizon or zone of leaching, B is the illuvial
horizon or zone of deposition, C is the zone of unchanged drift or purely
mechanically modified rock material. Under reasonably high rainfall
conditions, the zone A is depleted of lime and of clay—clay being usually
accumulated in the B layer. The-surface zone may be enriched by the
Bs
ae
Fig. 2—Photograph of soil profile at Glen Osmond, South
Australia. Vegetation type. Eucalyptus odorata savannah,
Horizons: A, zone of leaching with slight humus accumulation.
A, zone of leaching,
B, zone of accumulation—clay.
B, zone of accumulation—calcium carbonate.
C parent soil-forming material.
addition of humus from the native vegetation. Under more moderate
rainfall conditions, particularly with a well marked dry period in summer,
the lime removed from the A horizon appears in the lower part of the
B horizon. Eventually it ought to be further possible to find a place
for the Australian soil types in some international system of classifica-
tion,* but at present information available is too incomplete for such a
classification to be attempted.
II._PREPARATION OF SAMPLE.
The sample taken in the field should be thoroughly mixed, any large
pieces being broken down by hand into smaller pieces averaging about
* For a summary in English of the international system of soil classification, see Robinson, W. G.
Geological Magazine 61, p. 444 (1924). Shantz H. L. and Marbut C. F.: The Vegetation and Soils of
Africa (1923).
10
half-an-inch in diameter. The sample should be spread out on a piece of
sacking or strong brown paper, and a carefully sampled representative
portion of about 3 lb. taken. Calico bags are the most convenient for this
purpose. A label with any relevant notes is placed in the bag with the
sample. For most purposes the soil is to be air-dried and then ground in a
convenient mortar with a wooden pestle, or at least under such conditions
as will not actually break down any of the ultimate particles of the soil.
The soil sample should be ground to pass through a sieve with circular
holes 2 mm. in diameter. For special purposes where small quantities
of soil are to be weighed, say, for nitrogen or for calcium carbonate, it is
desirable that such samples should be weighed from material which has
been ground still further, say, to pass 0.5 mm., mixing the coarse portion
back in the sample.
III.—_MECHANICAL ANALYSIS.
1. General.
The purpose of the mechanical analysis is to determine the proportions
in the soil of the various soil particles. While it is possible by the use
of such means as the Odén-Keen balance to obtain a complete repre:
sentation of the size distribution of the ultimate soil particles, it is neces-
sary for general purposes to adopt some conventional scheme of classi-
fication for these particles. Below are given the three most important
systems in use at the present time, and the British system of units is
adopted as standard in this publication. It is easily possible to transform
values obtained in this way into the international system by the graphic
method proposed by Robinson* and outlined below.
TABLE 1.
CLASSIFICATION OF Som PARTICLES FOR PURPOSES OF MECHANICAL ANALYSIS.
Description of Settling Velocity.
System. Parniclen: Diameter of Particles.
Limiting values. |
International .. ae rie 2000u (2 mm.)
200u (0.2 mm.) 10 cm. in 5 secs.
20u (0.02 mm.) | 10 cm. in 74 mins.
2u (0.002 mm.) | 10 cm. in 8 hours
British ste .. | Fine gravel .. | 2 —l mm
Coarse sand .. | | .2 mm.
Fine sand .. | 0.2 —0.04 mm.
Silt .. .. | 0.04—0.01 mm. 30 cm. in 5 mins.
Fine silt .. | 0.01—0.002 mm. | 12 cm. in 20 mins.
Clay .. | Below 0.002 mm. | 8.6 cm. in 24 hours
(Calculated value
0.0014 mm.)
United States — Bureau | Fine gravel 2 —l mm.
of Soils Coarse sand .. | 1 —0.5mm
Medium sand .. | 0.5 —0.25 mm.
Fine sand . | 0.25—0.10 mm
Very fine sand 0.10—0.05 mm.
Silt .. .. | 0.05—0.005 mm.
Clay .. | Below 0,005 mm.
* Robinson, G. W. Journ. Agric. Sci., 12, pp. 306-321, 1922; ibid. 14, pp. 626-633, 1924.
1]
No attempt has as yet been made to express these international units
by any popular or scientific terms beyond the recognition of the German
names originally suggested by Atterberg—‘‘ Sand,” “Mo,” “ Schluff,”
“Ton.” Corresponding English equivalents that suggest themselves
are coarse sand, fine sand, silt, and clay, which would be satisfactory
if the system were specified at the same time.
The interpolation froni the British system to the international system
may be carried out by plotting the accumulated values for the successive
fractions. The conventional dimensions or settling velocities of the
particles are plotted on a logarithmic scale. It has been shown by G.
W. Robinson* that the curves so obtained are,smooth, and that results
obtained on one scale can readily be transferred to another scale by
interpolation.
In Fig. 3 are given examples of such summation curves for South
Australian soils.
5.0 AOpen = Zu ro 04 1.8 2.4 British
45 23 0.4 2.4 Iniernahonat
Log. Settling Velocity
Fig. 3—Illustrating method of interpolating mechanical analyses from the British to the
International system.
* Robinson, G. W. Journ. Agric. Sci., 14, p. 626, 1924.
12
The actual analytical data and the interpolation to the international
system are given in Table 2.
TABLE 2.
ILLUSTRATING DETERMINATIONS OF MECHANICAL ANALYSES OF SOME SouTH AUSTRALIAN
Sorts with INTERNATIONAL VALUES CALCULATED BY INTERPOLATION FROM Fic. 3.
| A. B. C. D. E. EF
Locality. aS. Spalding. | Pinnaroo. sacra | cnet Copeville.
Laboratory No. .. 101. 99, 273. 12. 9. 304.
% bg 4] 5 Saggernty olepepee mereiee %
BRITISH UNITS.
Fine gravel 1.3 | 0.2 | — RSP 4.0 | —
Coarse sand ao4 Wet 0.9 | 53.2 | 6.6 | 37.7 56.8
Fine sand .. ae Be ey | 22.3 | 26.8 61.3 | 42.2 | 39.1
Silt a | 5.4 19.4 | | sete | 13.6 i 0.9
Fine silt .. a) 9.6 39.9 | 1.0 O59 Ge2Hai 0.1
Clay ks ene 53.8 | LSE ela. 8.0 oO el Sut
| 100.0 | 100.0 100.0 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0
INTERNATIONAL UNITS. é
2 mm.—0).2 mm. .. 9.0 | Tote ps Oaae el 7.9 41.7. | 25638
0.2 mm.—0.02mm. | 26.2 | 35.9 | 27.8 | 71.9 47-8 ‘| "aa
0.02mm.—.002 mm. | 9.0 |} 36:3 | 1.0 10.5 6.4 | 0.3
Below 0.002 mm. .. | 55.8 | 26.7 | 18.0 | 9.7 4.1 | oP
100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0
The newer methods of mechanical analysis are reviewed by 8. Oden.*
The pipette method of mechanical analysis was first proposed by G. W.
Robinson,} who also showed the necessity of treating soils with hydrogen
peroxide to decompose the organic matter.{ The pipette method was in-
vestigated by a sub-committee of the Agricultural Education Association,§
and the method was finally adopted as official by that Association.|}
The method has also been independently investigated at the Waite Insti-
tute, and the detailed procedure of the latter modification is given below.
The method as outlined can be relied upon to give accurate results even
on soils containing quantities of calcium carbonate and gypsum.
2. Standard Pipette Method for Mechanical Analysis.
(a) Moistuwre-——Weigh out two portions of air-dry fine earth, each
of 10 gms., into two ignited and weighed silica basins. Dry in an oven
at 100° until there is no change in weight—usually nine hours is found
to be sufficient. The semi-circular oven (Gallenkamp, Cat. No. 3137 or
3132) allowing the samples to be dried in a current of warm, dry air has
been found to be very convenient for this purpose. samples being usually
dry in four to six hours. The water jacket of such an oven is to be filled
with 5 per cent. glycerine in water.
* Oden, S. Soil Sci. 19, pp. 1-35 (1925.)
+ Robinson, G, W. Journ. Agric. Sci. 12, pp. 306-321 (1922.)
¢ Robinson, G. W. Journ. Agric. Sci. 12., pp. 287-291 (1922.)
§ Journ. Agric. Sci. 16, pp. 123-144 (1926.) i
|| The Agricultural Education Association’s Official Pipette Method has been modified while this
pamphlet was actually in press. (Agricultural Progress, 1928 5, pp. 137-144).
The two most important modifications adopted are:
(a) The percentage of the fractions are now reported on the oven dried (105°C) and not on the
ignited basis.
(b) The settling times used for the separation of the fractions are different: two fractions only
Cue a clay and silt) are determined instead of three originally (clay, fine silt, _
and silt).
For the 2 mm. sieve, the Agricultural Education Association has now adopted a No. 70 I.M.M.
standard wire gauze, the aperture being .18 mm. The No. 9) 1 M.M. standard ganze being used at the
Waite Institute has a diagonal aperture of approximately .2 mm.
t Tiperial ya Research Conference in 1927, the Agri-.” As eae
al Education -Association of Great Britain has recently revised os
ic 1 method to bring it into line with international procedure and orn
rds. A full account of the revised method is to be found in Agri-
ae et Pp. 137-144. Australian workers are strongly
: given in the present am The first ree ea representing =
lay is made at the 10 cm. depth after an interval of 4 minutes oe
nds, the second sample representing clay is made at a depth of
after 8 hours. The remaining fraction, fine sand, is determined ee
r on the residue by successive decantations after settling fot: So ee
ites 48 seconds in a depth of 10 cm. A new procedure is that the
les are | dried at 105° C. and not ignited, although for some purposes — 5 xX
ign: weight, particularly of the clay fraction, may be of additional ==
0.2 mm. mesh sieve recommended for the separation of coarse
e sand is the I.M.M. sieve No. 70, having a square hole of
The slight wear and tear in use brings the apertures:
0. 2mm, size. ~
the ate of sampling, shauld ie adjusted to aia viscosity of
affected by the con ectines If at 20° C. (the standard of
10 15 20 25 30°C. “a
oir 660 0. 784.>. 0.8807. : 1.000 |. 25125 .. 1.257 Fes
ew ¢ British scale is then as follows :— Pe
Depth. Time. Corresponding Diameter. ee ie
-—10cms.. .. 8 hours a: 0.002 mm. ue
-- = lO\ems> <..: 4 mins. 48 secs. 0.02 mm. . = ve
es: e ad e | Separated by sieve ° a3 i ae . = eo es:
_ The r * sults to be peat as aac on the air-dry soil in the ~ Tae
$
ey
Ef “errors of experiment). ;
gare Total = 100. ; “
13
(6) Loss on Ignition —Aftter determining the moisture, place the
silica basin containing the dried soil over a Meker burner turned very
low. Gradually increase the flame until, after fifteen minutes, full heat
is applied. Then stir three times at five-minute intervals, using a spatula.
Transfer to a hot muffle and finish the ignition for fifteen to twenty minutes
at a bright red heat. Cool in a desiccator and weigh.
Loss in weight x 10 = % “loss on ignition.”
(c) Loss on Acid Treatment.—Weigh out 10 grms. of soil and transfer
to a 250 ml. beaker. Add 100 ml. of N/5 hydrochloric acid, and stir
well. Allow to act for one hour, stirring at intervals. If more than
2 per cent. of calcium carbonate is present in the soil, in addition to
the 100 ml. of N/5 acid, add 1 ml. of 2N hydrochloric acid for each per
cent. of calcium carbonate present. Filter through an 11 cm. Whatman
No. 44 filter paper, which has previously been dried in the water oven
and weighed. Wash with three portions of 40 ml., 20 ml., and 20 ml.
respectively of the fifth normal acid. Then wash with distilled water
until the filtrate is no longer acid. Dry in the water oven in a current
of warm, dry air for 7-10 hours, or to constant weight, cool in a
desiccator, and weigh quickly. The difference between the first weight,
(10.000 grms. plus the weight of the dried filter paper), and the final
weight equals weight of moisture plus “loss on acid treatment.”
Deduct the weight of moisture and multiply by 10 for per cent. “loss
on acid treatment.”
(d) Grading into Fractions.—(i) Treatment with Hydrogen Peroxide.—
Weigh out 25 grms. of the air-dried soil into a tall 800 ml. pyrex
beaker. Add about 50-60 ml. of 6 per cent. (20 vol.) hydrogen peroxide
(free from. sodium, barium, chloride, phosphate, and sulphate).* Allow
the reaction to proceed in the cold for five minutes, and then stand the
covered beaker on the top of a boiling water-bath, watching it carefully
and removing it when necessary to avoid the soil frothing over. Then
proceed under (a) or (b) according to the type of soil.
(a) for- soils containing small to moderate amounts of organic
matter.
After fifteen minutes on the water-bath, place the beaker in the
bath for five minutes, stirring the contents to avoid frothing over. Re-
move and add a further 25-40 ml. of hydrogen peroxide, and after a minute
or two replace the beaker on the top of the bath for ten minutes and then
in the bath for five minutes as before. Rinse the cover and the sides
of the beaker with water from a wash bottle and dilute to about 150 ml.
Bring to a boil over a burner or hot plate and keep gently boiling for five
minutes, watching carefully to avoid frothing over. Place aside to cool.
(6) for soils containing larger quantities of organic matter.
After the first vigorous action on the water-bath has ceased (say,
after 5-10 minutes), add a further 30 ml. of liydrogen peroxide, and replace
the beaker on the bath for ten minutes. If the soil is particularly rich
* A 20 per cent. solution of hyperol (the white crystalline compound of hydrogen peroxide and urea)
has been used instead of 20 volume hydrogen peroxide. The solution should be filtered through a Buchner
funnel to remove small quantities of paraffin wax which are invariably present.
14
in organic matter, add another 30 ml. of hydrogen peroxide and heat
on the water-bath for a further ten minutes. Then place the beaker
in the water-bath for five minutes. Remove and add 25-40 ml. of
hydrogen peroxide, heating on the bath for ten minutes and in the bath
for five minutes, and then boiling exactly as under (a) above.
(ii) Acid Treatment and Filtration—When the contents of the beaker
are cold, clean the sides with a rubber pestle made by fixing a soft rubber
stopper on to the end of a glass rod and add 25 ml. of 2N hydrochloric
acid. Should more than 2 per cent. of calcium carbonate be present,
add an extra 2.5 ml. of the 2N acid for each per cent. present. Then
dilute until the volume is approximately 250 ml., and thoroughly rub the
soil with the rubber pestle. The above operation is to be commenced
early in the morning so as to give a whole day for the first part of the
filtration.
Special types of soil have been encountered in which the calcium
carbonate occurs in a dense compact form, only slowly attacked by the
dilute acid. Such soils should be left in contact with the required quan-
tity of 2N acid overnight, instead of the one hour for ordinary soils.
The 10 grm. portion used for the determination of the loss on acid treat-
ment should be treated with the acid for a similar period. Soils con-
taining appreciable quantities of gypsum are also likely to give trouble
at this stage. Shaking the soil sample (after the peroxide oxidation)
with 500-750 ml. of 1 per cent. hydrochloric acid for 8-16 hours is neces-
sary to dissolve the gypsum completely. Six portions of N/5 hydro-
chloric acid, instead of four, should also be used to wash the sample
when filtering. When this modification is used the loss on acid treatment
should also be determined by shaking 10 grms. of soil with 200-300 ml.
of 1 per cent. hydrochloric acid as above. The SO, can then be deter-
mined in an aliquot of the undiluted filtrate, and the residue is washed
as usual, dried, and weighed.
Allow the acid to act on the soil for one hour, rubbing well at intervals.
Test with litmus to see that an excess of acid is present, then filter through
a 12.5 cm. Buchner funnel fitted with an 11 cm. Whatman No. 50 filter
paper. Wash with four successive portions of 50 ml. each of the fifth
normal hydrochloric acid, draining completely between each addition.
Then wash thoroughly with water, adding it in small portions at a time,
and draining completely between each addition. Continue the filtration
until three litres have passed through the funnel (or in the case of very
slow filtering soils pass as much through as possible by three days’ con-
tinuous filtration).
(iii) Dispersion with Ammonia.—After the washing is complete,
transfer the soil from the funnel to a silica or porcelain basin of about
100 ml. capacity, using a spatula and two clock glasses to aid in the
transference. Leave the filter paper on one of the clock glasses. Add
10 ml. of concentrated ammonia to the bulk of the soil in the basin.
Into a second basin, wash the funnel and clock glass, using a camel hair
mop, and a stream of water from the wash bottle. Also remove the
last traces of soil from the filter paper by pouring about 3 ml. of ammonia
15
on to it, rubbing with the brush, washing into the second basin, and then
rolling the paper into a ball, alternately wetting and squeezing it two
or three times.
Then using the camel-hair mop or a rubber pestle, work the soil and
ammonia in the first dish into a thick cream, rubbing thoroughly to
bring about complete dispersion of all the soil particles. It is essential
to do this properly. Continue working the soil, adding water gradually
(10-20 ml. portions at a time) until the basin is about three-quarters
full. Place aside to stand for a minute or two, then decant through a
standard 90-mesh sieve into the sedimentation cylinder. Again rub up
the residue with more water, allow to stand and decant. Repeat this
twice more or until nearly all the clay has been separated from the sand.
“When most of the clay has been removed, the rubber pestle will be found
better than the brush for working the soil. Also pour the liquid from
the second basin on to the sieve, rub thoroughly any sediment in the
basin and transfer completely to the sieve.
Then transfer the sandy residue from the first basin to the sieve,
rubbing it very gently with the brush and washing as much through as
will go. Finally clean the brush in about six portions of water in one
of the dishes, washing the residue on to the sieve each time. Rinse the
lower rim of the sieve, place it on a tin tray, and dry in the oven.
After the above operation, the contents of the cylinder should be
from one-half to three-quarters full. It is capped and placed in the
shaking machine. Shake overnight.
An alternative method of dispersion is at present under investigation,
so far with entirely satisfactory results. Use is made of a fan motor
directly coupled to a 2}-in. propeller blade, made from pure nickel, as
suggested by G. J. Bouyoucos.* The motor is clamped vertically, as
in the commonly used drink mixer, the propeller being attached to the
spindle of the motor by means of a stout rod of pure nickel, 5 inches long.
Six vertical bafile-plates, each 1? inch long and + inch wide, attached
at the top and bottom to horizontal rings of nickel, fit into a 600 ml.
pyrex beaker. This baffle-plate structure is rigidly fixed into the beaker -
by a nickel rod, projecting upwards and bending over the top of the beaker.
The beaker fits into a metal recess, just large enough to prevent any
lateral movement, immediately underneath the motor. The propeller
is then about 2 of an inch above the bottom of the beaker. The
bafile-plates are necessary to secure complete dispersion, as they tend
to oppose the rotation of the liquid when the propeller is in motion.
Below is given the method of procedure.
Transfer the soil from the funnel into a 600 ml. pyrex beaker, using
two clock glasses and the camel-hair mop, as previously. Add 15 ml,
of ammonia to the beaker. Wash the Buchner funnel, clock glasses, and
filter paper into the same beaker, and finally wash the brush. The
volume of water used must not exceed 200-225 ml. Place the nickel
baffle-plate grid in the beaker, fixing it rigidly in position. Place the
* Bouyoucos,G.J. Soil Sci., 23, pp. 319-330, (1927.)
16
beaker in the cavity under the motor, and set the latter in motion, con-
trolling its speed by means of a rheostat if necessary. After five minutes’
stirring, stop the motor, temporarily release the baffle-plates to free any
soil held between them and the sides of the beaker, and then continue
the stirring for a further ten minutes. Rinse the propeller blades into the
beaker, remove and rinse the baffle-plates, and allow the beaker to stand
for one minute. Then decant the liquid through a standard 90-mesh
sieve into the sedimentation cylinder, and transfer the sandy residue to a
silica basin. Rub this once or twice with a rubber pestle to insure the
complete removal of the clay, pouring off the turbid liquid each time.
Then transfer the sand to the sieve and wash as much through as will
easily pass the sieve, until the cylinder is about one-half full. Cap the
cylinder and place it in the shaking machine. ;
(iv) Pipetting the Samples.—After 16-18 hours’ shaking, remove the
cylinder from the machine and fill it to the 1,250 ml. graduation, rinsing
the cap into the cylinder and replacing it on top. Then shake for 30-40
seconds by hand to insure uniformity of the suspension. Remove the
cap and place the cylinder aside to sediment.
After exactly five minutes, withdraw a sample of 20 ml. from a depth
of 30 cm. below the surface, using a special long-stemmed pipette supported
by passing it through a block of cork. The pipette is to be closed with
the finger while entering the suspension, and continuous gentle suction.
produced by the device described below, is to be used for filling the pipette.
Transfer the 20 ml. of suspension to a silica basin previously ignited and
weighed. Vitreosil basins size B3 or F2 are most suitable.
If a 1-in. length of a thick walled and small-bore rubber tubing, or a
slice of a rubber stopper, is placed on the lower stem of the pipette, its
position can be so adjusted that when the pipette is passed through the
sheet of cork the tip will be exactly 30 cm. below the surface of the liquid.
The pipette must, of course, always be used in the same cylinder.
Similarly, the pipettes for the second and third samples should be
adjusted so that their tips come exactly 12.0 and 8.6 cm. respectively
below the surface of the liquid. (The surface of the liquid does not
correspond to the graduation mark of the cylinder after the first sample
has been withdrawn.)
Evaporate to dryness on the water bath, and ignite in an electric
muffle, gently at first, and finally at a bright-red heat for fifteen minutes.
Cool in a desiccator and weigh,
Similarly, after twenty minutes from the commencement, remove a
second 20 ml. portion from a point 12 cm. below the surface. HEvaporate
and ignite as before. A third sample is to be withdrawn, after 24 hours’
sedimentation, from a depth of 8.6 cm., evaporated, and ignited as before.
17
% of silt = difference in weight between first and second samples
1250 =—:100 : ;
a os difference in weight x 250.
% of fine silt = difference in weight between second and third
samples x 250.
% of clay = weight of third sample x 250.
(v) Separation of the Fine Sand.—After the removal of the clay
sample, syphon off the suspension to within 1 inch of the bottom, and
wash the residue in the cylinder into a tall 500 ml. pyrex beaker. Add
any material which passes through the 100-mesh sieve after drying (see
below). Then separate the fine sand by the usual decantation of 100
secs., using a height of 10 cm. of water. Towards the end thoroughly
tub the residue twice with a rubber pestle to remove the last of the finer
fractions. The last few decantations should be timed so that the 100
second period occurs in the middle of the pouring off. When no further
material remains in suspension in 10 cm. for 100 seconds, transfer the
fine sand into a weighed silica basin, decant the excess of water, and then
evaporate to dryness and ignite over a Meker burner. Cool in a desic-
cator and weigh.
% fine sand = weight of fine sand x 4.
(vi) Separation of the Coarse Sand and Fine Gravel.—When the sieve
has been dried, carefully rub the residue on it with the forefinger, and
then sift for about a minute until all the fine sand has been eliminated.
The material passing through is to be added to the beaker before the
fine sand separation above. The residue remaining on the sieve consists
of the fine gravel and the coarse sand. Separate the fine gravel by means
of a sieve with round holes 1 mm. in diameter, and transfer each fraction
to weighed silica crucibles, ignite over Meker burners, cool in a desiccator,
and weigh.
% coarse sand == weight of coarse sand x 4.
% fine gravel = weight of fine gravel x 4.
For one or two soils of each particular type encountered in a soil
survey it may be desirable to determine a fraction finer than the clay
fraction. To do this, instead of syphoning the liquid off after the deter-
mination of the clay, replace the cylinder in the shaking machine for
twenty minutes, then remove the cap (without rinsing at this stage),
and set the cylinder aside for ten minutes to allow all of the fine sand to
collect on the bottom. Then syphon about a litre of the supernatant
liquid into a shorter sedimentation cylinder (30 cm. high and 6.5 cm.
diam.), and place this latter aside to sediment in a room as free as possible
from temperature changes. After ten days pipette off a 20 ml. sample from
a depth of 8.6 cm. below the surface. The ignited weight of this sample
18
multiplied by 250 gives the percentage of material having a settling
velocity of less than .00001 cm. per sec. (i.e., the log. of the settling
velocity = 5 or less).
The fine sand is, of course, determined in the usual way, using the
residue in the first cylinder, and rinsing any fine sand which may be on
the cap of the cylinder.
3. Equipment for Mechanical Analysis.
As some of the apparatus used in this method has been specially
selected or designed, it will be described in detail.
(a) Shaking Machine—The shaking machine was designed at the
Waite Institute in conjunction with the Physics Workshop of the
University of Adelaide. It holds ten cylinders, and is driven by an en-
closed worm gear froma }-h.p. electric motor. The cylinders are closed by
Fig. 4—End over end shaking machine designed to take ten
1,250 ml. cylinders for use in mechanical analysis and soluble
salt extraction of soils.
means of brass caps fitted with rubber discs ; the brass caps also serve
the purpose of retaining the cylinders in the machine. The machine
in its present form is illustrated in Fig. 4. Full specifications and con-
structional details can be obtained from the Waite Institute.
(b) Sieves.—These are of brass, 34 inches in diameter at the top, and
at the screen and tapering below this to 24 inches diameter, so that they
19
fit into the top of the sedimentation cylinders. Standard brass or copper
gauze (Institute of Mining and Metallurgy standard 90-mesh gauze)
must be used for the screen. A set of ten of these sieves is required.
For the separation of the fine gravel, one or two sieves, 33 inches in
diameter, and fitted with a brass screen having round holes 1 mm. in
diameter, are required.
(c) Sedimentation Cylinders.—These are listed 40 cm. high and 6.5 cm.
internal diameter. They are usually ungraduated, but they should
be ordered to be graduated to contain 1,250 ml. and the graduation mark
etched completely round the cylinder. A set of ten of the above cylinders
is required.
Similar cylinders, ungraduated, but 30 cm. high and 6.5 cm. internal
diameter, may be employed when a fraction finer than the clay is to be
determined.
(d) Pipettes——For pipetting the first sample, special long-stemmed
pipettes have been designed. The following are the detailed specifi-
cations :—
Pipette to deliver 20.00 ml. at 15° C. (Makers guarantee to
come within limits of N.P.L. Class B).
Lower stem to be 41 cm. long, and to have a ring etched around
it at a distance of 300 mm. from the tip.
Upper stem of the usual dimensions.
Time of delivery (to be etched on each pipette) to be between
the limits of 25 and 30secs. These pipettes are now catalogued
by Wood Bros., No. W382.
Ordinary 20 ml. pipettes are used for the second and third samples.
A ring is etched around the lower stem at a distance of 12.0 cm. and 8.6
cm. from the tip of the pipette. The time of delivery of these pipettes
must also come within the limits of 25 and 30 seconds. Each pipette
is numbered so that it is always used in the correspondingly numbered
cylinder.
One set of ten long-stemmed pipettes and two sets, each of ten ordinary
pipettes, are required.
(e) Suction Regulating Device.—This device is shown diagrammatically
in Fig. 5. It enables a filter pump to be used for filling the pipettes.
The pump is fully turned on, so that it will continue to work even if
the water pressure nearly fails, and connected to the top of tube A, 4 to
4.5 em. diameter and 130 cm. long, which is filled with water to a depth
of about 30-35 cm. above the lower end of tube B. It thus acts as a
valve, and should the reduction of pressure exceed this predetermined
amount (30-35 cm. of water), air passes in through tube B and maintains
constant suction by preventing the vacuum increasing beyond this.
Under these conditions, the pipette, connected by a rubber tube to E,
can be filled very gently and without disturbing the lower layers of the
C.2760.—3
20
suspension. If the column of water in A is increased, the pipette fills too
rapidly, drawing the suspension from a point below the required depth,
and inaccurate results are obtained.
(f) Beakers (for the fine sand decantation)—The 500 ml. tall-shaped
pyrex beaker is the most suitable. A mark 10 cm. above the bottom
of the beaker should be etched on the side by means of hydrofluoric
acid. A set of ten beakers is required.
(g) Buchner Funnels—These are 12.5 cm. external diameter, and
take an 11 cm. filter paper. A set of ten is required.
B
D :
E 5
e
:
to pipette 5
:
:
«
.
«
i
:
:
:
:
= SSS
7 LA Abed dhe he didichdiulchdicth A hbhdideubdididideddideedes Kenheuddhdaaddldatutatiatatiatmbratuteaddatatuths
D to filter pump
Fig. 5—Suction regulating device for maintaining a constant gentle suction for use with
pipette.
IV.—CHEMICAL ANALYSIS.
1. Soil Carbonates.
The method in use is based upon that of H. B. Hutchinson and K.
MacLennan.* The apparatus is illustrated in Fig. 6.}
Weigh out 0.5 to 25g. of the soil, depending on the amount of car-
bonates present, and transfer it to the flask B. Pipette 50 ml. of N/10
* Hutchinson, H. B., and MacLennan K. Journ. Agric. Sci., 6, pp. 323-327 (1914).
t The tube of the separating tunnel A should project almost to the bottom of flask B.
21
sodium hydroxide, carbonate free, into the flask D, and add four or five
drops of a 1 per cent. alcoholic solution of phenolphthalein. Place
both rubber stoppers in position, close the stopcock of the separating
funnel A, and open the stopcock E. Connect the latter to a good
filter pump, and evacuate until the pressure is 70 cm. or more below
atmospheric. Then close the stopcock EK, disconnect from the pump,
and add about 50 ml. of 2 per cent. hydrochloric acid (concentrated
hydrochloric acid diluted with carbon dioxide free distilled water) to
the separating funnel A. Open the stopcock very gradually and allow
the acid to enter the flask and react with the soil, avoiding too vigorous
a reaction. When nearly all the acid has been drawn in, close the
Fig. 6—Apparatus for the determination of calcium carbonate in soil.
stopcock. After a few minutes gently shake the flask to ensure com-
plete decomposition of all carbonates. Repeat this shaking four times
in all during twenty minutes. Then connect the top of the separating
funnel to a gas washing cylinder, containing 40 per cent. caustic potash,
and slowly draw air in through B until the vacuum is destroyed. This
should occupy about ten minutes. Shake the flasks at five-minute
intervals for a further twenty minutes to ensure the complete absorp-
tion of all the carbon dioxide. Then remove the flask D and rinse
the stopper into it, using distilled water previously boiled and cooled.
Add about 5 ml. of a solution of barium chloride (150 g. of BaCl,.2H,O
per litre) to the contents of the flask, and titrate with tenth normal
hydrochloric acid until neutral to phenolphthalein.
Make a blank determination, using all the reagents but without any
soil in the flask B.
22
Then the percentage of carbonate present in the soil (expressed as
CaCO,)=
(Blank titration—Actual titration)
~ Weight of soil used
The use of Collins’s calcimeter as mentioned by E. J. Russell* is also
to berecommended. It is particularly useful for occasional soil samples.
x .005 x 100.
2. Mineral Substances brought into Solution by Digestion with
Concentrated Hydrochloric Acid.
Digestion with acid.t—Place 50 grms. of the air-dry soil in a 500 ml.
pyrex Erlenmeyer flask and add 175 ml. of concentrated hydrochloric
acid. Place a small glass funnel in the neck to act as a condenser. Boil
for a few minutes over a flame so as to reduce the strength of the hydro-
chloric acid to the constant boiling strength. Then digest in a boiling
water bath for 48 hours.
Filter through a Buchner funnel, and wash with hot water containing
50 ml. of concentrated hydrochloric acid per litre. (This acid is necessary
to prevent the hydrolysis of ferric and aluminium salts in hot dilute
solutions.) The washing should be continued until the filtrate amounts
to nearly 800 ml. ‘Transfer the filtrate to a litre measuring flask, and
when cold dilute to the mark and mix well.
Use this solution for the determination of—
(i) Fe,O, and Ti0, ae .. 75 ml. to 50 ml. portions
(11) Mn,O, .. 100 ml. portions.
(iu) Fe,0,+Al, O,, Ca and MgO .. 25 ml. to 50 ml., accord-
ing to the relative
amounts of iron and
calcium present.
(iv) K,O and P,0O; uF .. 100 ml. portions.
(i) Ferric Oxide and Titanium Dioxide.
(a) Ferric Oxide, Fe,0,.—Evaporate 75-50 ml. of the hydrochloric
acid extract in a silica basin on the water bath until the volume is reduced
to about 25 ml. Cover with a clock glass, and then add 20 ml. of pure
fuming nitric acid. (This latter should be diluted with a very little water
to prevent too vigorous a reaction if necessary.) Digest for twenty
minutes to half an hour, and then remove the clock glass and rinse it
into the basin. Add 15-20 ml. (not more) of dilute sulphuric acid (1+1),
and continue the evaporation on the bath. After about one hour transfer
to a sand bath, and cautiously evaporate until dense fumes of sulphuric
acid have been produced for five minutes. If any insoluble matter such
as calcium sulphate separates, the basin should be supported just above
the sand bath by means of a triangle. This prevents any loss of liquid
by bumping which would otherwise occur.
When the contents of the basin have cooled, add about 60-80 ml.
of water, and warm, conveniently on the water bath, until as much as
possible is in solution. If a large quantity of calcium sulphate is present
it will not be completely soluble, but this does not matter. Transfer
to a 250 ml. Erlenmeyer flask, washing the basin thoroughly with hot
water. Then dilute the liquid in the flask to 150 to 200 ml.
* Russell, E. J, Soil Conditions and Plant Growth, p
+ Official British digestion as given in A. D. Hall, the ‘Soil, 3rd edition 1920), p. 165.
23
Pass hydrogen sulphide gas into the cold solution for 7-10 minutes.
Disconnect from the gas generator and heat until nearly boiling. Test
for the presence of any ferric salt by removing two or three drops of the
solution and adding them to a solution of potassium thiocyanate con-
tained in a watch glass or white porcelain dish. If it is completely
reduced, as indicated by no red colour being produced, the flask is again
connected to the hydrogen sulphide generator and the gas bubbled in
slowly, the flask being surrounded with cold water. Continue passing
the gas until nearly cold. Should the reduction not have been complete,
as may occasionally be the case, the hydrogen sulphide is passed into the
hot liquid until a second test shows the absence of any ferric salt ; then
cool as above, continuing to pass the gas until cold.
Filter through an 11 cm. Whatman No. 44 filter paper into a 500 ml.
Erlenmeyer flask, keeping the filter paper full, to avoid any oxidation.
Wash the flask and filter paper six times with water containing hydrogen
sulphide. Frequently the filtrate becomes opalescent due to finely
divided sulphur, but this will not matter as it will be completely oxidized
in the subsequent boiling. Again test the filtrate for any ferric salt.
If any should have become oxidized during the filtration, the solution
must be warmed, treated with hydrogen sulphide until reduced, and then
cooled as before. It is unnecessary to filter the liquid again.
Carbon dioxide from a gas cylinder (freed from any possible traces of
hydrogen sulphide by bubbling through a solution of copper sulphate
and then water) is introduced into the flask, and the latter raised to
boiling. Continue to boil for about fifteen minutes, the carbon dioxide
still being passed in. Boiling must be continued for some time after the
elimination of all hydrogen sulphide, but the liquid must not be concen-
trated to more than half its original volume. Cool, by placing the flask
in a dish of cold water, the stream of carbon dioxide not being interrupted
until quite cold. Then rinse the tube into the flask with cold distilled
water (previously boiled), and titrate with freshly-standardized N/10
potassium permanganate until the pink blush just persists. The end
point should be quite sharp, and the colour should remain for at least
a minute. The potassium permanganate should be standardized against
pure sodium oxalate.
1 ml. of N/10 KMnO, =.0080 grm. Fe,03.
Reserve the liquid after the titration, for the determination of titanium.
(6) Titanium Dioxide, Ti0,.—To the liquid in the flask, after the
titration with potassium permanganate, add 10 ml. of concentrated
sulphuric acid, and concentrate by boiling until its volume is about
50 ml. Two or three pieces of broken glass or silica should be added to
promote even boiling. Then transfer to a 100 ml. measuring flask,
Notes.—Hydrogen sulphide incompletely reduces the solution in the cold even when passed for one
hour. Ease of reduction depends largely on the amount of free sulphuric acid present. Enough should
be present to prevent the hydrolysis of any TiO.. 15 ml. of (1+1) sulphuric acid gives satisfactory results.
This amount should not be exceeded, as excessive amounts greatly retard the rate of reduction.
When desired, Fe.0, can be determined directly in the ignited precipitate of Fe.O; + A1,0; secured
under Section iii. It is digested in a silica basin, under a clock glass, with 20 ml. of concentrated hydro-
chloric acid. The digestion is carried out on the water bath for one hour. 15-20 ml. of dilute sulphuric
acid (1+1) are added, and then evaporated cautiously on the sand bath until dense fumes are produced.
All the ferric oxide will now be in solution if sufficient macerated filter paper was added previously. If
it is not all in solution, cool and dilute, add more hydrochloric acid and heat tillfuming again. When quite
free of hydrochloric acid, dilute and reduce with hydrogen sulphide as before. Ii titanium is present
in sufficient quantity, it can also be determined, as it is completely dissolved by the above digestion.
24
rinsing the Erlenmeyer well with hot water. When cold add 5-10 ml. of
pure hydrogen peroxide (20 vols.) and dilute to the mark. Mix well,
not by shaking, but by inverting the closely stoppered flask several times.
Then compare the colour produced, in a suitable colorimeter, with that
developed by a known amount of a standard solution of titanium sulphate
in another 100 ml. flask. Take the average of eight consecutive colori-
meter readings.
The amount of TiO, in 100 ml. of the test solution=
Depth of titanium
standard solution Amount of Ti0, per 100 ml. of
Depth of titanium standard colour solution.
test solution.
A correction for the colour due to ferric sulphate may be made by
subtracting 0.01 per cent. from the percentage of TiO, found for every
5 per cent. of FeO, present.
Notes.—When much calcium sulphate or other insoluble matter is present in the test solution, it is
necessary to clear some of the solution for the colour comparison by one of the following methods :-—
a) Centrifuging, which gives the most satisfactory results.
b) Allowing to settle in a beaker and decanting.
ce) Filtering through a dry No. 44 filter paper, the first runnings being rejected.
Preparation of Standard Titanium Sulphate——About 2 grams. of the
purest titanium dioxide are dissolved in 10 ml. of concentrated sulphuric
acid, together with sufficient hydrofluoric acid, in a platinum basin.
Evaporate to fuming five times successively, adding about 10 ml. of
dilute sulphuric acid (1+1) each time. When all the hydrofluoric acid
has been expelled, take up in 15 ml. of sulphuric acid and 60-80 ml. of
water and filter into a 2-litre measuring flask. Add 150 ml. of concentrated
sulphuric acid, cool, and dilute to the graduated mark. Transfer to a
tightly-stoppered reagent bottle. The actual strength of the standard
solution is then determined by precipitating duplicate 50 ml. portions
with ammonia, filtering, washing, and igniting as Ti0,.
This standard solution should not be poured out of the stock bottle,
but the required amounts should be removed by means of dry pipettes,
transferred to 100 ml. measuring flasks, 10 ml. of sulphuric acid added,
diluted, cooled, hydrogen peroxide added, and then the volume adjusted
to the mark.
(ii) Manganese Oxide, Mn;Q,.
Evaporate 100 ml. of the hydrochloric acid extract nearly to dryness
in a silica basin on the water bath. Cover with a clock glass and add
15 ml. of fuming nitric acid. Digest on the bath for about twenty minutes,
and then remove the clock glass and rinse it into the basin. Then add
40 ml. of dilute sulphuric acid (1+-1) and leave on the briskly-boiling bath
for about one hour. Transfer to a sand bath and continue the evapora-
tion cautiously until fumes of sulphuric acid are just produced, and all
the chlorine is eliminated.
From this point two methods are available for oxidizing the manganese
to potassium permanganate, namely, oxidation with (a) potassium
periodate or (b) ammonium persulphate in the presence of a silver salt.
The former method is to be preferred for several reasons.
EEL ee
25
A silver salt is necessary as a catalyst when ammonium persulphate
is used, and must be present in sufficient quantity, but too large an excess
is to be avoided. 3 ml. of a 1 per cent. solution of silver nitrate should
be added for every milligram of manganese expected. Sometimes the
colour developed by this oxidation is more of a rose colour than that of
permanganate. When such is the case it may be necessary to allow the
solutions to stand for from one to three days before a good colour match
ean be obtained with the standard. Standing for too long should be
avoided, owing to the decomposition of dilute solutions of potassium
permanganate. The colour developed by the periodate oxidation is the
true colour of permanganate, and the solutions are quite statle for long
periods, in the presence of a small excess of potassium periodate.
(a) Oxidation by means of potassium periodate.*—When the contents
of the silica basin are cold,.add 3-4 ml. of nitric acid and 30-50 ml. of water.
Add 0.3 to 0.5 grm. of potassium periodate, and bring the contents of the
dish to a boil, ‘stirring to prevent bumping. Keep just boiling for one
minute after the development of the permanganate colour. When
sufficiently cool transfer the contents of the dish to a volumetric flask
- of suitable size (50 ml. to 250 ml. according to the amount of manganese
present), and wash the dish thoroughly with small portions of hot water
so that the total volume never exceeds about 90 ml. Place the flask in —
boiling water bath for 10-15 minutes. Then remove and allow tc cool,
When quite cold dilute to the mark and mix the contents well, not by
shaking but by inverting the closely-stoppered flask several times.
Prepare a standard manganese colour solution by pipetting an appro-
priate amount of the standard manganous sulphate into a volumetric
flask, adding 15 ml. of concentrated sulphuric acid, 3-4 ml. of nitric acid
and diluting to about 60-70 ml. Add 0.3-0.5 gms. of potassium period-
ate, and heat in a boiling water bath for fifteen minutes, and then remove.
When cold, dilute to the mark and mix well.
Compare the intensity of colour of the test solution with that of the
standard solution by means of a colorimeter. For good colour compari-
sons the test solution should not be more than 40 per cent. stronger or 25
per cent. less than the strength of the standard colour solution.
(b) Oxidation by means of ammonium persulphate in the presence of a
silver salt—When the contents of the silica basin are cold, add 25-30 ml.
of water and sufficient 1 per cent. silver nitrate solution (see above).
Warm until as much as possible is dissolved. Transfer to a 100 ml.
(200 ml. or 250 ml.) measuring flask, and wash the basin thoroughly into
it with hot water.
To the contents of the flask add 10 ml. of a freshly-prepared 20 per
cent. solution of ammonium persulphate (dissolved in cold water). Heat
in a water bath at about 80° for 5-10 minutes until the proper colour is
developed. Then cool by surrounding the flask with cold water. Leave
overnight or till ready to make the colour comparison. When ready,
dilute to the mark with water and mix well by inverting the closely-
stoppered flask several times.
* Willard, H. H., and Greathouse, L. H. Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc., 39, pp. 2366-2377 (1917).
26
Compare the colour developed in the test solution with that developed
when a known amount of standard manganese sulphate solution is acidified
with 10 ml. of concentrated sulphuric acid and oxidized, under the same
conditions as before, with silver nitrate and ammonium persulphate.
Standard Manganous Sulphate Solution—This should contain the
equivalent of 1 mg. of Mn,O, per 10 ml.
Dissolve 0.4144 grm. of the purest, dry, potassium permanganate in
500 ml. of water in a 2,000 ml. measuring flask. After standing for a
day or two add 40 ml. of concentrated sulphuric acid and reduce the
permanganate by the very cautious addition of an aqueous solution of
pure sulphur dioxide, until the manganese solution just becomes colour-
less. Oxidize the excess of sulphurous acid by the addition of a little
nitric acid. When cool, dilute to the 2,000 ml. graduation and mix well.
Store this standard solution in a tightly stoppered bottle. It should
never be poured from its stock bottle, but the appropriate amounts
should be removed by means of dry pipettes when making up the
standard colour solutions.
When much insoluble matter (silica or calcium sulphate) is present
in the test solution, it must be removed before attempting the colour
comparison. Centrifuging sufficient liquid for the colorimeter, for three
or four minutes, is the most satisfactory method of obtaining a clear
solution, but it can sometimes be clarified by allowing the test solution
to stand in a tall-shaped beaker and decanting the supernatant liquid.
From the colorimeter readings calculate the amount of manganese
(expressed as Mn,0,) present in the test solution.
Concentration of Mn,0O, in the test solution=
Depth of standard solution Concentration of Mn,O, in the
Depth of test solution standard colour solution.
(iii) Iron, Aluminium, Calcium, and Magnesium.
(a) Elimination of Silica.—Pipette 25 ml. to 50 ml. (depending on the
relative amounts of iron and calcium present) into a silica basin, and
evaporate to dryness on the water bath. Cool for a few moments and
then add 15 ml. of fuming nitric acid (s.g. 1.5), cover with a clock glass
and replace on the water bath. After fifteen minutes’ digestion, remove
the clock glass, rinse it into the basin, evaporate the contents to dryness,
and leave on the bath for a further half to one hour to render the silica
insoluble.
Take up in 30 ml. of dilute hydrochloric acid (1+9). Warm for a
iew minutes until all the soluble matter is in solution. Filter through a
9 cm. Whatman No. 44 filter paper into a 400 ml. beaker. Wash twice
with cold water and then four times with hot water containing 50 ml. of
hydrochloric acid per litre. Complete the washing with hot water alone.
The filter paper containing the SiO, is rejected. Alternatively, filtration
may be effected by using a small Buchner funnel, fitted with a 4.25 cm.
Whatman No. 50 filter paper, and washing as before.
(b) Iron and Alumina, Fe,0,+A1,0,;+P;0;+Ti0;. Basic Acetate
Separation.—Concentrate the filtrate and washings from the silica
separation on the water bath until thé volume is reduced to about 50 ml.
27
When quite cold, add a freshly-prepared cold 20 per cent. solution of
sodium carbonate, the beaker being covered to prevent loss by spray.
Add the sodium carbonate gradually at first, and finally drop by drop,
until the liquid in the beaker has just darkened in colour, but no precipi-
tate has formed. (A bent funnel can be used for the addition of the
sodium carbonate.) If, after the addition of the last drop of sodium
carbonate and after rinsing the cover glass and the sides of the beaker,
there is a precipitate, then one, or if need be, two drops of dilute hydro-
chloric acid (1+3) are to be added. If this fails to clear the solution,
the precipitate must be re-dissolved by the smallest possible amount of
dilute acid, and diluted sodium carbonate again added more carefully
drop by drop from a tube, until the liquid has just darkened in colour.
The volume at this stage should not exceed 75-100 ml. Add 6 to 8
ml. of 20 per cent. sodium acetate solution, and then fill the beaker to
about 350 ml. to 375 ml. with hot water. Heat to boiling while still covered
with the clock-glass, and boil gently for three minutes, but not longer.
Allow to stand a few minutes until most of the precipitate has settled,
and then filter through a suitable size (12}.cm. or 11 cm.) Whatman No.
41 filter paper. Collect the filtrate in a 600-800 ml. beaker. Wash the
original beaker and precipitate three or four times with hot 0.2 per cent.
sodium acetate.
Transfer the filter and precipitate to the original beaker. Add 25
ml. of warm dilute nitric acid (1+1), pouring it around the sides of the
beaker and stirring rod to dissolve the precipitate. Add 75 ml. of water
and a little macerated filter paper and heat until all the iron and aluminium
is dissolved. When nearly boiling add dilute ammonia (1-++1) in slight
eXCess.
Raise to boiling and then remove from the flame. After standing a
few minutes until most of the precipitate has settled, filter through a
124 cm. No. 41 filter paper. Wash well with hot water, collecting the
filtrate in the same beaker as that containing the filtrate from the first
precipitation.
Transfer the filter and precipitate to a weighed silica crucible, and
along with the trace of Fe,0, and Al,O, recovered below, dry, ignite
in the muffle, and weigh as Fe,0,+A1,0,+T10,+P.0,. When it
is necessary to determine Fe,O, in this precipitate, see note under section
(i.) (alternative method for Fe,O,).
Concentrate the liquid in the 600-800 ml. beaker, overnight, on the
water bath, to about 50-100 ml. Then make it just ammoniacal, boil,
and filter through a 9 cm. No. 41 filter paper to remove any A1(OH),.
Wash the beaker and filter well with hot water, and collect the filtrate
in a 400 ml. beaker. Add the filter and precipitate to the crucible con-
taining the main portion of the iron and aluminium precipitate (above)
and ignite.
(c) Elimination of Manganese-—Having removed the last traces of
iron and aluminium as above, concentrate the filtrate and washings on
the water bath until the volume is about 50 ml. Cool in a dish of water.
When quite cold add sufficient bromine water (generally 30-50 ml.) to
28
colour the liquid fairly strongly, and then add a very little dilute ammonia
(1+9) until just alkaline to litmus. Cover the beaker with a clock glass,
and boil for a short time (three minutes). Again cool in water and add
bromine water and ammonia as before, and boil again to complete the
precipitation of the manganese. Make just acid with dilute acetic acid
(20 per cent.), and filter while hot through an 11 cm. No. 44 filter paper.
Wash well with hot water and collect the filtrate in a 600 ml. beaker,
The filter paper containing the precipitated manganese is rejected.
(This precipitate is not pure and cannot be weighed directly for the
Mn,0,. determination. It usually only amounts to | to 3 mgs. in weight.)
(d) Calcium Oxide, CaO.—Boil the filtrate from the manganese separa-
tion, which should not exceed 300-350 ml., and add 10 to 15 ml. of hot
10 per cent. ammonium oxalate. Then add sufficient ammonia (40 ml.
of 1+1) to make the liquid quite alkaline. Allow the precipitated calcium
oxalate to stand overnight.
Filter through an 11 cm. No. 44 filter paper and collect the filtrate
in a second 690 ml. beaker. Wash three times, by decantation, with
hot water. Evaporate the filtrate to small bulk on the water bath.
Dissolve the precipitated calcium oxalate by pouring 25 ml. and then
10 ml. of warm dilute hydrochloric acid (1+4) on to the filter and col-
lecting the filtrate in the beaker used for precipitation, washing down its
sides. Then wash the filter with two lots of hot 5 per cent. hydrochloric
acid and finally hot water alone. Add 2-35 ml. of saturated ammonium
oxalate solution to the filtrate and raise to boiling. Precipitate by adding
an excess of dilute ammonia (1+1), allow to stand overnight, and filter
through the same filter as used previously. Collect the filtrate in the
beaker containing the first filtrate, which by now has been concentrated
nearly to dryness. Wash the beaker and filter well with hot water.
Reserve the filtrate for the magnesium determination.
Pierce the filter paper with the stirring rod, and wash the calctum
oxalate into the beaker used for the precipitation. Then wash the filter
paper alternately with warm dilute sulphuric acid (1+4), made just pink
with potassium permanganate, and warm water until all the oxalic acid
is in solution. (Use three lots of the acid in all.) Warm the solution
to about 70° and titrate with N/10 potassium permanganate. Finally,
add the filter paper, stir, and see that the pink colour is not discharged.
1 ml. of N/10 KMnO, =.0028 grm. CaO.
(e) Magnesium Oxide, MgO.—When the filtrate from the calcium
reprecipitation is quite cold, add 50 ml. of 95 per cent. alcohol and 30 ml.
of 10 per cent. sodium phosphate solution. After a quarter of an hour
add 30-50 ml. of concentrated ammonia and allow to stand overnight.
Filter through an 11 cm. No. 44 filter paper, and wash two or three times
with dilute ammonia (1+9). The filtrate is discarded. |
The precipitated magnesium ammonium phosphate is then dissolved
by pouring 15 ml. and 10 ml. of warm dilute nitric acid (1+4) through
the filter, the filtrate being collected in the beaker in which the precipi-
tation was made. The filter is then well washed with warm water.
When cold, add a fews drops of sodium phosphate solution, 25 ml. of
29
alcohol, and 40 to 50 ml. of ammonia to reprecipitate the magnesium
ammonium phosphate. Leave overnight and then filter through a
9 em. No. 44 filter paper (or the same paper as used previously may be
used again). Wash with dilute ammonia water (1+9). Transfer the
filter and precipitate to a weighed silica crucible, ignite in the muffle at
a bright red heat, and weigh as Mg, P.O;.
Weight of precipitate x .3621—wt. of MgO.
Nores.—When much silica is present it sometimes tends to pass through the filter paper. When
_ Such is the case, the addition of a little macerated filter paper, and washing with water containing dilute
hydrochloric acid, will help to retain it. If some of the silica still passes through, a second evaporation
will be necessary.
For the basic acetate separation sodium carbonate and sodium acetate should be used instead of
ammonium carbonate and ammonium acetate, as sometimes recommended. Much better separation
of magnesium is effected in the absence of ammonium salts at this stage.
The use of macerated filter paper in the reprecipitation of the iron and alumina leaves the precipitate
in such a finely-divided condition after ignition that it is easily and completely soluble in concentrated
hydrochloric acid. It also improves the filtration.
The macerated filter paper is prepared as follows :—Several 11 cm. Whatman No. 44 filter papers
are torn in pieces, placed in a 400 ml. beaker, and treated with sufficient concentrated hydrochloric acid
to thoroughly moisten them. Allow the acid to react for three minutes, but not longer, and then gradually
fill the beaker with water, stirring vigorously to complete the disintegration. Filter througha uchner
funnel and wash until free of acid. Mix with water to make a thin cream, and preserve in a wide-mouth
stoppered reagent bottle.
(iv) Potash and Phosphoric Acid.
(a) Potash, K,0.*—To 100 ml. (equivalent to 5 grms. soil) of the
hydrochloric acid extract, add sufficient of a 2 per cent. solution of
BaC1,. 2H,0 to precipitate all the sulphate (generally 3-5 ml. for ordinary
soils), and also if the soil did not effervesce when treated with hydro-
chloric acid, add 5 ml. of a 4 per cent. solution of CaCO, dissolved in a
slight excess of hydrochloric acid. Evaporate to dryness in a silica
basin on the water bath.
Transfer to an air oven at about 100° and gradually raise the tem-
perature to 120°-140° till quite dry. Then gently heat over a large
burner until all the ammonium salts have been removed and all the iron
salts rendered insoluble. The dish must not be allowed to become more
than a very dull red, otherwise potassium may be lost by volatilization.
When cool, add 10-15 ml. of hot water and break up the lumps in the
basin with a glass stirrmg rod. Filter through a 9 em. Whatman No. 44
filter paper into a pyrex basin of 100-150 ml. capacity. Wash the dish.
and filter with several small portions of hot water until all the potash
has been extracted and the filtrate amounts to about 100 ml. Reserve
the filter and residue for the phosphoric acid determination.
To the filtrate add sufficient 20 per-cent. perchloric acid to convert
all the chlorides present into perchlorates (say, 1 ml. for each per cent.
of CaO, K,O, and Na,O, and 14 ml. for each per cent. of MgO in the soil.
Also allow 1 ml. for the barium chloride added, and if calcium chloride
was also added, a further 2 ml.). Evaporate on the water bath. An
excess of perchloric acid is denoted by the appearance of dense white
* For the details of the perchlorate method, the following original papers have been consulted :—
(1) R. Leitch Morr s. Analyst, 45, pp. 349-368 (1920).
(2) R. Leitch Morris Analyst, 48, pp. 250-260 (1923).
(3) H. J. Page, Journ. Agric. Sci., 14, pp. 133-138 (1924).
(4) W. A. Davis, Journ. Agric. Sci., 5, pp. 52-66 (1912).
(5) W. A. Davis Journ. Chem. Soc., 107, p. 1680 (1915).
The method as given in many text-books is quite erroneous, but under the following conditions very
accurate results are obtainable.
30
fumes when the evaporation is nearly completed. The evaporation
should be finished on a sand bath until dense white fumes of perchloric
acid are evolved.
When the white fumes appear add 10-15 ml. of water to dissolve the
perchlorates, and then 14 ml. of perchloric acid, and continue the evapora-
tion nearly to dryness on the water bath. Finish the evaporation over
a sand bath or a heated asbestos plate until dense white fumes have
been produced for some time and the liquid just sets to a pasty crystalline
mass when cold.
When quite cold add 15 ml. of alcohol acidified with perchloric acid
(500 ml. of 95-96 per cent. alcohol + 5 ml. of 20 per cent. perchloric acid).
Break up all lumps with the stirring rod and stir well, then allow to
settle. When most of the crystals have settled (say after 15-30 minutes,
or it may be left overnight, if covered to prevent evaporation), the clear
liquid is decanted through a weighed gooch crucible properly charged
with asbestos. Then dry the contents of the dish for a few minutes on
the water bath, take up in 10-15 ml. of water, add 4 ml. of perchloric
acid, and evaporate nearly to dryness on the water bath, so that the
mass is just pasty when cold. When quite cold, add 10 ml. of the acidified
alcohol, stir well to break up the crystals, and leave for a few minutes.
Filter through the same gooch as used previously. Wash by decantation
with 5 ml. of the acidified alcohol, and drain the dish and crucible well
to remove most of this before adding the next wash liquid. Then transfer
the potassium perchlorate crystals from the dish to the crucible, using
two lots of about 15 ml. each of 95 per cent. alcohol, which has been
saturated with potassium perchlorate. Remove the last traces of the
crystals with a feather.
Wash with a further two lots of 15-20 ml. of this wash liquid and
drain well. Dry the crucible at 140° for one hour in an air oven, cool
in a desiccator, and weigh as KC1O,..
% of K,0 in soil=weight of ppt. x .3401 x 100
oa
Nortrs.—Glass dishes are preferable to silica or porcelain as the last traces of potassium perchlorate
are more easily seen in the former.
The removal of all SO, is absolutely necessary (R. L. Morris and W. A. Davis).
The perchloric acid used must be reasonably free of chloric acid (H. J. Page).
The alcohol saturated with potassium perchlorate (Davis) is prepared and kept in a winchester,
with an excess of pure potassium perchlorate, and will thenremain saturated. As the solubility increases
rapidly with rise of temperature, it should only be filtered off immediately prior to use. (Filter through a
Buchner funnel fitted with two Whatman No. 44 filter papers.)
Potassium perchlorate is slightly soluble in the acidified alcohol used for the first washing, so the quan-
tity of this must be kept down to a minimum.
Some precipitation of potassium perchlorate will occur in the filter flask from the reaction between
the saturated alcoholic solution and the acidified alcohol used in the first washing. Hence the necessity
of draining the crucible completely between the two washings, to prevent this precipitation occurring within
the crucible.
(b) Phosphoric Acid, P,0;.—(i)* Replace the filter paper, contaiming
the residue after the extraction of the potash with hot water, in the
original silica basin, and ignite to remove the filter paper. Add 30 ml.
of dilute hydrochloric acid (1+1), and one drop of concentrated sul-
phuric acid. The latter is necessary to precipitate traces of barium.
Cover with a clock glass, and digest on the sand bath for 15-20 minutes.
Remove and rinse the cover glass into the basin and evaporate the contents
to dryness on the water bath. Continue the heating on the bath for a
= Lunge, G., and Keane, C. A., “ Technical Methods of Chemical Analysis,” Vol. II., Part 1, pp.
397-400. Jefferis, A. T., and Piper, C. S., Chem. Eng. and Mining Review, 17, pp. 154-157 (1925).
31
further half-hour to render the silica insoluble. Or plies heat
in an air oven at 110°-120° for a half to one hour. Take up in 5 ml. of
concentrated nitric acid and 20-25 ml. of water, warm to dissolve all the
soluble salts, and filter through a 9 cm. Whatman No. 44 filter paper,
collecting the filtrate in a tall 150 ml. beaker. Wash thoroughly with
hot water until the volume of the filtrate amounts to about 120 ml.
Place the beaker on the water bath and evaporate the filtrate to dryness.
Take up in 30 ml. of the Acid Reagent IV. (see below). Heat the beaker
to incipient boiling, remove from the flame and stir for a moment to avoid
overheating of the sides of the beaker. With constant stirrmg add
30 ml. of Lorenz Reagent HI. After standing for 2-5 minutes stir well
for half a minute, and then place the beaker aside and allow to stand
overnight.
After standing, filter through a gooch crucible fitted with a circle of
filter paper (Whatman No. 2 or No. 41) cut so that it just covers the
holes but does not touch the sides. The gooch and filter paper should
have been previously rinsed with acetone, sucked dry at the pump, and
placed in a vacuum desiccator (evacuated to 100-200 mm.) for half an
hour prior to weighing.
Connect the weighed gooch iil to a filter pump and moisten
the circle of filter paper. Then decant the solution from the beaker
into the crucible, finally transferring the bulk of the precipitate. Rinse
the beaker twice with 20-25 ml. portions of the ammonium nitrate
reagent, using a wash bottle to rinse the precipitate into the crucible.
Then clean the sides of the beaker with a rubber-tipped stirring rod
and rinse it into the crucible using another two portions, each of 20-25
ml. of the ammonium nitrate. The crucible is to be sucked dry between
each addition of the washing liquid. Finally wash three times with
acetone, completely filling the crucible once and half-filling it twice,
sucking dry between each addition.
Wipe the outside of the crucible and place it in the vacuum desiccator,
which must not contain either sulphuric acid or calcium chloride, evacuate
as before, and after half an hour weigh. The precipitate contains 3.295
per cent. of POs.
2
% P.O; in soil = —
When the soil contains less than 4 per cent. of calcium carbonate
the determination can be made directly and with equal accuracy by
evaporating 100 ml. of the hydrochloric acid extract on the water bath,
drying in an air oven at 110°-120°, taking up in 5 ml. of concentrated
nitric acid and 20-25 ml. of water, filtering and proceeding exactly as
above.
The following reagents are required for the Lorenz method :—
Lorenz Reagent I.—Sulphate-Molybdic Acid.—Dissolve 100 grms. of
pure dry ammonium sulphate in | litre of nitric acid of 8.G. 1.36 at
15° C., in a 2-litre flask. Dissolve 300 grms. of pure dry ammonium
molybdate in hot water and transfer to a litre measuring flask, cool the
solution to about 20° C., and dilute to the mark. Mix well and pour
32
this solution, in a thin stream, and with constant agitation, into the
solution contained in the 2-litre flask. Allow to stand for 48 hours at
room temperature, and then filter through a Buchner funnel fitted with a
Whatman No. 50 filter paper. Keep in a well-stoppered bottle in a cool,
dark place. Under these conditions the solution does not deposit molybdic
acid.
Lorenz Reagent III.—Nitric-Sulphurice Acid—Add 30 ml. of con-
centrated sulphuric acid to one Litre of nitric acid (S.G. 1.20 at 15° C.).
Acid Reagent IV.—This is composed of 960 ml. of Lorenz Reagent
III., 24 ml. of concentrated sulphuric acid, and 225 ml. of water.
Ammonium Nitrate Solution—Make up a 2 per cent. aqueous solution
for washing. If the solution is not acid to litmus, add a few drops of
nitric acid per litre.
Acetone.—This should be non-alkaline and free from residue. The
acetone washings are kept, dehydrated with potassium carbonate, and
redistilled.
(i)* Alternatively, the residue from the leaching out of the potassium
may be digested with 50 ml. of 10 per cent. sulphuric acid and filtered.
The filtrate is treated with 25 ml. concentrated ammonium nitrate solution
and warmed to 55° C. 25 ml. of filtered ammonium molybdate solution,
previously warmed to 55° C., is added, and the whole allowed to stand for
two hours. The solution is then filtered, and the precipitate washed with
2 per cent. sodium nitrate, till the washings are neutral. Transfer the
precipitate and filter papers to the beaker used for the precipitation,
add a known volume of standard alkali so that the precipitate completely
dissolves, measure the excess by titration, using phenolphthalein as
indicator.
1 ml. of N/10 alkali=.0003004 gm. P,O3.
Swedish filter paper is to be recommended for this filtration.
3. One per cent. Citric Acid Extract.
(t) Preparation of Extract.
Add 250 grms. of soil to 25 grms. of citric acid dissolved in 2,500 ml.
of water in a large winchester quart. Close with a rubber stopper, and
place in the shaking machine and shake for 24 hours. Then allow to
stand overnight, and syphon off as much as possible of the supernatant
liquid. Filter this through an 11 cm. or 12.5 cm. Buchner funnel charged
with asbestos, using a small portion of about 50 ml. to rinse the funnel
and flask before filtering the main portion. If an insufficient volume of
filtrate is obtained in this way, add some of the residue in the winchester
to the filter and continue to collect the filtrate.
Transfer duplicate portions of the filtrate, each of 750 ml., to silica
basins and evaporate to dryness on the water bath. When dry, heat
carefully to destroy organic matter, avoiding any loss of potash by over-
heating. When cold, cover with a clock glass and add 40 ml. of dilute
* J. A. Prescott, Journ. Agric. Science, 6, pp. 111 (1914). For a further discussion of this
method see M. B. Richards and W. Godden, Analyst, 49, pp. 565-572 (1924).
33
hydrochloric acid (1-+-1) and heat on the water bath for twenty minutes to
completely dissolve all the potash and phosphoric acid. Remove and rinse
the clock glass and evaporate the contents of the basin to dryness.
Continue heating on the water bath for half an hour to render most of
the silica insoluble. Then add 100 ml. of dilute hydrochloric acid (1-+5)
and warm on the bath for 15-20 minutes to effect solution. Filter through
an 11 em. Whatman No. 41 filter paper, collecting the filtrate in a 200 ml.
silica basin. Wash thoroughly with hot 5 per cent. hydrochloric acid,
breaking up the lumps of charred organic matter in the first basin with a
pestle before transferring them to the filter.
(2) Determination of Potash and Phosphoric Acid.
(a) Potash, K,0.—To the filtrate from the above add sufficient
of a 2 per cent. solution of barium chloride to completely precipitate all
the sulphates present. 5 ml. is usually sufficient, but more must be added
in some cases as it 1s necessary to remove all sulphate before proceeding
to the perchlorate separation. Evaporate the contents of the 200 ml.
basin to dryness on the water bath, and if necessary complete the drying
in an air oven at 110°-120° for one hour. Then heat carefully over a
large burner until all ammonium salts have been expelled and all the
iron rendered insoluble. In order to avoid any possible loss of potassium
by volatilization, the dish must not be heated above a very dull red heat.
When cold add 10-15 ml. of hot water and break up the lumps in the
basin with a glass stirring rod. Filter through a 9 cm. Whatman No. 44
filter paper into a pyrex basin of 100-150 ml. capacity. Wash the dish
and filter with several small portions of hot water until all the potash
has been extracted and the filtrate amounts to about 100 ml. Reserve
the filter and residue for the phosphoric acid determination.
To the filtrate add sufficient 20 per cent. perchloric acid to convert
all the chlorides present into perchlorates. (Generally, 10-15 ml. of
perchloric acid is required, but more may be necessary. An excess must
be present, and is denoted by the production of dense white fumes at the
end of the evaporation.) Evaporate on the water bath, and finally on
the sand bath, until dense fumes of perchloric acid are evolved. Then
add 10-15 ml. of water to dissolve the perchlorates and 14 ml. of per-
chloric acid, and continue the evaporation nearly to dryness on the water
bath. Finish the evaporation over a sand bath or heated asbestos plate
until dense white fumes have been produced for some time and the liquid
just sets to a pasty crystalline mass when cold. From this point proceed
exactly as described on page 29 for the estimation of potassium in the
hydrochloric acid extract.
(6) Phosphoric Acid. P,O;.—This is determined in the residue from
the potash extraction exactly as described on page. 30 for the deter-
mination of phosphoric acid in the hydrochloric acid extract.
4. Methods for the Determination of Replaceable Bases.*
As base exchange is a reversible reaction, complete replacement can
only be effected by leaching the soil with a concentrated salt solution
and so removing the replaced base from the sphere of action. For soils
* Hissink, D. J., Intern. Mitt. Bodenkunde, 12, pp.104 (1922). Trans. 2nd Commission Int.
Soc. Soil Science, B., 181 (1927).
34
in which calcium carbonate is absent, a normal solution of ammonium
chloride is the best reagent to bring about replacement. The bases,
sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and also in the case of acid soils,
iron, aluminium, and manganese, are then determined in the filtrate.
When calcium carbonate or dolomite occurs in the soil, sodium and
potassium are to be determined in the ammonium chloride extract, and a
second portion of the soil is to be leached, as detailed below, with normal
sodium chloride for the determination of calcium and magnesium.
Ammonium chloride cannot be used for the latter determinations, owing to
the greater solubility of the alkaline earth carbonates therein ; they are
not completely insoluble in normal sodium chloride, however, and a
correction has to be applied for the amount dissolved by the reagent as
distinct from that replaced. At the present time sodium chloride is the
best solution available. When magnesium carbonate occurs in the soil (a
rare occurrence), there is no satisfactory method for determining either
replaceable calcium or magnesium.
When appreciable quantities of sodium chloride or other water soluble
salts are present in the soil, they should be removed by leaching with
40 per cent. alcohol until the filtrate is free of chlorine, before commencing
the determination of the replaceable bases. If much gypsum is present
it may be necessary to wash with water, as well as alcohol, until free of
sulphate. In this case, however, such leaching might easily result in the
complete replacement of all exchangeable bases by calcium.
Methods of Replacement.—The normal sodium chloride used should
preferably be prepared from aerated distilled water (i.e., distilled water
from which carbon dioxide has been largely removed by means of a
current of air drawn through the water by a water pump).
A. For Soils in which Calcium Carbonate is absent.
To 60 g. of the soil in a 400 ml. beaker, add 200 ml. of a normal solution
of ammonium chloride. Place in a water bath at 80° and leave there
for one hour, stirring at intervals. Place aside and allow to stand over
night. Then decant through a 15 cm. Whatman No. 44 filter paper and
transfer the soil quantitatively to the filter, using a jet of the ammonium
chloride solution. Collect the filtrate in a litre measuring flask. Con-
tinue to leach the filter with small quantities of the normal salt solution,
allowing it to drain between successive additions, until one litre of filtrate
has been collected. Discard the soil and filter paper, and thoroughly
mix the contents of the flask.
Determine—
(a) potash and soda in duplicate portions of 150-200 ml.
(5) iron and alumina, lime and magnesia in duplicate portions
of 200 ml.
(c) manganese in a portion of 200 to 250 ml.
B. For Soils containing Calcium Carbonate or Dolomite.
(a) Treat a 60 g. portion exactly as in A above and secure a litre of
filtrate. Determine potash and soda in duplicate portions of 200 ml.
each of this filtrate. If required, silica is to be determined in another
aliquot.
35
(b) To 30 g. of the soil in a 250 ml. beaker, add 150 ml. of a normal
solution of sodium chloride. Place in a water bath at 80° for one hour,
stirring at intervals. Allow to stand overnight. Then decant through
a 15cm. Whatman No. 44 filter paper into a litre measuring flask, transfer
the soil from the beaker to the filter, using a jet of the normal salt
solution, and continue the leaching until one litre of filtrate has been
collected. Return the filter paper and soil to the beaker and add sufficient
normal sodium chloride solution so that, with the amount already saturat-
ing the soil and filter, there will be approximately 150 ml. Heat in a
water bath at 80°, stirring frequently, and then allow to stand overnight
as before. Decant through a second 15 em. No. 44 filter paper into a
second litre measuring flask, transfer the soil to the filter, and continue
the leaching until the second litre of filtrate has been collected.
Determine the calcium and magnesium in duplicate portions, each of
400 ml., of both the first and second litres of filtrate.
The first litre of filtrate contains all the calcium and magnesium
originally present in the soil in an exchangeable form, together with
calcium and magnesium dissolved by the sodium chloride solution from
the calcium carbonate or dolomite present. The second litre contains
only calcium and magnesium dissolved from their carbonates, and, there-
fore, the difference in calcium and magnesium content of the first and
second litre of the filtrate gives the amount of replaceable calcium and
magnesium respectively in the 30 g. of soil used. The method, although
not perfect, is the best available at the present time. Particular cases
require individual interpretation ; such as, for instance, when only very
small amounts of alkaline earth carbonates are present in the original soil,
the whole, or more than half, may be dissolved by the first litre of the
normal sodium chloride extract so that a true correction for this solubility
effect is not obtained by the calcium and magnesium content of the second
litre.
DETERMINATION OF THE BasEs.
(a) Sodiwm and Potassium.
Pipette 150-200 ml. of the N/1 ammonium chloride extract of the
soil into a 200 ml. silica basin. Add 3 ml. of a 2 per cent. solution of
BaCl,, 2H,0, or more if much SO, is present, in order to completely
precipitate all sulphates. Evaporate on the water bath until the volume
is about 50 ml., cover with a clock glass, and add 25 ml. of concentrated
nitric acid. When the vigorous decomposition is over, add a further
10 ml., the dish still being covered. After a time remove the clock glass,
rinse into the basin, and continue the evaporation to dryness. Add 5 ml.
of nitric acid and again evaporate to dryness.
Take up the residue in about 10-15 ml. of water, add 5 ml. of a
saturated solution of barium hydroxide, or sufficient to precipitate all
the magnesia present. Warm and filter through a 9 cm. Whatman No. 41
filter paper, collecting the filtrate in a tall 250 ml. beaker. Wash com-
pletely with hot water until about 150-180 ml. of filtrate is obtained.
Add 2 ml. of ammonia to prevent the formation of soluble calcium bicar-
bonate, boil, and add .75 g. of ammonium carbonate, freshly dissolved
without heating in 20 ml. of water. Cover the beaker and boil for one to
36
two minutes. Allow the bulk of the precipitate to settle, and decant
through a 9 cm. Whatman No. 44 filter paper into a 400 ml. silica basin.
(A platinum basin must not be used.) Wash well with hot water. Cover
the basin and place on the water bath. When the decomposition of the
ammonium carbonate has ceased, remove and rinse the cover glass and
evaporate to dryness. Moisten the contents of the dish with 3-5 ml. of
concentrated hydrochloric acid and 5-10 ml. of water and evaporate to
dryness. Gently heat to expel all ammonium salts. Again moisten the
salts with 2 ml. of hydrochloric acid and 5 ml. of water, and evaporate
to dryness. Repeat this evaporation a third time to completely convert
all nitrates to chlorides. Take up in 10 ml. of water, rock the dish to
dissolve all the salts, and add 5 or 6 drops of the ammonium carbonate
solution, and one drop of saturated ammonium oxalate solution. Evapo-
rate to dryness to remove the last traces of calcium.
Dissolve in 3 or 4 ml. of water, and filter carefully through a 7 em.
Whatman No. 44 filter paper, collecting the filtrate in a weighed platinum
basin. Wash completely with small portions of hot water. Add one
or two drops of hydrochloric acid to the filtrate and evaporate to dryness
on the water bath. Very cautiously heat over a bunsen burner, avoiding
loss by decrepitation, until the last traces of ammonium salts have been
removed. The dish must not be overheated, as some of the alkali chlorides
may be volatilized. Cool in a desiccator and weigh as NaCl+KCl.
Dissolve the weighed residue of mixed chlorides in 15-20 ml. of water,
and add 1 ml. of perchloric acid (S.G. 1.12) for each decigram of NaCl+
KCl present. Evaporate on a water bath and finally on a sand bath
until dense white fumes of perchloric acid are given off. Add 10 ml.
of water and a further ml. of perchloric acid and again evaporate until
dense fumes are evolved, and the crystalline mass is Just pasty when cold.
When quite cold add 15 ml. of 96 per cent. alcohol containing .2 per cent.
of perchloric acid. Break up all the lumps with the stirring rod and stir
well. Allow the dish to stand for half an hour. When most of the
crystals have settled, decant as much as possible of the clear liquid
through a dried and weighed gooch crucible, properly charged with
asbestos and connected to a filter pump. Place the platinum basin on
the top of the water bath to eliminate the alcohol, take up in about 10 ml.
of water, and add } ml. of perchloric acid. Evaporate just to dryness,
and when quite cold add 10 ml. of the acidified alcohol, stirring well to
break up the crystals. After a few minutes decant through the same
gooch crucible as used previously. Wash by decantation with 5 ml.
of the acidified alcohol, draining the dish and crucible completely. Then
transfer the bulk of the potassium perchlorate to the filter, using a stream
of 95 per cent. alcohol, saturated with potassium perchlorate, from a wash
bottle. Not more than 30 ml. should be used. Remove the last traces
of the precipitate from the sides of the basin with a feather. Finally
wash with a further two lots of about 15 ml. each of this wash liquid.
Drain the crucible well and dry in an oven at 140° for one hour. Cool
in a desiccator and weigh as KCIO,.
Wt. of K,0O=wt. of KClO, «.3401
Wt. of KCl=wt. of KCIO, « .5381
3
From the weight of potassium perchlorate, calculate the percentage
of K,O present. Also calculate the weight of KCl and deduct this
latter from the weight obtained for NaCl4-KCl. The weight of NaCl
so obtained x .5303 gives the weight of Na,O.
As a check, when necessary, potassium can be directly determined
by the perchlorate method by the removal of SO, by barium chloride,
the removal of ammonium salts by repeated evaporations with nitric
acid and gentle heating, leaching with hot water, and separation of
potassium perchlorate by evaporation (twice) with perchloric acid.
(b) Iron + Aluminium, Calcium, and Magnesium. (In soils free of
calcium carbonate.)
Fe,0, + Al,O,—Pipette 200 ml. of the N/1 ammonium chloride
extract into a 250 ml. beaker, boil, and add 10 ml. of dilute ammonia
(1-+-1) to precipitate all the iron and alumina. Filter through a 9 cm.
No. 41 Whatman filter paper and wash well with hot water, collecting
the filtrate in a 400 ml. beaker.
Ignite the filter and precipitate in a crucible and weigh as Fe,0,+
AlsO3.
CaO.—Heat the filtrate from the Fe,0;-+A1,0, separation, to boiling
and add 30 ml. of dilute ammonia (1-+-1) and 15 ml. of hot 10 per cent.
ammonium oxalate solution. Keep just at or below boiling point for
5-10 minutes until the precipitate of calcium oxalate has become quite
granular. Cover with a clock glass and leave to stand overnight. Filter
through an 11 cm. Whatman No. 44 filter paper into a 600 ml. beaker,
and wash twice with hot water.
Dissolve the precipitated calcium oxalate by pouring 15 ml. and 74
ml. of hot dilute hydrochloric acid (1+4) on to the filter, and washing
well with hot water, collecting the filtrate in the beaker in which the
precipitation was made. Add 3 ml. of a 2 per cent. solution of ammonium
oxalate, boil, and add 35 ml. of dilute ammonia (1-++1). Keep just boiling
as before for five minutes until the precipitate becomes granular. Cover
and allow to stand overnight. Filter through the same filter paper
as used previously, and wash completely with hot water. The filtrate
is collected in the 600 ml. beaker containing the filtrate from the first
precipitation. Reserve this for the magnesium determination.
When the precipitated calcium oxalate has been completely washed,
replace the 600 ml. beaker with the beaker in which the precipitation
was made. Pierce the filter paper with a glass rod and wash as much
as possible of the precipitate through, using a stream of warm water.
Then wash the filter paper alternately with warm dilute sulphuric acid
(1+4), made just pink with two or three drops of standard KMnO,
per 200 ml., and warm water, until all the oxalic acid is removed. Three
portions, each about 20 ml., of the acid should be used. Then warm the
contents of the beaker to about 70° and titrate with N/10 or N/40
potassium permanganate.
1 ml. of N/10 KMnO,=.0028 g. of CaO.
1 ml. of N/40 KMnO, =.0007 g. of CaO.
38
Mg0.—Evaporate the combined filtrates from the calcium precipita-
tions in a 200 ml. silica basin until the volume is reduced to about
50-60 ml. Cover with a clock glass and add 30 ml. of concentrated nitric
acid. When the vigorous reaction is over, add a further 10 ml. of nitrie
acid, the basin still bemg covered and left on the water bath. After a
further interval rinse the cover into the basin and evaporate to dryness.
Add 5 ml. of nitric acid and again evaporate to dryness. Dissolve the
residue in hot water and 3-5 ml. of hydrochloric acid. If necessary,
to remove traces of silica, filter through a 7 cm. Whatman No. 44 filter
paper, collecting the filtrate in a 200 ml. beaker. Wash well with hot
water.
When the filtrate is cold add 25 ml. of 95 per cent. alcohol, and 5 ml.
of a 10 per cent. sodium phosphate solution. Make just alkaline with
dilute ammonia. After fifteen minutes, add 25 ml. of concentrated
ammonia to completely precipitate all the magnesium as magnesium
ammonium phosphate. Stir well and allow to stand overnight. Filter
through a 9 cm. Whatman No. 44 filter paper and wash with dilute
ammonia (1+9). Ignite the filter and precipitate, cool and weigh as
Mg,P,0,.
Wt. of ppt. x .3621—wt. of MgO.
(c) Calcium and Magnesium (in soils containing calcium carbonate
or dolomite).
CaO.—Transfer 400 ml. of the normal sodium chloride extract into a
600 ml. beaker and add 1 grm. of ammonium chloride to retain the
magnesium in solution. Boil and add 35-40 ml. of dilute ammonia
(1+1) and 15 ml. of hot 10 per cent. ammonium oxalate solution. Keep
just at or below boiling point for 5-10 minutes, and proceed exactly as
detailed for CaO in the preceding section.
MgO.—Concentrate the filtrate from the first calcium precipitation
by evaporation until its volume is reduced to about 200 ml., and then
collect the filtrate from the second calcium precipitation in the same
beaker. Add 15 ml. of 10 per cent. sodium phosphate solution and 25
ml. of concentrated ammonia. Stir well and allow to stand overnight.
Filter through an 11 cm. Whatman No. 44 filter paper and wash twice
with dilute ammonia (1+9). Dissolve the precipitate by pouring 10 ml.
+10 ml. of warm dilute nitric acid (1+-4) through the filter, the filtrate
being collected in the beaker in which the precipitation was made. Wash
the filter thoroughly with hot water. When the filtrate is cold add a few
drops of sodium phosphate solution, 25 ml. of 95 per cent. alcohol and 40
ml. of concentrated ammonia to reprecipitate the magnesium ammonium
phosphate. Allow to stand overnight, and then filter through a 9 cm.
Whatman No. 44 filter paper, and wash well with dilute ammonia (1+9).
Transfer the filter and precipitate to a weighed silica crucible, ignite
in a muffle at a bright red heat, cool, and weigh as Mg,P.07.
Weight of precipitate x .3621 weight of MgO.
(d) Manganese.—Pipette 200 to 250 ml. of the normal ammonium
chloride solution into a 200-250 ml. silica basin, and evaporate on the
water bath until the volume is reduced to about 50 ml. Cover the basin
il li ts,
39
with a clock glass and add 25 ml. of concentrated nitric acid. When
the vigorous reaction is over, add a further 10 ml. of nitric acid. After
a time remove and rinse the clock glass and continue the evaporation to
dryness. Dissolve the contents of the dish in 10 ml. of concentrated
nitric acid, add 50 ml. of dilute sulphuric acid (1+3), and cautiously
evaporate on a sand bath or hot plate until the liquid is just fuming.
(This eliminates the last traces of hydrochloric acid.) Allow to cool
and dilute with 30-50 ml. of water and add 2-3 ml. of concentrated nitric
acid. Add 0.3 to 0.5 g. of potassium periodate and bring the contents
of the basin to a gentle boil. Keep just boiling for one minute after the
development of the permanganate colour. When sufficiently cool transfer
the contents to a measuring flask of suitable size (generally 50—100 ml.),
and wash the dish thoroughly with small portions of hot water. Place
the flask in a boiling water bath for 10-15 minutes. Then remove and
allow to cool. When cold, dilute to the graduation mark and mix the
contents well by inverting the closely-stoppered flask several times.
If the solution is not clear, centrifuge for 3-5 minutes and transfer
the clear solution so obtained to the colorimeter tube.
Prepare a standard solution of potassium permanganate by pipetting
5-20 ml. of standard manganese sulphate (10 ml.-=1 mg. Mn,0,) into a
100 ml. measuring flask, adding 30 ml. of water, 15 ml. of concentrated
sulphuric acid, and 0.3 g. of potassium periodate. Heat in a boiling water
bath for fifteen minutes, and when cold dilute to the graduation mark.
Make a series of colour comparisons between the test solution and one
of the above standard potassium permanganate solutions. Make eight
successive colour matches and take the average for the depth of liquid
in the cell of standard solution, the depth of liquid in the test solution
cell being kept constant.
The concentration of Mn.,O, in the test solution ==
average depth of standard KMnO, solution _ cone. of Mn,Q, in the
depth of test solution “ standard KMn0O. solution.
5. Water Soluble Salts.
(a) General—The determination of water soluble salts is of special —
importance in a semi-arid country, particularly where irrigation is prac-
tised. Ofthe various constituents, chlorine and nitrate ions are unafiected
by the ratio of soil to water, but this is important with respect to car-
bonate and bicarbonate ions, and has a’ further bearing on the relative
proportions of the cations owing to base exchange phenomena. It is,
therefore, necessary to adopt some conventional relationship between
the weight of soil and the volume of extraction water and preferably to
use distilled water which has been brought into equilibrium by aeration
with the carbon dioxide of the atmosphere.
To 200 grms. of air-dried soil are added 1,000 ml. of aerated distilled
water in a suitable vessel, and the whole shaken in an end over end shaker
for one hour. The cylinders and shaking machine used for mechanical
analysis are found to be convenient for this purpose. After allowing the
heavier particles to settle for one hour, the suspension is decanted into a
cylinder and filtered by suction through a Chamberland candle filter.
40
The rate of filtration varies with the character of the suspension. With
very alkaline soils a complete filtration may take some hours. With very
slow filtering suspensions the deposit of clay on the filter may be removed
by reversing the pressure in the
candle by connecting momen-
tarily to a water tap. Before
each filtration the filtering sur-
face of the candle may be re-
newed by rubbing with sand
paper. The filtration apparatus
is illustrated in Fig. 7.
(b) Analysts of Eatract—The
Cl ion is determined by titration
ef an aliquot portion of the
extract with standard silver
nitrate solution of convenient
strength, say, 1 ml.=.001 gm.
Cl. Bicarbonate and carbonate
ions are determined on 100 ml.
by titration with N/10 sulphuric
acid first with phenolphthalein
as indicator followed by methyl
orange.
The nitrate ion is determined
either colorimetrically by the
nitro phenol method or by a
reduction method.
Nitrate is usually present in
small quantities only, and is
best determined separately by
Fig. 7—Apparatus for the filtration of fests 3 pip oe toh [apa a
Se iionte wal extracts for salt deter- soil, as described on, page 42.
minations. Sulphate is determined by
precipitation as barium sulphate.
Total Salts.—Evaporate 100 ml. of the water extract in a tared plati-
num dish over a water bath ; when the volume is reduced to about 5 ml.
add 2 ml. of 20 vol. hydrogen peroxide, free from salts, to oxidize soluble
organic matter and evaporate again to dryness. Dry in an oven at 110°
C. for one hour and weigh.
Cations ; Ca, Mg, Na, K are determined by methods similar to those
outlined under methods for replaceable bases.
Presence of Gypsum.—Where much gypsum is present it will not be
possible to extract it completely under the above conditions. In such a
case shake 10-20 grms. of soil with 200-500 ml. of 1 per cent. free hydro-
chloric acid (according to the amount of gypsum present). Shake for
8-16 hours and filter through a dry filter paper, rejecting the first runnings.
Concentrate an aliquot portion and precipitate the sulphate in boiling
solution by the addition of an excess of 10 per cent. barium chloride.
Allow the precipitate to stand over night, filter, and wash. Ignite and
weigh. Test for any silica by evaporation with hydrofluoric and sul-
phuric acids, and re-ignition.
ae
° 1 2 3 + ins.
4]
6. Total Nitrogen.
Transfer 10 g. of soil to a flat-bottomed pyrex kjeldahl digestion
flask and add 10 ml. of water. Shake. and allow to stand for half an
hour.* Then add 30 ml. of concentrated sulphuric acid and start the
digestion over a small flame, gradually increasing the heat until white
fumes of sulphuric acid are produced. Remove the flask and add 10 g. of
potassium sulphate and a crystal of copper sulphate. Replace the flask
and continue the digestion until the black colour disappears. Then allow
the flask to cool, dilute the contents with about 100 ml. of water, and
transfer the fluid part to a 750-1,000 ml. conical flask, leaving as much
as possible of the sand behind. Wash the sandy residue with four or
five lots of 50-60 ml. of water, decanting the washings into the conical
flask. Add a piece of granulated zinc to the contents of the latter, and
then 100-110 ml. of concentrated caustic soda solution (1 lb. of caustic
soda+-1 litre of water), pouring the caustic solution down the side of the
flask so that it forms a heavy layer at the bottom. Place the stopper
in the flask and connect it to the distillation outfit. Mix the contents
well by shaking and commence the distillation. Distil until about a
quarter to a third of the liquid has passed over, the ammonia being col-
_ lected in either—
(a) 25 ml. of N/10 hydrochloric or sulphuric acid, or
(b) a 4 per cent. solution of boric acid.t
(a) If tenth normal acid is used to absorb the ammonia, add two or
three drops of methyl red indicator (1 g. of methyl red dissolved in 50 ml.
of 95 per cent. alcohol, 50 ml. of water added. and the solution filtered if
necessary), and when the distillation is completed titrate the excess of
the standard acid with tenth normal sodium hydroxide.
The amount of nitrogen=ml. of N/10 sodium hydroxide used in a
blank determination—ml. of N/10 sodium hydroxide used in the actual
determination x .0014.
(b) Winkler’s Modification Collect the distillate in an excess of a
4 per cent. solution of boric acid (50 ml. is a suitable quantity to use).
The temperature of the distillate must never exceed 50° C. When the
distillation is complete, add 10-15 drops of congo red indicator (0.25 g. ~
of congo red dissolved in 100 ml. of 50 per cent. alcohol) and titrate the
ammonia absorbed with N/10 sulphuric acid.
The amount of nitrogen=ml. of N/10 sulphuric acid used—ml. of
N/10 sulphuric acid used in a blank determination x .0014.
In using this modification, should the distillate be sucked back into
the distilling flask it is only necessary to add more boric acid and continue
the distillation.
7. Nitrogen as Nitrate and Ammonia.
Nitrates—Where the soil does not contain appreciable quantities of
organic matter the following procedure may be recommended :—
The soil sample as brought in from the field is broken up into pieces
not more than half an inch in diameter and 150 grms. to 250 grms. weighed
" * The Determination of Nitrogen in Heavy Clay Soils, D. V. Bal. Journ. Agric. Sci. 15. pp.
454-459 (1925).
Winkler’s Modification. K. S. Markley and R. M. Hann. Journ. Assoc. Off. Agric. Chem.., 8,
pp. 455-467 (1925).
42
~ro
out and dried in an oven at 55°-60° C. The drying is necessary to check
nitrification, and also enables the subsequent washing to be carried out
with a minimum puddling of the soil. Transfer the dry soil to a Buchner
funnel using a hardened filter paper (Whatman No. 50), and pour on
sufficient distilled water to cover the soil. After a few minutes’ soaking
connect to the filter pump and continue to leach the soil with successive
quantities of distilled water until about 600 ml. of filtrate have been ob-
tained ; transfer the filtrate to a conical flask used in the nitrogen dis-
tillation apparatus, evaporate to 200 ml. with 1 grm. of magnesium
oxide, and cool. Add 70 ml. of 30 per cent. caustic soda and reduce to
ammonia with 2 grms. of Devarda alloy or with 5 grms. each of zine
dust and powdered iron. The reduction with Devarda alloy is complete
in half an hour. With zinc and iron powders, allow the action to proceed
gently in the cold for half an hour, continue for half an hour over a very
small flame, and distil over the ammonia produced in a third period of
half an hour.
Where much organic matter is present, E. J. Russell* recommends
the following procedure :—
The water extract of the soil is poured into a flask covered by an
inverted porcelain crucible lid, 10 ml. of 8 per cent. caustic soda and
10 ml. of 3 per cent. potassium permanganate are added and the whole
is then boiled down to 75 ml. and kept just boiling for six hours. If the
permanganate is completely decolourized, a little more is added until
no appreciable change is noticeable in half an hour. The solution is
diluted to 300 ml., 3 grms. of Devarda alloy added, 20 ml. of 40 per cent.
caustic soda, and 5 ml. of alcohol. After reduction in the cold for a
few minutes, the whole is distilled down to 50 ml., the ammonia produced
being absorbed in N/50 sulphuric acid.
Ammonia.—As with nitrate, the quantity of ammonia fluctuates, and
the soil sample must be examined straight from the field. In the method
of D. V. Matthews}, which demands special apparatus, to 25 grms. of soil
placed in the aerating tube of the apparatus are added 50 ml. of a solution
containing 150 grms. of sodium chloride and 108 grms. of sodium car-
bonate per litre and 1 ml. of kerosene. A vigorous current of air, free
from ammonia, is drawn through the mixture for five to six hours and the
ammonia set free collected in N/50 sulphuric acid, using methyl red as
indicator.
W. McLean and G. W. Robinson have obtained results which closely
agree with the above by leaching the soil with normal sodium chloride
solution. The extract is distilled with magnesia. J. A. Prescott§ has
used 5 per cent. potassium sulphate for extracting soil ammonia, and
obtained 90 per cent. recovery as compared with the aeration method.
8. Organic Carbon and Humus.
Organic carbon is preferably to be determined by direct dry combustion.
Although methods of wet combustion have been recommended at various
times, the oxidation of carbon so obtained is usually incomplete, and there
is a general tendency amongst workers to revert back in all cases to the
combustion furnace.
* Russell, E. J. ‘“‘ Soil Conditions and Plant Growth,” p. 453 (1927).
+ Matthews, D.V. Journ. Agric. et p. 72 (1920)
+ McLean, W., and Robinson, G. W. Journ. Agric. Sci., 14, p. 548 (1924),
§ Prescott, J. A. Swultanie Agric. Soc. Bull. No. 2 (1920).
43
Where soils contain calcium carbonate, this may be removed before
combustion by evaporating the soil with weak inorganic acids, such as
sulphurous or phosphoric acid.
Humus.*—Methods for the determination of soil humus are based
on the definition of humus as being that portion of the soil organic matter
which is soluble in alkali after the soil has been previously treated with
dilute acid to remove calcium carbonate and to decompose insoluble
humates.
Degree of Humification of Soil Organic Matter—In the method pro-
posed by Robinson and Jones, the humified portion of the soil organic
matter is presumed to be completely decomposed or made entirely soluble
by oxidation with hydrogen peroxide. A portion of the soil is heated
in a beaker at 100° C. for fifteen minutes with 60 ml. of 6 per cent. hydro-
gen peroxide. The contents of the beaker are finally boiled and then fil-
tered and washed repeatedly with hot water. The residue is washed
into a flat porcelain dish, and the amount of unaltered organic matter
determined by ignition after drying to constant weight at 100° C. The
difference between the loss on ignition before and after treatment with
hydrogen peroxide, is presumed to represent that portion of the soil
organic matter which is humified. It is probable that this method has a
limited application particularly in the case of soils rich in clay or calcium
carbonate. In addition to the loss on igniticn, the determination of
organic carbon has been suggested as affording a more useful index in
this connexion.
Humus soluble in eae hydroxide.—In the method of Eden, 5 grms.
of soil in a gooch crucible are treated with 50 ml. of 10 per cent. hydro-
chlorie acid and then well washed. The soil is then transferred through
a wide-necked funnel to a 100 ml. conical flask previously calibrated with
a mark giving the volume of the soil plus 100 ml. About 60 ml. of water
are used for this operation, 20 ml. of 50 per cent. caustic soda are then
added by inserting the end of the pipette a little way below the water.
The flask is then filled to the mark with water, a few drops of alcohol
being used to clear the meniscus if necessary. The flask is then immersed
up to the neck in a water bath at 100° C. for fifteen minutes, during which
time the contents are constantly stirred, a portion of the hot solution
is then filtered through a hardened filter paper (No. 50 Whatman) on a
Buchner funnel. It is unnecessary and inadvisable to collect more than
20 ml. of the extract. Ten ml. of the cooled extract are then diluted to
200 ml., and the colour compared in a colorimeter with that of a standard
prepared from acidum huminicum (Merck).
The method of Joseph and Whitfeild, which is specially suited for heavy
alkaline soils, is as follows :—
One gram of the soil is treated in a centrifuge tube with dilute hydro-
chloric acid to decompose calcium and magnesium carbonates and
humates and is then washed in the centrifuge until free from acid. A
measured quantity 50 ml. of 4 per cent. sodium hydroxide is then added,
and the soil shaken up and allowed to stand for 24 hours. The tube is
centrifuged until the liquid is clear, and its colour then compared in the
colorimeter with a standard solution of humus prepared from a similar soil.
~__* No method for the determination of humus has as yet been finally adopted at the Waite Institute.
Of the methods available, the following, which are described above, have been selected for further in-
app :—Eden, T., Journ. Agric. Sci., 14, pp. 468—472 (1924) ; Joseph, A. F.,and Whitfeild, B. W.,
rn. Agric. Sci., 17, pp. 1-11 (1927); Robinson, G. W., and Jones rr EO Journ. Agric. Sci., 15, pp.
Hart (1925).
44
Details of this humus preparation are to be found in the original paper.
According to C. W. B. Arnold,* the soluble humus consists of two
parts, that soluble in cold dilute alkah, and a further portion which will
not dissolve until the dilute alkali is heated. There is a further possi-
bility that the extraction as carried out by the above methods represents
an equilibrium between the solution and the soil and not a complete
extraction.
9. Soil Reaction.
The indicator methods, although of use for general work, cannot
usually be recommended with soils unless the electrometric method is
not available. The quinhydrone method described below is very con-
venient, and in practice more rapid than the colorimetric methods. For
orientation and field work a number of simple tests are available. The
Fig. 8—Apparatus for the determination of the
hydrogen-ion concentration of the soil by the
quinhydrone electrode after Biilmann and
Torborg-Jensen.
Comber test, which has found wide application in Europe, has been tested
with success in South Australian soils, and has been found to divide, quite
sharply, acid from neutral or alkaline soils.f For air-dried soils, the
original Comber reagent, saturated alcoholic potassium thiocyanate,t
can be recommended. The modified test,§ using aqueous 5 per cent.
potassium salicylate, can be employed directly with- moist soils. In
practice 5 grms. of the soil are treated with 10 ml. of the reagent, a pink
or red colour developing with potassium thiocyanate and a reddish-brown
colour with the salicylate. The intensity of the colour is roughly pro-
portional to the degree of acidity. Professor Comber has privately
expressed his preference to the authors for the original thiocyanate
method wherever practicable.
* Arnold, C. W.B. Journ. Agric. Sci., in the press.
+ J. A. Prescott, Proc. Roy. Soc. South Aust., 51, pp. 287-290 (1927).
t N. B. Comber, Journ. Agric. Sci., 10, p. 420 (1920).
§ N.B. Comber, Journ. Agric. Sci. 12, p. 370 (1922)
45
The ‘“ Soil Testing Outfit” placed on the market by the British Drug
Houses Ltd., makes use of a mixed indicator, and gives quite useful
approximate indications of the pH values at intervals of 0.5 units.
(a) Electrometric Determination of Soil Reaction.*
The most convenient method for the determination of the hydro-
gen-ion concentration of the soil is based on the quinhydrone electrode
method of Bulmann.t
Where cross reference is required to the hydrogen electrode, the
technique recommended by Crowthert should be followed.
The apparatus most recently recommended is illustrated in Fig. 8.
The electrode vessel B forms the standard electrode. It contains 15
ml. of the standard electrolyte of the strength KC1 0.09N and HCl
0.01N, previously shaken with 0.1 gm. quinhydrone.
The central vessel C contains 3.5 molar potassium chloride.
A consists of a test tube 1.5 em. x 15 cm. which forms the soil elec-
trode vessel. The connexion between the soil suspension in A and the
solution in C is made through a syphon tube D filled with a 3.5N solution
of potassium chloride in a stiff 5 per cent. agar jelly.
The electrodes in A and B are of bright platinum.
Method.—Place 10 gms. of soil and 10 ml. of aerated distilled water
in a test tube, add 0.1 gm. of quinhydrone, shake for two or three seconds,
and place in the position A in the apparatus as shown.
The potentials are read with an accuracy corresponding to 0.01-0.02
in pH values.
By weighing out a number of soil samples into a range of standard
test tubes it is readily possible to make a relatively large number of
successive determinations, as equilibrium is attained very rapidly.
A control determination is made at the beginning and end of each
day’s work, using a buffer solution. M/20 potassium hydrogen phthalate,
which has a pH value of 3.97 at 20° C., is very convenient to prepare
and to use.
After the use of a buffer solution, the electrode should be well washed,
but this washing need not be so thorough when dealing with successive
soil samples.
It is preferable to set up a fresh standard electrode daily.
The reaction of the soil is calculated from the following equation,
where z is the measured difference in potential between the two elec-
trodes :— ;
Died tal 5! omer
~ 0,0001984T
The pH values can be read directly from Table 3 for temperatures
between 10° C. and 25° C.
Preparation of Quinhydrone.—Dissolve 100 grms. of ferric ammonium
alum in 300 ml. of distilled water. Heat to 65° C., pour with stirring
into a solution of 25 grms. hydroquinone in 100 ml. distilled water, pre-
viously heated to the same temperature. Cool the mixture, filter off the
fine needles of quinhydrone on a Buchner funnel, wash with ice-cold
water. Dry between sheets of filter paper at room temperature.
* B®. Biilmann and S. Torborg-Jensen: Transactions of the 2nd Commission of the Int. Soc. of
Soil Science, Vol. B, pp. 236—274 (1927).
7 E., Biilmann, Journ. Agric. Sci. 14, p. 232 (1924).
t E. M. Crowther, Journ, Agric. Sei., 15, p. 201 (1925).
46
TABLE 3.—CONVERSION OF az TO pH at DirreRENT TEMPERATURES.
(QUINHYDRONE ELECTRODE.)
HW 0.118 — 7
P™ — 0,0001984 T.
10° 11° 12° 13° 14° 15° 16° 17°
i ape ame
pH pH pH pH pH pH pH pH
100 | 3.88 | 3.87 | 3.85 |° 3.84 3.83 3.81 3.80 3.79
110 | 4.06 | 4.05 | 4.03 4.02 4.00 3.99 3.98 3.96
ZU ae | Ae eae 4.19 4.18 4.16 4.15 4.14
-130 | 4.42 | 4.40 | 4.39 4.37 4.35 4.34 4.32 4.31
140 | 4.59 | 4.58 | 4.56 4.55 4.53 4.51 4.50 4.48
SOO! Aide | eaos |) Acre 4.72 4.71 4.69 4.67 4.66
-160 | 4.95 | 4.93 | 4.92 4.90 4.88 4.86 4.85 4.83
70 5-13) | poset b.O9 5.07 5.06 5.04 5.02 5.01
-180 | 5.3 5-29) | bed 5.25 5.23 5.21 5.20 5.18
-190 | 5.48 | 5.47 | 5.45 5.43 5.41 5.39 Tei Sess
-200 | 5.66 | 5.64 | 5.62 5.60 5.58 5.56 5.55 Br be
210 | 5.84 | 5.82 | 5.80 5.78 Ded 5.74 5.72 AD)
220 | 6.02 | 6.00 | 5.98 5.96 5.94 5.91 5.89 5.88
230 | 6.20 | 6.17 | 6.15 6.13 Gell 6.09 6.07 6.05
-240 | 6.37 | 6.35 | 6.33 6.31 6.29 6.26 6.24 6.22
-250 | 6.55 | 6.53 | 6.51 6.48 6.46 6.44 6.42 6.40
260" | Oafor| OanlelGsbs 6.66 6.64 6.61 6.59 6.57
-270 | 6.91 | 6.89 | 6.86 6.84 6.81 6.79 Gai 6.74
-280 | 7.09 | 7.06 | 7.04 7.01 6.99 6.96 6.94 6.92
“290 WT o2 | 7 24s Te 22 7.19 ea uy 7.14 712 7.09
SO Sy feats Be BN tf et ta S12) Hess 7.34 icc Leo ‘Laced
soLOH 7262 |) Ve oOaeieoT 7.54 7.52 7.49 7.46 7.44
PO2L0 | 80) ) Tita O Ties 7.69 7.66 7.64 7.61
-330 | 7.98 | 7.95 | 7.92 7.89 7.87 7.84 7.81 7.79
-340 | 8.16 | 8.13 | 8.10 8.07 8.04 8.01 7299 7.96
-350 | 8.33 |-8.30 | 8.28 8.25 8.22 8.19 2.16 8.14
-360 | 8.51 | 8.48 | 8.45 8.42 8.39 8.36 8.34 8.31
-370 | 8.69 | 8.66 | 8.63 8.60 8.57 8.54 8.51 8.48
380 | 8.87 | 8.84 | 8.81 8.7 8.75 8.72 8.69 8.66
-390 | 9.05 | 9.01 | 8.98 8.95 8.92 8.89 8.86 8.83
-400 | 9.22 | 9.19 | 9.16 9.13 9.10 9.06 9.03 9.00
-410 | 9.40 | 9.37 | 9.34 9.31 9.27 9.24 9.21 9.18
-420 | 9.58 | 9.55 | 9.51 9.48 9.45 9.41 9.38 9.35
-430 | 9.76 | 9.72 | 9.69 9.66 9.62 9.59 9.56 9.53
-440 | 9.94 | 9.90 | 9.87 9.83 9.80 9.76 9.73 9.70
-450 {10.11 |10.08 {10.04 | 10.01 9.98 9.94 9.91 9.87
* All these voltages are negative.
2 PROPORTIONAL ParTs.
[ “pit Tees TP Dif. | Diff.= | Diff | Diff.=
7 gs. NT | a Ay 7 Sits cea Metre a ames re! SAME LINEN? 3
ne m= pH eu oS Jes
0005 0.01 0.01 .0040 0.07 0.07 0075 0.13 0.13
0010 0.02 0.02 0045 0.08 0.08 .0080 0.14 0.14
0015 0.03 0.03 -0050 0.09 0.09 -0085 0.14 0.15
0020 0.03 0.04 0055 0.09 0.10 -0090 0.15 0.16
0025 0.04 0.04 .0060 0.10 0.11 .0095 0.16 0.87
0030 0.05 0.05 -0065 0.11 0.12 -0100 Ue br 0.18
0035 | 0.06 | 0.06 |] 0070 | 0.12 | 0.13
47
TaBLe 3.--CoNVERSION OF 7 TO pH avr DirrereNr TEMPERATURES.
(QUINHYDRONE ELECTRODE.)
H 0.118 — a7
P= 9 0001984 T.
18° 19° 20° 21° 22° 23° 24° | (858
7—* — a ae eae 28 be = eae
pH pH pH pH pH pH pH pH
.100 | 3.78 3.76 3.75 3.74 3.72 3.71 2 7Oiset:. 3. 0
110 | 3.95 3.94 3.92 3.91 3.89 3.88 3.87 3.86
0120 | 4.12 4.11 4.09 4.08 4.07 4.05 4.04 4.03
130 | 4.30 4.28 4.27 4.25 4.24 4.22 4.21 4.19
.140 | 4.47 4.45 4.44 4.42 4.4] 4.39 4.38 4.36
.150 | 4.64 4.63 4.61 4.59 | 4.58 4.56 4.55 | 4.53
.160 | 4.82 4.80 4.78 ATR £75 4.73 4.72 4.70
.170 | 4.99 4.97 4.95 4.94 4.92 | 4.90 4.89 | 4.87
a b.16 5.14 5.13 5.11 5.09 5.07 5.06 5.04
.190 | 5.33 5.32 5.30 5.28 5.26 5.24 5.23 5.21
.200 | 5.51 5.49 5.47 5.45 5.43 5.41 5.40 5.38
.210 | 5.68 5.66 5.64 5.62 5.60 | 5.58 | 5.57 5.55
220 | 5.85 5.83 5.81 5.79 5.77 5.75 5.74 5.72
.230 | 6.03 6.01 5.99 5.97 5.95 5.92 5.91 | 5.89
.240 | 6.20 6.18 6.16 6.14 6.12 6.09 6.08 | 6.05
.250 |. 6.37 6.35 6.33 6.31 6.29 6.27 6.25 | 6.22
.260 | 6.55 6.53 6.50 6.48 | 6.46 6.44 6.41 | 6.39
.270 | 6.72 6.70 6.67 6.65 6.63 6.61 6.58 6.56
.280 | 6.89 6.87 6.85 6.82 6.80 6.78 6.75 6.73
290| 7.07 7.04 7.02 6.99 6.97 6.95 6.92 | 6.90
300 | 7.24 7.22 7.19 fie gl 7.14 7.12 7:09 | -7.07
Sig 7 .Al 7.39 7.36 7.34 7.31 7.29 7.26 7.24
.320 | 7.59 7.56 7.53 7.51 7.48 7.46 7.43 7.41
.330 | 7.76 7.73 7.71 7.68 7.65 7.63 7.60 7.58
.340 | 7.93 7.91 7.88 WeSh | e782 GR Ne oa Pe Le | 7.75
.350 | 8.11 8.08 8.05 8.02 |- 8.00 7.97 7.94 7.92
.360 | 8.28 8.25 8.22 8.20 eer 8.14 Soi 8.08
.370 | 8.45 8.42 8.39 8.37 8.34 8.31 8.28 8.25
.380 | 8.63 8.60 8.57 8.54 8.51 8.48 8.45 8.42
.390 | 8.80 8.77 8.74 ei 8.68 8.65 8.62 8.59
.400 | 8.97 8.94 8.91 8.88 8.85 8.82 8.79 So7
.419 | 9.15 9.11 9.08 9.05 9.02 8.99 8.96 8.93
.420 | 9.32 9.29 9.26 9.22 9.19 9.16 | 9.13 9.10
.430 | 9.49 9.46 9.43 9.40 | 9.36 9.33 9.30 9.27
.440 | 9.66 9.63 9.60 9.57 9.53 9.50 9.47 9.44
.450 | 9.84 9.80 9.77 9.74 3.70 9.67 | 9.64 9.61
* All these voltages are negative.
PROPORTIONAL PARTS.
) Diff.= | Dif.= || Diff. = | Diffi= | Diff. = | Diff. =
r a7 AS. -| ~ ive ty|apelS ri | Ts Sy a PS a
wee: pH uesioeie lpn i aging ipa
.0005 | 0.01 | 0.01 0040 | 0.07 | 6.07 | .0075 | 0.13 0.13
0010 0.02 0.02 || .0045 0.08 0.08 | .0080 | 0.14 0.14
-0015 | 0.03 | 0.03 || .0050 | 0.09 | 0.09 || .0085 | 0.14 | 0.15
0020 | 0.03 | 0.04 || .0055 | 0.09 | 0.10 0080 | 0.15 | 0.16
0025 | 0.04 | 0.04 || .0060 | 0.10 | 0.11 .0095 | 0.16 0.17
.0030 0.05 0.05 .0065 | 0.11 | 0.12 || .0100 0.17 0.18
.0035 | 0.06 | 0.06 870: 1b i 4ae |2 921° |
48
(b) Colorimetric Method.*
Twenty grms. of soil are treated with 60 ml. of distilled water and
shaken for one hour. The soil extract is now centrifuged for ten to
twenty minutes and 10 ml. withdrawn by means of a pipette and trans-
ferred to a test tube. Twenty drops of indicator are now added, and the
colour compared with that of the standard pair of tubes used in the
drop ratio method. Where the soil extract
is coloured in itself it is necessary to place
— Le a tube containing the extract without in-
dicator behind the pair of indicator tubes.
Jn many cases, particularly with alkaline
soils, it is almost impossible to obtain clear
extracts except by filtration through porce-
lain filters. Micro filters of this type, similar
to those used in the filtration for soluble
salts, have been used, but the filtration is
very tedious.
{7 Gillespie has used colloidal iron to clear
Fig. 9—Comparator for use in SOil extracts, but was not able to recommend
the colorimetric method for this procedure except where experience had
the determination of the shown the method to be reliable for the soils
hydrogen-ion concentration : ae
of soil extracts after Under investigation.
Gillespie. .
The colour standards are prepared with-
out the use of buffer solutions by the drop
ratio method of Gillespie. Ten drops of indicator are shared by two
tubes, one of which is entirely acid, and the second entirely alkaline.
By looking through both tubes in a comparator illustrated in Fig. 9,
the colour observed is the result of a definite ratio between the two forms
of the indicator and the pH values may be calculated from the following
equation :—
Alkaline form
H = K + log ——_——
5 °S “Keid form
where K is the apparent dissociation constant of the indicator expressed
in terms of the hydrogen-ion exponent.
A range of test tubes, each containing 5 ml. of distilled water made
acid and alkaline in pairs, and to which ten drops in all of indicator have
been added to each pair of tubes, can be readily set up.
The table of pH values for various drop ratios of each indicator as
given by Gillespie is set out in Table 4.
* Gillespie, L. J. Journ. Wash. Acad. Sci., 6, p.12 (1916).
Gillespie, L. J. Soil Science, 9, pp. 115-136 (1920).
—
49
TABLE 4.
L. J. Gituespte’s DATA FOR THE DETERMINATION OF THE HyDROGEN-ION
EXPONENT BY MEANS OF THE Drop Ratio InpicaTorR Mretuop.
Hydrogen-Ion Exponent for each Pair of Tubes.
Drop—tatio. * % ¥
pee Methyl Len “alae Phenol Cresol Thymol
° so h
mene | | red. Be t Eymel red, red. blue.
L:9 3.1 4.05 Boo 6.15 6.75 f (aus 7.85
(1.5: 8.5) Sie 4.25 nats 6.35 Geobpe |) 91-50 8.05
2:8 3.5 4.4 5.0 6.5 Tee: 7.5 8.2
ey | S160) 4.6 5.9 6.7 PSS: iwi 8.4
4:6 3.9 4.8 6.1 6.9 1.5 7.9 8.6
NE 4,1 5.0 6.3 7 fe | py | 8.1 8.8
6:4 Teg SA; 5.2 6.5 7.3 7-9) ole tere 9.0
les 4.5 5.4 6.7 7 fea, 8.1 Liss: o 9.2
8:2 4.7 5.6 6.9 yor 8.3 |; ahead 9.4
(8.5 : 1.5) 4.8 5.75 7.0 7.85 8.45 | 8.85 9.55
Da 5.0 | 5.95 7.2 8.05 8.65 | 9.05 9.75
Per cent. in indicator
solution ag 0.008 | 0.008 | 0.012 | 0.008 | 0.004, 0.008 0.008
Cubic centimetres of
0.1 N NaOH per |
0.1 gm. portion .. 1.64 “fs 2.78 Tene 3.10 2.88 2.38
Produce acid colour
with .. .. | 0.05N | 0.05N | 0.05N | 0.05N |0.05N | 2% | 2%
HCl HCl HCl HCl HCl 'H,KPO,'H,KPO,
_or H,O
Quantity of acid used
to produce acid
colour .. .. | Iml. | 1 drop | 1 drop | 1 drop | 1 drop ; 1 drop | 1 drop
! |
10. Lime Requirement.
Although various methods are available for the determination of the
lime requirement of the soil, no uniformity has been reached as to their
application.*
European and American practice is in favour of the determination
of some measure of titratable acidity by methods dependent upon the
liberation of acid from sodium or calcium acetates or neutral salts such as
potassium chloride.
The methods in use at the present time may be grouped under four
headings :—
(1) The decomposition by the soil of salts of weak acids—calcium
carbonate as in the method of Tacke,t zinc sulphide as in the method of
Truog,t and sodium, calcium or potassium acetates as used by Jones$
* In the laboratories of the Queensland Department of Agriculture the methods of Hutchinson-
Maclennan, Jones and Hopkins have all been employed.
+ Tacke, B. Chem. Zeit. 21, p.174 (1897). Wiley. Principles and Practice of Agric. Analysis,
Vol. I. 400, (1926).
_ F Truog, E. Wisc. Agr. Expt. Stat. Bull. 312. (See also F. W. Parker and T. W Tidmore. Soil
Sci. 16, p. 75, 1923.)
§ Jones, C. H. Journ. A.O.A.C. 1, pp. 43-44 (1915). Wiley, p. 411, 1926. (See also E. A
Carleton, Soil Science, 16, pp. 79-90, 1923.)
50
in America and Kappen* in Europe. In the first two methods the product
of reaction is a gas which can be collected, and it may be expected that
an end point will be reached as the gas can be removed from the reaction.
In the case of the acetate method, the final result expresses a condition
of equilibrium between the soil and the reacting solution.
(2) The neutralization of the soil with barium or calcium hydroxide.
In these methods successive quantities of soil are treated with varying
amounts of the alkali, and the end point determined by selecting that
particular concentration of alkali which gives the desired soil reaction—
neutrality to litmus in the original Veitcht method (1904). In the
recent method of D. J. Hissinkt the end point is determined by con-
ductimetric titration.
(3) The equilibrium between the soil and a standard solution of
calcium bicarbonate as in the method of Hutchinson and MacLennan.
(4) The equilibrium between the soil and solutions of neutral salts
as in the methods of Hopkins§ (1902) and Daikuhara]| (1914).
With the advent of the newer conceptions of soil saturation, attempts
have been made to determine the total titratable acidity of the soil by
an estimate of the degree of soil unsaturation ; of these methods possibly
that recently suggested by O. Gehring, A. Peggau, and O. Wehrmann§
offers the most logical presentation of an attempt to solve the problem.
The exchangeable bases in a sample of the soil are first to be deter-
mined by one of the standard methods. Another sample of soil is then to
be saturated with calcium and the replaceable bases are to be determined.
In this method the soil to be investigated is first treated with an excess
of calcium hydroxide solution and shaken for 30 minutes to establish
equilibrium. Carbon dioxide is then passed to convert the hydroxide
to carbonate, using phenolphthalein as an indicator. The excess of carbon
dioxide is then removed by blowing air through the heated solution.
In this way a saturated soil is obtained with a slight excess of caleium
carbonate, and the replaceable bases can be readily Jetermined.
Hutchinson and MacLennan’s method, which is given below, can be
recommended as a basis for further local investigation. For a discussion
of this method, see E. M. Crowther and W. S. Martin.**
Hutchinson and MacLennan’s Method—The calcium bicarbonate is
most rapidly prepared by means of a “Sparklet”’ syphon using excess
of calcium carbonate in suspension. The contents of the syphon should
be diluted with one-third its volume of distilled water to give approxi-
mately N/50 concentration of calcium bicarbonate.
For a determination of acidity, or lime requ rement, 10-20 grms. of
the soil are placed in a bottle of 500-1,000 ml. capacity together with
200-300 ml. of the approximately N/50 solution of calcium bicarbonate,
* Kappen, H. Trans. 2nd Comm. Int. Soc. Soil Sci. B., p. 179 (1927). 4
O teat F.B. J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 26, p. 687 (1904). Journ. A.O.A.C. 3, p.372 (1920). Wiley,
p. 409 (
t Hissink, D. J. Trans. 2nd Comm. Int. Soe. Soil Sci. B. p. 186 (1927).
§ Hopkins, C.G. U.S.D.A. Bur. Chem. Bull. 107, p. 20 (1912).
|| Daikuhara. Bull. Imp. Cent. Agric. Expt. Sta., Japan, 2, p. 32 (1914).
" Zeits, f. Pil u. Dung. A. 8, Pp. 321 (1927).
** Crowther, E. M. and Martin, S. W. Journ. Agric. Sct. 15, p. 237, (1925).
51
and the air in the bottle is displaced by a current of carbon dioxide in
order to ensure against possible precipitation of the calcium carbonate
during the period of determination. The bottle is then placed in a shaking
machine for three hours, after which time it is opened, the liquid is filtered,
and a portion of the filtrate equal to half of the original amount of bicar-
bonate solution is titrated against N/10 acid, using methyl orange as
indicator. The difference between this fina] titration and that of the
initial solution represents the amount of calcium carbonate absorbed, each
milli-ltre of N/10 acid being equal to 5 mgrms. calcium carbonate.
‘ V—LABORATORY EXAMINATIONS REQUIRED FOR
SOIL SURVEYS.
The purpose of the laboratory examination in soil survey work is
as an aid to the more precise classification of the soils to be examined.
The British school relies on the geological drift maps for the field descrip-
tion of the soil followed by mechanical analysis to define the physical
texture of the soil, which has an important bearing on the suitability of
the soil for the cultivation of specific crops. British soils fall, however,
into three main international groups—
Brown woodland soils, weakly leached (podsolized),
Woodland soils, moderately leached (podsolized),
High moor or mountain soils—
and the bulk of the survey work has been confined to the agricultural
zones of the first two classes.
The international groups of soils cover a much wider range of climatic
conditions, so that chemical work is of importance in defining the group
to which any given soil belongs. H. L. Shantz and C. F. Marbut* have
criticized the British chemical data which relies on the hydrochloric
acid extract of the soil as of little value for the purpose of scil classification,
and the United States Soil Survey organization relics on complete analyses.
As the chemical characteristics of the international system are generally
related to the climatic conditions, other criteria are available, the chief
among which may be cited : soil reaction, degree of saturation of the soil
with calcium or hydrogen ions for the characterization of acid soils and
the degree of saturation with sodium for the study of “alkali” soils,
and the ultimate chemical! composition of the clay fraction with special
reference to the silica : alumina ratio and the water of constitution. This
is specially important with regard to laterite soils,t and may have an
important bearing on some of the phvsical properties of the soil such as
plasticity. -
In view of the above the essential determinations for the characteriza-
tion of a soil may be suggested as—
1. Mechanical analysis.
2. Organic matter—inciuding organic carbon, humus, and nitrogen.
3. Calcium carbonate.
4. Sor! reaction expressed as pH value.
* Soils and Vegetation of Africa. American Geographical Society. Research Series No. 13, pp
134-136 (1923).
+ Martin, F. J. Tropicai Agriculture 4, p. 165 (1927).
52
5. Analysis of the clay fraction with special reference to combined
water and silica, alumina and iron.
6, Exchangeable bases.
7. In the case of arid soils—soluble salts.
In the course of soil survey work the necessary laboratory examinations
may be classified as fellows :—
On all samples—
(1) Mechanical analysis with the implied loss on ignition and
calcium carbonate.
(2) Nitrogen.
(3) Reaction.
(4) Water soluble salts where present in sufficient amount.
On the major type samples—
(5) Replaceable bases.
(6) Analysis of the clay fraction.
(7) Lime requirement and titration curves (buffer action).
(8) Complete analysis of soluble salts.
(9) Humas (degree of humification of organic matter) and organic
carbon.
(10) Acid extractions for piant nutnents.
tn some soil types a mineralogicai examination of the fine sand fraction
may give useful information together with possibly a complete analysis
of the fractions separated by mechanica} analysis.
BY AUTHORITY :
H. J. GREEN. GOVERNMENT PRINTER, MELBOURNE
ee ‘for its Creation
eas of its ie es oa
GIBSON, F.CH., F.LS:,
SD Frc
ing a> Me
are
is
MEMBERS
Executive :
G. A. Julius, Esq., B.Sc., B.E.
xf Chairman),
‘A. C. D. Rivett, Esq., M.A., D.Sc.
(Deputy Chairman and Chief Bcecttioe Officer), ;
Professor A. EV. Richardson, M.A., D.Sc.
Chairmen of State Connmittees :
Professor R. D. ‘Watt, M.A; B.Sc.
(New South Wales),
Sir David O. Masson, K.B.E., F.R.S., &c.
(Victoria), -
Professor H. C. Richards, D.Sc.
(Queensland),
Professor T. Brailsford Robertson, Ph.D., D.Sc.,
—— ess
B. Perry, Esq. ae
(Western Australia), ee Soe
P. E. Keam, Esq.
(Tasmania).
€a-opfed Members : =e
Professor E. J. Goddard, B.A., D.Sc.,
A. E. Leighton, Esq., F.1.C.,
i vce H. A. Woodruff, M.R. CV.S., &ce.
PAMPHLET No. 9
COMMONWEALTH oe
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
A Forest Products Laboratory
for Australia
Justification for its) Creation
Outline of its Organization
and Rough Estimate of Cost
Indian Forest Service
By
1 GIBSON, | F.C.H., F.LS.,\B:ZS.
}
MELBOURNE, 1928
By Authority : H
H. J. Green, Government Printer, Melbourne
a ete
teeta =n
oS etna ete
=
PREFACE.
Since its inception, the Council has received alarge number of
requests to carry out investigations on problems relating to forest
products. It has also been urged to establish a forest products
laboratory in order to give appropriate effect to such requests.
The matter was regarded as of such importance that, some time ago,
steps were taken to obtain advice on the whole question from a highly
qualified authority. At the request of the Commonwealth, the
Government of India agreed to make available the services of Mr. A. J.
Gibson, F.C.H., F.L.S.. F.Z.S., Conservator of Forests, Bihar and
Orissa, for the purpose.
Mr. Gibson reached Australia in August, 1927, and after spending
nearly four months visiting all States of the Commonwealth, thus
becoming conversant with Australian conditions, he duly furnished a
report.
This report is printed on the pages that follow. In making it
available, the Council desires to indicate that such action does not
mean that the opinions expressed therein are its adopted views, nor that
it is intended to follow, in their entirety, the recommendations made.
C.8262.—2
DA THEA
io veal aetel 0 bovivour sat Togao! ond jeottyoont, oi
Veh Oa pititeloy ® Kaplds CT do ange row tho . Sere of
nigphore, qeexoi & neildates 44 Degraded “wala ead Oe
zinonper dare GF Jovtta ater Tong ge Athy od mba
totes) Of ) One dags sositsog inc tose io od fabiasges ey 78
Hinid a stent dedesmp alow 4c? ao gui hus iedda ir
4) Atiarwaoeimg) oft Te, tape wtf ABO?
L A 0 Yo bolus adit sifalbivn pitt of Dew’ ‘dle 7 ites
ay wait aleetoe to. eta | AAS Stas. dae 2 i, =
orig, Aaa
attache he dans
HAihiaoge 4 eatin ban HO). Jeimah at ef
ets itleswanatarc® od? to abt ig gestae ad {ont f
# hiaghaicerrr’ elieks aa Rit nro oft Why Mai LOSES
Hi) wales tl jwellot ted) eiyaqg Sad 16 bat ete ab
tos apoks colon dane) tedt, ote vibe + panied ss ha
todd att wore, bekjoba aii oie pinot ra nuneer Aeoktings HOR i te
awe cnoitabirramooe edt .tinklas reils at wollot: os Ye
Z ae. ee
ee: % :
CONTENTS:
I. Introduction oe = = op
II. Forestry and Forest Products: Their Relation
Ill. The Scientific Utilization of Forest Products :—
(a) Timber Seasoning
(6)- Timber Testing
(c) Timber Preservation .
(d) Wood Pulp and Paper
(e) Tanning Materials
(f) Oil . ,
(9) Fibres, Resins, and sia Minos Forest Pr ea
(hk) The Scientific Utilization of Lumber
IV. Organization of the Proposed Forest Products gaara
V. Cost of the Proposed Forest Products Laboratory
VI. Conclusion ..
Appendix I.
Appendix II.
Appendix ITT.
Appendix IV.
” - ,
i
a
~
- 7 f
‘SPUITVOO LiL
way é ae ’ (
Vy an \ 2 eee f oe of ? o- -* 3 e
ion . es coiteist sient ratodben tur’, ie
ae ; - etaube' uci" le \yobtandilaty 4
ae ‘ ; re sisson ry a
Mn. apo has sae besa hott
Rr. iw * Nee Xk - Je ahaealM Bales
ei a 98 ave ri ' Os |
: “jt ie cari) Monet emit else trite uiieoodh }
3 ut . 4 ~ > sedeainl to shies) vitidciotia® oe
oa Lh ss ae qrdardant adnuhoth ty i Gedo agate oft Wee 4
comtoetaad adinshored, sane hee
“A
A Forest Products Laboratory for
Australia.
Justification for its Creation, Outline of its Organization,
and Rough Estimate of its Cost.
I. INTRODUCTION.
The need for an inquiry into the subject of a Forest Products
Laboratory for Australia was foreshadowed in paragraph 13, pages 22-24,
of the Journal of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research for
August, 1927 (Vol. 1, No. 1), and as stated therein, steps were taken to
secure my services on loan from the Government of India for a period of
five months to investigate on the spot forest conditions in Australia and
the necessity or otherwise of taking up intensive scientific research into
Australian forest products and their uses. I relinquished my duties under
the Government of India on the afternoon of the 12th July, and after a
few days of preparation started for Australia on the 17th July, reaching
Fremantle on the Ist August and Sydney on the 12th August, 1927.
Appendix I. gives details of my tour. Having completed my investi-
gations, I left Fremantle on the 14th November and reached Ranchi on
the 28th November, and having completed my report, resumed my duties
under the Government of India on the afternoon of Saturday, the 10th
December, 1927.
My acknowledgments are due for the courtesy and unstinted assistance
given to me throughout my stay in Australia by Dr. Rivett and all the
officers and members of the Executive and State Committees of the
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, by Mr. C. E. Lane-Poole,
Inspector-General of Forests to the Commonwealth Government of
Australia, and by forest officers and research workers on forest products
in every State in Australia. Without this help the task set me would
have been quite meapable of accomplishment in the time at my disposal,
and even as it is I feel that I was only able to study cursorily the principal
problems in forestry and forest utilization involved, by getting an idea
of forest types, inspecting typical industries, utilizing forest products
(see Appendix II.), acquiring as much knowledge of the bibliography
concerned and getting to know as many of the research workers in forestry
and forest products throughout Australia as possible.
To the last band of workers, Australia owes a debt of gratitude.
Working generally alone, often unassisted and unguided, in cramped
surroundings, with insufficient equipment, they have produced a volume
of work which will considerably lighten the task of future workers in the
realm of forest products and their scientific investigation. But while I
gladly acknowledge the value of such work, I have to notice a great defect,
as it neutralizes to a large extent the value of the research done. I refer
to the absence of co-ordination among the States and also the Federal
C.8262.—3
38
Government in recording results and indexing literature, the outcome
being that work has overlapped and research has been carried out under
conditions which have lessened its value owing to the impossibility of
comparing the data by reason of lack of standardization in the field and
in the laboratory. This matter will be alluded to again later, and the
present reference is only made because of the tremendous bearing this
factor has on the necessity for co-ordination and classification of future
research work in forestry and forest products in Australia. Money, time,
and energy have been wasted in the past, and steps must be taken to see
that this does not re-occur.
The past history of Australian efforts to study forest products and
attempts to create a Forest Products Laboratory in the West is recorded
in the Forest Reports of Western Australia. The latter resulted in
Mr. I. H. Boas, M.Sc., of Adelaide, making a world-wide tour of forest
research institutions in 1918 to 1920 and his writing an able report.
Il. FORESTRY AND FOREST PRODUCTS: THEIR RELATION.
It is unnecessary for the purposes of this Report to go deeply into the
history of forestry in Australia, though some reference is required, as
obviously there can be no forest products research without forests.
Details are available in the forest annual reports of the various States
and in the articles on forestry in the official annual year books of the
Commonwealth Government of Australia. Mr. G. C. Robertson’s able
report on Australian forestry published in 1926, by authority of the
Government of the Union of South Africa, and entitled, ‘“ A Reconnais-
sance of the Forest Trees of Australia,” is an up-to-date account worthy
of close study.
It will consequently suffice to say here that at an interstate conference
of forestry officers a few years ago the opinion was expressed that Australia
could not do with less than 24,500,000 acres of forest permanently
dedicated to meet the timber and other forest requirements of the Greater
Australia which will some day come into being. This recommendation,
as regards area, was endorsed at a subsequent meeting of State Premiers.
The acreage is based on the forestry requirements of a population of
28,000,000 people. It is the forester’s duty to look far ahead, for the
trees do not grow in a day, and it is the duty of any responsible Govern-
ment to see that the forester’s considered recommendations are heeded
and given effect to. So far the progress in the reservation of this acreage
of forest has not been rapid or very satisfactory.
The rival claims of the Land Departments for acquiring land for
settlement and of the Forest Departments for acquiring land for per-
manent reservation as State forests have not been adequately appraised
at their respective values. The two Departments must work hand in
hand, for Australia’s future intensive agricultural and pastoral industries
are indissolubly connected with intensive forestry, and the development
of these vital primary industries, to say nothing of the ever-expanding
secondary industries, depends largely on a far-sighted policy being adopted
now in regard to the country’s forest reservations.
9
The question now arises: Why is it necessary to make scientific
investigation into forest products at all? At first sight the necessity is:
not quite clear to the lay mind, but a perusal of the following extract
from the Decennial Record of the Forest Products Laboratory, Madison,
Wisconsin, United States of America, for the period 1910-20 (published
in 1921) will show, it is hoped, the relationship between wood and human
progress in such a concise fashion that no further apologies will be required
for the rather lengthy quotation :—
Knowledge is the torch of human progress. It throws its light forward and lifts each
generation upward in the scale of civilization in proportion as that generation accepts
its standards. In the story of creation, knowledge is symbolized by a tree. Down
through the intervening ages man’s use of wood in attaining new heights of knowledge
has been one of the most important factors in the advance of civilization.
Primitive man, we are told, was dominated by the forest. But as his crude imagination
slowly awakened to the arts of life, he finally succeeded in reversing the order of his
environment by making the forests more and more serve his material needs. And in
conquering the forests, he built up the material structure of his own civilization; he
stimulated his latent consciousness of the power of civilization ; he lifted himself from a
life of savage and nomadic wandering to the social and industrial modernism of to-day.
History is rich in evidence of the achievement of human progress through knowledge
derived from wood. Man, it is held, was rescued from a state of savagery primarily by
two discoveries—the art of kindling fire at his will and the use of the bow and arrow,
which made him master of his food supply and provided him with clothing. Ages later,
the discovery of iron, with which he could fashion wood more and more to serve his needs,
appears to have been the step from barbarism to the first stages of civilization.
It would be difficult to express proper appreciation of wood as a material stimulus to
learning and the arts of living. Its ready adaptability, we can well believe, made it the
sculptor’s clay by which man tested and developed his first imaginative theories and laid
the primitive foundation of much present-day science. The origin of the principle of
the wheel, which is an essential part of almost every machine or mechanical conveyance of
our own age, is lost inantiquity, asevidenced by wooden wheels taken from the monuments
of ancient Egypt. In these same mounds are found the earliest recorded form of ploughs
made from wood, with iron-tipped wedges. With these ploughs man acquired his first
crude knowledge of extensive agriculture, and he used them, with slight modifications,
until the first half of the eighteenth century.
With wood, man learned to build homes and create architecture ; to construct ships
and master navigation ; to build bridges and develop the science of mechanics ; to generate
steam and harness its power for transportation. Modern electric and magnetic science
owes its birth to fossil resin from coniferous forests which were prehistoric when Pliny,
70 years before the dawn of Christianity, recorded the fact that amber, when rubbed,
acquired the power of attracting straws. Thus, in diverse ways, fundamental principles
have first been worked out from wood, and the knowledge thus gained—primitive though
it may now appear—has been applied in developing the use of stone, iron, steel, concrete,
and other materials. The process still goes on. Within a decade, man has conquered
the air with a wooden plane and is to-day applying the results of his experiments to the
fabrication of an all-metal machine. :
It is a striking fact that through the agency of wood, man has acquired more funda-
mental knowledge of related subjects than he has of the properties of wood itself. In the
development of his wood craft, he has been likened to the growing child who, building with
blocks, acquires an ever larger consciousness of their adaptability to new figures as
experience matures his mind. Spurred by personal needs and the rewards of commercialism,
however, man fashioned wood into many scores of standard products, about which trade-
crafts took shape and became clearly defined through many centuries of competition and
zealous individualism. He thus built up a great diversified mass of wood-using lore, based,
not upon a scientific knowledge of the many different kinds of wood used, but upon rule
of thumb methods, beliefs, customs, and prejudices, passed down from one generation to
another as expanded by the increasing complexities of each changing age.
Into this accumulated mass of trade practices, business methods, and usages built
up through the years, there was injected, even up to the beginning of our present century
little knowledge derived from pure scientific research into wood products and the wood
products industries. However, by that time certain forces were well under way that
were destined shortly to produce results and create an entirely new factor in the field of
wood-using trade methods of America, and other countries also.
10
A perusal of the above masterly synopsis will do much to dissipate the
general idea that once a tree is felled it is simply a question as between
the log-hauler, saw-miller, transporter, and the consumer to, complete
satisfactorily the cycle of operations making the timber fit for its purpose.
The next chapters will show how diverse and how far-reaching scientific
research has to be in order to make this cycle an economical as well as a
satisfactory one.
Ill. THE SCIENTIFIC UTILIZATION OF FOREST PRODUCTS.
Australia has been fortunate in having had at its disposal a large
number, and comparatively large quantities, of exceptional quality hard-
woods and also slow-growing conifers of very good quality, too. Largely
rule of thumb experience has laid down that certain hardwoods are suitable
for one purpose and others for another ; similar rough and ready methods
have decided that other hardwoods, because of certain defects, are not
fit for use either, at all, or for special purposes. In this way there has
been an exceptional demand for some hardwoods which, m some cases.
has exceeded the normal supply, with the inevitable corollary that the
supply is diminishing and is leading to the rapid extinction of many a
species of timber. The demand for conifers has been universally in excess
of the normal supply. Notable examples are, the hoop pine of Queensland,
of which there remains roughly twelve years’ supply, various indigenous
pines of Tasmania, and such timbers as the tallow wood of New South
Wales and the turpentine of New South Wales, and silky oak of Queens-
land ; among other hardwoods, the red cedar of Queensland, the blue gum
and blackwood of Tasmania, and the mountain ash of Victoria should
also be mentioned, while the jarrah and karri forests of Western Australia
will inevitably cease to exist as important sources of timber supply within
a generation from now unless the annual cut is limited very soon to the
scientifically calculated supply available. In Australia, overcutting
generally is the rule rather than the exception, and consequently the
approaching crisis is very real and urgent, for it strikes at the very root
of the nation’s existence.
It is thus quite clear that scientific forestry and scientific research into
forest utilization must start work hand in hand at once to bring about a
more stable state of affairs. Scientific forestry will assure to the consumer
a steady supply of the forest products required, while scientific research
into forest utilization will help to eliminate waste, insure that the forests
products reach the consumer in the best marketable form, and that as
many forest products as possible are put on to the market as demands
arise or are developed. It is useless for an expanding country like Aus-
tralia to look for a permanent supply of forest products, that is mainly
timber, from overseas. Practically every country in the world is faced
with the problem of conserving its own timber resources and making as
economical use as possible of available supplies or of increasing them.
Consequently, the details that follow are simply the logical outcome of a
review of Australia’s problems in forestry with special reference to forest
utilization.
ll
(a) Timber Seasoning.
Nearly one-half of the timber cut annually is for structural use. The
use of green timber for this purpose is unsound, and hence the question
of timber seasoning is perhaps the most important problem in forest
utilization awaiting scientific solution in Australia to-day ; for apart from
the fact that green timber is liable to insect and fungus attack, to warping,
checking and cracking, the use of such timber in structural work involves
the use of timber of heavier section than in the case of seasoned timber,
because of the lower mechanical strength of the former, which. of course,
isuneconomical. Thisis amply borne out by actual tests made in Australia
and elsewhere, and when it is realized that a saving of 25 per cent. or more
in the amount of timber used can be at once attained by the utilization
of properly seasoned timber, the importance of the matter becomes still
more apparent.
In the case of the larger timber concerns supplying the cities and towns
of Australia and meeting the overseas demand, the matter has received
attention, and the proper stacking of timber in the open and under cover
and air-seasoning it up to a period of two years is largely practised by
such concerns. The monetary loss involved to the country, however, in
tying up capital in this way is very great. One timber yard visited by
me had over 12 million feet super. in stock and had to hold this stock for
two years before realizing its value at, say, 30s. per hundred super. feet,
or £180,000 sterling.
At a low estimate not less than 200 million feet super. of hardwoods
are being air-seasoned annually in Australia; and. calculated as above, the
capital tied up would be no less than £3,000,000. This is where artificial
seasoning methods, ordinarily known as kiln seasoning, have their great
advantage, for a preliminary short period of air-seasoning, followed by a
still shorter period of artificial seasoning, covering in all a period of from
six to twelve weeks, will, in skilled hands and with the proper type of
kiln, and adequate temperature, moisture and ventilation controls, do the
work which natural methods can only accomplish in 24 months, or eight
times as long. The saving to the timber industry in general and to the
consumer in particular is thus very considerable.
So far scientific research into artificial seasoning methods has been
carried out principally in Western Australia by the Forests Department ;
in South Australia by private agency ; in Victoria by private agency, the
Forests Commission, and the Defence authorities; and in New South
Wales by private agency. Originally, experimental work was based
largely on the methods advocated by Mr. H. Tiemann, United States of
America, after a personal visit to Australia a few years ago, and later,
modifications and developments were introduced to meet local difficulties.
The result has been the patenting of half a dozen methods or more, all of
which have their good points, but which are not all based on either a
comprehensive or deeply scientific preliminary study of the factors
involved.
The whole subject of artificial seasoning requires thorough scientific
investigation, involving much experimental work and labour. No two
species of hardwoods or even softwoods are likely to respond to the same
schedule of treatment, and it may be assumed straight away that every
12
timber species in Australia will have to have its artificial seasoning method
worked out. Combined with the study of the factors directly influencing
artificial seasoning should be a careful investigation of the micro-structure
of the timber concerned, and with this must be taken into consideration
the forest conditions under which the particular timber has been grown.
The last point will be referred to again when the question of timber-
testing comes under review. But as the solution of problems such as the
“brash ” fracture of the heartwood timber of some eucalypts, with the
consequent rejection and waste of the centres of each log, the existence
of “ pipes,” the exact age at which a tree’s timber becomes “ mature ”
for all practical purposes, and the variations in strength and behaviour of
timber from different parts of the same tree, depends on the determination
of the relative values of these factors and the bearing of each on the
problem as a whole, the study of timber physics is evidently as important
as the study of the narrower field of timber mechanics.
It is well within the realm of possibility that research into the factors
of the rate of growth of the young eucalypt, in other words the density of
the crop in the early stages of development of the tree, will have far-
reaching results on the baffling problem of the deterioration of the heart-
wood timber, though bush fires alone might account for this, in part or
in whole. Again, though several attempts have been made, no really
satisfactory key to the Australian hardwoods, based on the micro-
characteristics of their wood, has come to my notice, or is, I believe, in
existence.
There appears to be little doubt that the interest alone on the capital
now tied up in the air-seasoning of Australian hardwoods will fully meet
the cost of building artificial seasoning kilns at the principal centres of
consumption in Australia, once intensive and centralized scientific
investigation has shown how this can be done efficiently and economically.
At present the cost of artificial seasoning, owing to the small scale on
which it is practised, is high, and, besides, prejudice against the method
is strong and is partly justified by the uneven results obtained in the past,
which in its turn is due to faulty lines of investigation and application of
methods based on unsound or insufficiently studied principles.
The work to be done has to be done well, and therefore has to be carried
out by experts with long years of experience behind them. While such
experts are at work, Australian research workers can be learning, and after
three or four years will be fully equipped to carry on. This policy has
been pursued in India with signal success.
The policy obviously involves centralized research work, to which, as
regards timber seasoning research, exception may be taken on the grounds
of the influence of varying climatic conditions under which the timber
will be used. This influence, however, is not likely to prove important,
as research principally in America has established the existence of a point,
now called the “fibre saturation point,” beyond which the amount of
moisture does not affect either the strength or shrinkage of timber. This
basic information (vide “ The Decennial Record of the Forest Products
Laboratory, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America, 19217’) is
now in constant use in all studies of the mechanical and physical pro-
perties of wood.
13
(6) Timber Testing.
Before the problem of selecting Australian woods suitable for specific
purposes can be solved, a very careful and detailed investigation into the
physical characteristics of Australian timbers has to be gone into. Con-
siderable, and in some cases, notable work has been done in investigating
the mechanical properties of certain Australian woods by various workers.
The most thoughtful of the papers I have seen is that by Mr. J. M. West,
B.Ag.Sc., A.A.C.I., issued departmentally as “ Technical Paper No. 21,”
by the Department of Defence, Commonwealth Government of Australia,
in September, 1924.
Mr. West, in his paper, commented on the absence of any reliable
comparative data on Australian timbers, particularly in connexion with
their physical and mechanical properties. He, therefore, gave considerable
attention to finding suitable means for collecting and recording information
according to a systematic plan, so that the results obtained would be
comparable and would be available as a basis for sound judgment on the
relative merits of timbers for given purposes. He goes on to say—“ The
principle involved is universally accepted, is applied in practice in the
United States of America, and is being adopted in Britain and other
countries. It is considered essential that a similar plan of investigation
be adopted in Australia for the control and guidance of the industries which
will be depended upon to fill requirements.” He continues—‘“‘The scheme
outlined for determining the physical characteristics of Australian timbers
is along the lines laid down by the Forest Products Laboratory, Madison ,
United States of America, as set out in the tentative standards of the
American Society for Testing Materials, 1923.” The paper setting out
those tentative standards is, in my opinion, of such importance that it
is reproduced at the end of my report as Appendix III.*
Mr. West’s paper only deals with the investigation of the physical
characteristics of Australian timbers, but other aspects of the problem are
correctly indicated by him as being the study of economical methods of
seasoning already referred to by me in Section III. (a), and methods of
preservation of timber which forms Section III. (c) of my report. As
already stated, Appendix III. describes, in full, the provisional scheme
of testing small, clear specimens of timber as applied in America and
other countries, and I agree with Mr. West that this scheme in its standard
form is eminently suitable for adoption in Australia. He continues his
cogent remarks on the subject as follows :—
To carry out satisfactorily the necessary programme, provision is required for :—
Selection and felling of trees.
Transport of logs.
Breaking down logs.
Preparation of test pieces.
Testing of green and air-seasoned specimens.
No Federal or State Department has the organization and equipment necessary for
the work. It is feasible, though inconvenient, to organize and carry out a programme on
the above lines by co-ordination of existing facilities, provided that one of the co-ordinat-
ing Departments is in a position to undertake the supervision of the work and suitable
arrangements as to the provision of funds can be made.
* The printing of this Appendix in this present publication has been considered unnecessary.
14
A possible allotment of the work among the various Departments is as follows :—
The State Forestry Commissions at present are able to supply timber for testing, and
have the necessary staff and organizations to provide for the selection, felling, and trans-
port of logs. Logs can be broken down and test pieces prepared in either private or
Government mills and woodworking shops. The equipment installed at the Research
Laboratories, Maribyrnong, and the 8.A.A.F.* is suitable for carrying out most of the
chemical and physical tests, the only additional plant required being an impact machine
(Hatt-Turner type) and a number of special timber-testing grips and tools.
The computing, analyzing, and recording of the results involves a large amount of work
and could be carried out by a special staff attached to the Research Laboratories, or the
timber investigation section of the Institute of Science and Industry,j or other body.
Any project carried out on the above lines, to be successful, must be directed and
supervised by one of the co-operating institutions.”
These remarks indicate the necessity for centralizing this type of work,
and a reference to Appendix III. shows what very responsible work
devolves on the Forestry Departments in the selection and transportation
of timber for testing. At present, as already stated, timber-testing of
different degrees of intensity is carried out at many centres in Australia.
It is not surprising, however, that a defective bibliography on the subject
and lack of co-operation between the departments or bodies concerned
led to the production of a mass of data which are not as valuable as they
might have been.
The inauguration of a programme of research into timber physics on
a comprehensive scale in Australia is of paramount importance, not only
in order to utilize to the fullest extent the timbers of the country, but
also to make it possible to formulate grading rules for the utilization of
the timbers and the compilation of tables of working stresses, both of
which are likely to result in considerable economy and savings in struc-
tural works. Anything that tends to the more economical use of timbers
on account of definite data of strength, &c., beimg made available for the
use of the architect, the engineer, and municipal authorities and other
bodies, and the possibility of using the lower grades of timber for purposes
such as wall joists, where the stiffness rather than the strength of the
timber is the principal consideration, is a matter of public importance
and will justify a considerable outlay on centralized research in order to
attam these objects. (For a fuller exposition of the matter, see pages
15-16 of the Development of India’s Forest Resources—Government
of India Central Publication Branch—1923, to which publication I am
indebted for a summary of the relevant arguments). The work done at
the Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, United States of America,
and the Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun, U.P., India, amply bears
out this contention.
A great necessity in Australia to-day is the cheapening of the cost of
the construction of homes and the above scientific inquiry will have a
direct and favorable bearing on the question.
Timber testing is not, however, restricted to the testing of structural
timber. Definite and detailed knowledge of the mechanical properties of
different woods makes it possible to effect savings in the construction of
fruit-boxes, butter-boxes, crates, and shipping containers of various kinds.
These forms of utilization account for a very considerable proportion of
* Small Arms Ammunition Factory, Footscray, Melbourne.
+t Now the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.
15
the total consumption of timber in most countries, and in Australia will
probably represent more than the average because of her large and ex-
panding primary industries, such as fruit-growing, dairying produce, and
so forth. Well-considered designs, having due regard to the proper
balance of a container, often lead to savings in the dimensions of the
various wooden parts which would, in the aggregate, result in the use of
as much as 25 to 50 per cent. less timber, according to American figures.
To illustrate further the extent of the field of research in timber-testing ,
I again quote from the Decennial Record of the Forest Products Labora-
tory, Madison, United States of America, as follows :—
Other profitable fields are those involving the development of built-up trusses, thus
making possible the utilization of low grade lumber ; the development of joints and fasten-
ings in timber construction ; the effect of growth conditions on the properties of wood,
and especially the determination of the differences in the mechanical properties of the
second growth timber now coming to merchantable size, and upon which the industries
will be more and more dependent ; the development of laminated construction permitting
greater utilization of small-sized and low-grade material ; comprehensive tests on full-
sized timbers used as columns for building construction ; the standardization of building
codes so that each species will be given its proper place, based upon its true mechanical
value, thus avoiding the large waste now resulting from the inefficient selection and
utilization of material.
(c) Timber Preservation.
With the possible exception of the havoc caused to timber by forest
fires, the decay and destruction of timber by reason of fungus, insect,
and marine borer attacks, probably accounts for the largest items of
preventable waste in the timber bill of any country. Were scientific
research, by means of chemical timber preservation, able to prolong the
life of Australia’s railway sleepers, mine timbers, wharf and bridge piling,
bridge timbers, posts, poles, &c., even by a year or two, the total annual
saving to the country would run into a very large figure indeed.
But that is only one side of the case. The preservative treatment of
timber would result in the utilization of species of wood which are at
present not durable in contact with soil, water, &c. Not only would this
lead to a greater use of Australia’s forest resources, but it would liberate
many a fine hardwood, such as jarrah, for its legitimate use as one of the
best structural and cabinet woods in the world and save it from its present
ignominious utilization as railway sleepers in Australia and overseas ; a
truly short-sighted policy, for timbers of the quality of jarrah are not
many in the world, and the quantity available is limited. The change
cannot be effected in a day because of the trade interests involved, but it
should be borne in mind and brought into effect as soon as possible. The
task will be a fairly easy one, for Australia now fully realizes her weakness
in regard to softwood supplies, with the result that plantations of suitable
pines are springing up in nearly every State with a rapidity which is all
to the credit of the more far-seeing forestry authorities concerned. Those
pine plantations, combined with proper systems of preservative treatment
of their timber, will give to Australia an ever-increasing supply of pit-
props, posts, poles, and railway sleepers, for which at present valuable
hardwoods are employed.
16
With the exception of Western Australia, where the Powellizing
system of timber preservation has been practised for many years, very
little has been done in this line of research, though some experiments in
creosoting sleepers carried out at the University of Adelaide deserve
mention. The field of research is again a wide one, and a properly equipped
timber preservation laboratory, fitted with open tanks and also modern
pressure cylinders, so devised as to obtain full control of temperature,
vacuum, and pressure will, in the course of a year or two, indicate the best
systems of timber preservation for the numerous species of Australian
hardwoods and softwoods requiring investigation. Here, as in the case
of timber seasoning, it is more than probable that every timber will
require its own definite schedule of preservative treatment worked out.
And here, again, the work is work for experts having years of experience
behind them.
In the matter of preservative agents Australia appears to be favorably
situated, for in its coal mines and gasworks it has a large potential supply
of the universal preservative for timber, namely, creosote. The Forests
Department in Western Australia is just putting into commercial appli-
cation a new system of boiling timber by the open-tank method in a
solution in which sodium fluoride and arsenic are the principal ingredients.
The system has been patented under the name of “ fluarizing,” and has
every prospect of success in localities not subject to excessive rainfall.
Once scientific research has demonstrated the applicability of any
preservative treatment the next step is experiments on a semi-
commercial scale, and the final stage is its application as a commercial
proposition. Close co-operation between the scientific worker and the
consumer, principally the railways, throughout the duration of the work
is an important factor in success. In this way, in the course of a few
years, Australia will be in a position to fight that great source of waste
in her timber utilization, namely, natural decay of timber.
(2) Wood Pulp and Paper.
The feasibility of manufacturing pulp and paper from Australian
woods has been a matter of considerable research in Australia, and
forms the subject of the Institute of Science and Industry’s Bulletin
No. 19 of 1921, ‘“‘ Wood Waste,” by Mr. I. H. Boas, M.Sc. ; of the same
Institute’s Bulletin No. 25 of 1923, “The Manufacture of Pulp and
Paper from Australian Woods,” by L. R. Benjamin; of the Council for
Scientific and Industrial Research’s Bulletin No. 31 of 1927, “ Newsprint,”
by the same author; while an account is also given on pages 22 and 23
of the Journal of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
for August, 1927 (Vol. 1, No. 1) regarding what has been done up to
that date.
Laboratory experiments have been successful, and it is not unlikely
that the manufacture of paper from young eucalypts in Tasmania will
take commercial shape within a year or two, while the experimental
manufacture of kraft paper on a semi-commercial scale from the young
timber of the Monterey pine, also known as Pinus insignis or radiata,
in specially designed plant, erected by Mr. L. R. Benjamin under the
17
auspices of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, in a
Sydney paper-mill, is likely to be a success. Should this prove to be
the case there will be a market for the thinning wood from the many
thousands of acres of plantations of Pinus insignis and other planted
pines in South Australia and elsewhere. The scientific experimental
work so well begun has to be continued, for so far only a very few
species of timber, comparatively speaking, have been tested, while the
number available is very large. Again, experiments have borne only
on the timber from trees, while the waste from the saw-mills has not
been studied at all. When it is realized that under methods of
conversion as practised in Australia, barely 40 per cent. of the tree
reaches the consumer after it has passed through the saw-mill process,
the necessity for finding a use for this great source of waste now burnt
on the mill’s fire chutes is readily understandable.
Australia consumes a great deal of paper, and if even a part of the
imported quantity is manufactured in Australia itself the economic
benefits to the country will be considerable. Scientific research in the
past has solved the problem in part; there is no reason to doubt that
scientific research in the future will solve the problem in whole.
(e) Tanning Materials.
Research into tanning materials has been the subject of closer
scientific work perhaps than on any otherforest product in Australia. For
this, the country is indebted to the Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research, and their Bulletin No. 32,“ A Survey of the Tanning Materials
of Australia,” by D. Coghill, 1927, gives a most interesting account of
what has been done.
Australia possesses a large quantity of trees yielding barks rich in
tannin. The scattered distribution of the trees caused the cost of
collection in some cases to be too high to be able to compete in the
world’s markets, with the result that the black wattle industry in the
course of years was gradually transferred from Australia to South
Africa, with the rather peculiar further result that Australia is importing
black wattle bark from South Africa to meet her own requirements.
Similarly, the demand for mallet bark from Western Australia led to
the virtual extermination of this species of eucalypt, with the result
that in a few years’ time the value of this export industry dwindled
from £150,000 a year to a bare £15,000. The Western Australian
forestry authorities have now taken the matter up. and in the course
of time concentrated plantations of mallet will, it is hoped, restore to
that State this profitable industry.
Combined with the production of tanning bark, is the question of
the preparation of tannin extracts. Here‘again the Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research is to be congratulated on its progressive policy,
for an up-to-date tannin extract plant on a semi-commercial scale is in
course of erection in the grounds of the University of Perth, Western
Australia, which on completion will be devoted to the study of tannin
extracts from various eucalypt barks and the barks of other species of
trees. A promising local source of supply of raw material is the waste
18
bark from the logs in the saw-mills utilizing karri timber. Another
possible source is the waste bark after the fibre has been extracted from
certain stringy barks in Victoria, where in Melbourne a company is
already in being for extracting such fibre for upholstery and so on.
From the foregomg it may be concluded that this realm of forest
utilization research is safely launched. All that is required in the future
is to continue the research until every economic source of supply in
Australia has been tested out in regard to its commercial possibilities.
Provided the price is right, the world’s markets will be able to absorb
the supply.
The cost of collection of the raw material is perhaps the most difficult
of the problems awaiting solution. It is here that the Forestry
Departments can assist. To cheapen the cost of collection the tanning
bark-producing trees must ke grown in concentrated form, that is to
say, in plantations, and barking machinery must be employed. As
regards the latter there are already suitable, easily portable machines
on the market, and they are being employed with success in the States
of South Australia and Victoria.
(f) Oil.
Until recently, Australia held a monopoly in the production of one
series of oils, namely, eucalyptus oils, but in recent years competition
has arisen in India, South Africa, and, I believe, in California.
Considerable research work has been done in Australia on the subject
of the distillation of eucalyptus oil and the commercial constituents of
these oils, the publication of Messrs. Baker and Smith being the most
notable on the subject, while excellent work is being done in the
laboratory of the Technological Museum in Sydney, New South “Wales,
by Mr. Penfold and his assistants. The Forests Commission in Victoria
has an eucalyptus oil-distillation plant at Wellsford, near Bendigo, and
this venture is proving a profitable investment.
Future research appears to lie in solving the problems of efficient
and cheap distillation on a commercial scale, the isolation in the crude
oil of fractions or constituents of special value in chemical industries,
and a further study of the possibility of the economical preparation of
synthetics such as menthol and thymol, &c., from the oil or its
fractions.
Eugenol has been obtained by the steam distillation of chips of wood
of the Huon pine of Tasmania, and experimental work on this subject
has been done by Messrs. Baker and Smith and published in their book
on the indigenous pines of Australia. The matter appears to be of
academic value only, as the quantity of Huon pine timber available is
not very large, but as eugenol may be a base for synthetic vanillin, it
may be worth considering further.
But both in value and importance the distillation of sandalwood oil
from the sandalwood tree of Western Australia and the western border
of South Australia is by far the most important oil industry connected
with a forest product in Australia. The wood is being distilled for its
19
oil on a large scale by a private firm in Perth, Western Australia, and
though the oil is chemically and physically different from the Indian
sandalwood oil, therapeutically it is said to be identical. A large
quantity of the oil is used in the perfumery and toilet soap industries.
In the time at my disposal I was not able to make further inquiries
into possible sources of essential, edible, and other oil supplies from
forest trees, &c., and this will be an investigation which will require
the close attention of the minor forest products section of the Forest
Products Laboratory, Australia, when created.
(g) Fibres, Resins, and Other Minor Forest Produce.
Lack of time made it impossible for me to carry out any detailed
investigation into the field of minor forest products such as fibres,
resins, and so forth.
The enterprise of a Melbourne firm in starting a factory for the
extraction of the fibre from the bark of various stringybark eucalypts
has already been mentioned. The fibre appears to be a fair substitute
for coir and is being used for upholstery and so on.
Those interesting trees the black boy (Xanthorrhoea species) and the
grass tree (Kingia species) which, at first sight, would appear to be
quite useless, are potential sources of supply of a resin and coarse fibre
which have been exploited to some extent, but require further investiga-
tion and propaganda work to get them used more extensively in the
industries of Australia.
It has been the experience in forest products laboratories elsewhere
in the world that inquiries and subjects for investigation spring up with
astonishing rapidity after the creation of such laboratories. In India,
the economic branch of the Forest Research Institute began work with
one section only, but not many years elapsed before it was necessary
to have a whole-time officer for investigating minor forest products.
This will no doubt be also the case in Australia. Such industrial
ventures as the preparation of power alcohol from wood and sawdust
(see Bulletin No. 33 of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research,
“The Possibilities of Power Alcohol, and Certain Other Fuels in
Australia,’ by Mr. G. A. Cook, M.Sc., B.M.E., 1927) and the use of
charcoal for making gas in producer gas-plants for internal combustion
engines are only two of many such matters which should be taken up
as opportunity offers.
(h) The Scientiic Utilization of Lumber.
The concluding remarks of the preceding paragraph apply still more
cogently to what I have entitled the scientific utilization of lumber.
A wide subject, covering such questions as the proper season for felling
the tree, the best methods of handling the logs, the most efficient
methods of cutting up the logs, the utilization of the timber in the
veneer, three-ply, turnery and cooperage industries with all their
ramifications, the study of the derived products of wood, and industrial
investigations in manufactories employing timber, which may be grouped
20
under the head of the technical study of the efficiency of wood conversion
processes. A vast field indeed, where activities are limited solely by the
adequacy of the organization set up for its disposal.
The secondary wood-using industries alone consume a large quantity
of timber annually, and, as in America, the study of the dimension-
stock problem may have far-reaching results. The present practice in
Australia is to cut up the logs in small mills close to the forests into
more or less standard timber sizes and to send the latter to centres
where the wood using factories, &c., are situated. There the timber
is again cut up to its ultimate required dimensions. The waste is
obviously enormous. To illustrate the point: a considerable amount
of timber is required for bending purposes in the construction of motor
bodies and agricultural machinery. The timber to be used economically
has to be cut tangentially. Now, were that timber required for furniture
or joinery work, the timber would have to be cut radially, that is, on
the quarter. The problem will require long and accurate studies to
determine the most eflicient processes by which the standing tree can be
converted into the dimension standards required by the wood-using
industries. Until this problem has been seriously tackled it appears
to be wise to restrict the activities of the bush mills to the cutting of
large flitches of timber, known sometimes as “junk” timber, to
transport these to centres of consumption and have them there cut
up by the wood-using industries concerned to meet specialized
requirements.
It is difficult to estimate the saving to Australia by the adoption of
such methods, but the opinion may safely be expressed that in the
aggregate the saving annually will pay for the personnel of the projected
forest products laboratory for Australia many times over.
IV. ORGANIZATION OF THE PROPOSED FOREST PRODUCTS
LABORATORY.
A perusal of the preceding sections will have shown the close
connexion throughout in the work of the Forestry Departments in
Australia and the proposed Forest Products Laboratory. That such
a laboratory is necessary is clearly established, it is held, by the
arguments contained in my Report. No progress can be expected in
the development and full realization of the value of Australia’s forest
estate except by close research in a laboratory fully equipped for the
purpose. In order to get results quickly, and also in order to eliminate
that costly method of getting results of sorts by a process of trial and
error, I have indicated on more than one occasion in the Report that
the work to be done is largely work for experts. Once these experts
have started and thoroughly organized research in their respective
branches, the Australian research workers who have been trained in the
meantime will be able to take up the research and bring it to
successful fruition. It follows that research into forest products will
have to be centralized in order to obtain the best results from the
employment of experts. If this argument is accepted the locality for
the proposed Forest Products Laboratory for Australia will be Canberra,
21
the Federal Capital, where there is already a Forestry School teaching
forestry to Australian students from all the States. Land is available
in the plantations around the Forestry School, and the possible sites
have been seen by me.
As regards organization, I hold that as it is impossible to dissociate
advanced forestry from advanced utilization, and as all the forests of
Australia are the property of the Crown and are being worked either
by the State or by timber concerns on leases, licences, and permits, the
administrative authority over the forest products laboratory should be
combined in one and the same person or Department as that having
administrative authority over the Forestry School and the proposed
Forestry Bureau, regarding which a Bill is now before the Federal Houses
of Parliament. A chart showing my tentative ideas on the subject of
a suitable organization forms Appendix IV. to this Report.
Centralization of forest products research will enable all work of
this nature, now going on in the States, to be closed down, and it may
be possible to make use not only of the equipment thus liberated, but
also of some of the staff, if considered qualified. Once the organization
of the Forest Products Laboratory is in full working order I consider that
all such work elsewhere in Australia must be closed down. Any other
course means loss of energy, time, and money.
Centralization of forest products research may meet with some
opposition in the States, for the argument has already been advanced
that the Federal Capital Territory is so remote from some of the States
that their problems will not receive adequate attention. This will not
be the case. A reference to the chart will show that the advisory
functions of the Inspector-General of Forests in regard to State forestry
may be considerably developed should the States so wish it. In my
opinion, the States would be ill-advised to refuse such assistance. In
India close co-operation between the Government of India and the
Provinces in their forest policy has resulted in the formation of a forest
estate second to none in the British Empire. There is no reason why
Australia should not follow suit.
As regards the actual programme of research work to be taken up
at the Forest Products Laboratory, I suggest the adoption of the plan
followed in India, namely, that a Board of Forestry should be formed
and meet triennially in order to decide on the triennial programme of
research to be carried out at Canberra. The Board should consist of
the head of each State Forestry Department, a member of the Council
for Scientific and Industrial Research, and representatives of the timber
industries, limited to one for each State. The Inspector-General of
Forests to the Commonwealth Government of Australia would be
ex-officio Chairman, with the Director of the Forest Products Laboratory
as Secretary.
The gross revenue of the Forest Departments in Australia is nearing
the £1,000,000 mark. When the full 24,500,000 acres of forest land
has been dedicated as permanent State forests, and is worked on
scientific principles, the revenue will increase at least tenfold. This
figure is significant and should be borne in mind when the question of
costs is discussed in the next section.
22
V. COST OF THE PROPOSED FOREST PRODUCTS
LABORATORY.
Only very rough figures can be given in regard to the capital cost
of building and equipping a Forest Products Laboratory. The design
of the building should be strictly utilitarian, and I suggest that the
Defence Laboratories at Maribyrnong, Victoria, may be accepted as
suitable in regard to architectural and engineering design. I propose
to give only the plinth or superficial area required by each section or
branch of the Forest Products Laboratory. For the Timber Testing
Section an area of 100 feet x 40 feet, 1.e., 4,000 square feet, should prove
adequate.
The Timber Seasoning Section will require the same area to start
with, namely, 4,000 square feet. Timber Preservation can do with a
little less, and an allowance of 3,000 square feet should prove ample.
The Timber Utilization Branch will comprise the necessary offices,
records room, and sectional library with an allowance of 3,000 square
feet should suffice to start with. The Chemical and Minor Forest
Products Section (which also includes provision for a Forest Products
Museum, if the Forestry School cannot house it) can also be accom-
modated in 3,000 square feet of area. That makes in all 17,000 square
feet. The buildings need not have a clear height of more than 15 feet. _
Allowing £1 per square foot, the main buildings of the Forests Products
Laboratory would cost £17,000. In addition, outhouses and store sheds
for timber, for stores, &c., built in a cheap way, will take some 8,000
square feet, which at 10s. per square foot would cost £4,000.
The total cost of the buildings would, therefore, be £21,000 or,
allowing for contingencies such as the laying out of the grounds of the
laboratory, the roads, and the necessary connexions for gas, electricity,
water, and sewerage, say, £25,000.
The question of the cost of equipment is also difficult, because I
have no data of the actual cost of machinery, chemicals, and so forth
in Australia. Besides, as stated in the preceding section, a certain
amount of equipment may be available secondhand by reason of the
closing down of institutions, in part or in whole, where investigations
into forest products are now being carried out. In giving the figures
I also assume that the tannin extract plant just completed in the grounds
of the University of Western Australia will remain there for the time
being. :
The most expensive part of the equipment of the Forest Products
Laboratory will be the Timber Testing and Timber Physics Branch.
I have allowed a lump sum of £8,000 for the purpose, which figure is
based on some data obtained from the Defence Laboratories near
Melbourne. Timber seasoning, too, is costly; but, to start with, the
battery of kilns required should not cost more than £3,000. The
equipping of the Timber Preservation Section will cost £5,000, based
on the experience of the Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun, India.
The Utilization Branch should not cost very much, and to start with
£1,500 should meet the cost. The Chemistry and Minor Products
Branch may cost up to £3,000 to equip. Gas, electricity, water, and
23
miscellaneous permanent fittings may be put at another £2,000, making
a total of £22,500. Allowing £1,500 for contingencies and unforeseen
items, the total cost will come to £24,000; that is to say, the whole
capital cost will be £49,000.
The next question to be considered is that of the personnel. To
start with, experts from abroad will be required to take charge of the
_ branches of Timber Testing, Timber Seasoning, and Timber Preservation,
on short agreements of, say, three years, on terms to be arranged.
My estimate of the cost of the personnel is based on the rates of pay
to be given when the whole staff is recruited in Australia. The list is
as follows :—
One Director of the Forest Products Laboratory, at
£1,200 per annum £1,200
One Officer in Charge, Timber Testing, at £800 per
annum 800
Two Assistants, at £400 per. annum each 12 ae 800
One Mechanic, at £300 per annum .. i ne 300
One Carpenter, at £300 per annum .. 300
One Officer in Charge, Timber Sige ls at £800 pet
annum 800
One Mechanic. at £300 per annum .. 300
One Officer in Charge, Timber Preservation, at £800 per
annum a ; 800
One Assistant, at £400 per annum .. 8 = 400
One Mechanic, at £300 per annum .. ae ry 300
One Chief Clerk, at £500 per annum 4 = 500
Two Computors, at £450 per annum me ip 900
One Filing Clerk, at £400 per annum o% fe 400
Two Typists, at £250 per annum each Fre if 500
One Chemist, at £600 per annum .. zr 600
One Laboratory Assistant, at £400 per annum 400
One Museum Curator and Librarian, at £500 per annum = 500
Two Handy Men, at £300 per annum each .. iF 600
Per annum... .. £10,400
The annual maintenance of grounds, buildings, and plant may cost
£3,000. The cost of chemicals, creosote, stores, &c. annually may be
put at about £1,500. The library and museum and office maintenance
charges are estimated at £1,000. Travelling and other allowances of
staff are estimated at £1,500, while contingencies may absorb £1,600, or
a total for personnel and maintenance of £19,000 per annum. If the
housing of the staff has to be undertaken by Government the estimates
have to be increased to meet such cost. But as rent for the houses
will be recovered, it is open to question whether this head of expenditure
should be debited to the capital cost of the project.
It is held that at the cost specified, or even at a cost considerably in
excess, the project is worth inaugurating, because of the many benefits
which will result-to Anstralia.
24
VI. CONCLUSION.
What remains to be said can be said in a few words. It is my firm
conviction that Australia and Australians are destined to take a high
place in the development of the British Empire. If they do not, it
will not be the fault of the country and its vast actual and potential
wealth, in which Australian forests is a significant item. If they do,
her forests and the role to be played by her forests in this development
will be appreciated at their right value. There is already a strong
current of public opinion in favour of a more progressive forest policy,
in which policy the fighting and prevention of bush fires is definitely
the most important step. Public consciousness is also awakening to
the fact that all is not well in regard to Australia’s future timber
supplies. My report and the experience of scientific workers in forest
utilization throughout the world show what has to be done. The doing
of it, however, is the duty and responsibility of the representatives of
the people, Australia’s legislators.
12th July ..
13th to 23rd July
24th July to Ist
August
2nd to 12th August
13th August ):
14th to 16th August
17th August me
18th and 19th Augus
20th to 25th August
26th to 31st August
Ist September +
2nd to 7th September
8th to 11th September
12th to 16th Septem-
ber
17th September...
18th to 20th Septem-
ber
21st September
22nd September to
5th October
6th October
7th October
8th to 10th October
llth to 12th October
13th October
14th and 15th October
16th October
17th and 18th October
19th October
20th and 21st October
22nd October
23rd October -
24th to 26th October
27th to 29th October
25
APPENDIX I.
DETAILS OF TOURS.
(12th July to 10th December, 1927.)
Made over charge of my duties under the Government of India
in the afternoon.
Preparation and in transit to Colombo.
In transit—Colombo to Fremantle.
In transit by sea via Adelaide, Melbourne to Sydney, meeting
forest officers and officers of the Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research at the ports.
Sydney—visited Technological Museum.
Sydney to Canberra and back to see the Inspector-General of
Forests and inspect Forestry School, &c.
Round Sydney—saw types of forests.
Sydney to Brisbane.
In Brisbane, seeing local forest industries and institutions,
meeting forest officers and officials of the State Committee of
the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.
A motor tour via Yarraman and Maryborough to see hoop pine
forests and mills, with a trip to Fraser Island and back to
see forest types.
In Brisbane, interviews with State officials, &c.
A motor tour along the north coastal region of New South Wales
to see forest types and forest industries.
Rail and motor tour round Narrabri, New South Wales, to see
forest types and industries.
In Sydney, visiting many industries consuming wood. By rail
to Melbourne on evening of 16th September.
Reached Melbourne.
In Melbourne, visiting State Forestry officials, and working in
the offices of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.
Left for Launceston, Tasmania.
An extensive tour in Tasmania, seeing all types of forests on
the north, north-east, north-west, and west coasts, and part
of the interior; also visited many industries, and seeing
State Ministers and prominent officials.
Left Launceston for Melbourne.
Reached Melbourne. Worked in the offices of the Council for
Scientific and Industrial Research.
In Melbourne and around, visiting forest types and industries.
A motor tour to the mountain ash areas around Warburton,
and also the big saw-mills there, &c.
In Melbourne, seeing Defence Laboratories at Maribyrnong and
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Laboratories
at Brunswick.
A motor tour from Melbourne to see plantation areas and Forest
School at Creswick, and plantations at Anglesea.
A motor trip to Mount Macedon and back to see pine planta-
tions.
In Melbourne, visiting industries and seeing prominent officials.
A motor trip to Powelltown and back to see forest types and
large saw-mills, &c.
Motor tour and train journey to Bendigo and back to see forest
types, eucalyptus oil industry, and other forest industries.
In Melbourne, seeing local forest industries.
Sunday—In Melbourne.
By train and car from Melbourne to Mount Gambier and
Naracoorte, and on to Adelaide, seeing all the extensive pine
plantations en route.
Visiting important forest industries in Adelaide and around,
and also seeing forest types in the vicinity of Adelaide; also,
seeing important members of the Government and officials.
30th and 3lst October
Ist to 5th November
6th November
7th November 33
8th to 13th November
14th November
23rd November
28th November =
29th November’ to
10th December
26
APPENDIX I.—continued.
DETAILS OF TouRS—continued.
By trans-continental train from Adelaide to Kalgoorlie.
A tour from Kalgoorlie by car and rail, visiting typical forests,
and seeing large saw-mills and other forest industries, reaching
Perth on the afternoon of 5th.
From Perth, a motor trip to typical forest areas in the neigh-
bourhood and back.
In Perth, visiting local forest industries.
An extensive car tour from Perth to Pemberton and back,
seeing the valuable sub-coastal forests in this area,
Left Fremantle.
Reached Colombo.
Reached Ranchi.
Wrote my Report in Ranchi, and took over charge of my duties
under the Government of India on the afternoon of the 10th
December, 1927.
Totals.
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Ill. AustRALIAN PRropiems In AnrMAL HEALTH—
1. Diseases due to Micro-organisms—
(i) Pleuro-pneumonia in cattle
(ii) Tuberculosis in cattle
(iii) Tuberculosis in pigs
: (iv) Contagious abortion in cattle
(v) Swine fever and swine plague
(vi) Contagious mammitis in cattle
(vii) Actinomycosis ..
(viii) Caseous lymphadenitis in Boe
(ix) Footrot in sheep
(x) Redwater in cattle
(xi) Miscellaneous
2. Parasitic Infestation—
A. Endoparasites—
(i) Lungworms
(ii) Liver fluke
(iii) Stomach worms
(iv) Tapeworms
(v) Ascaris infection in pigs
(vi) Oestrus ovis
B. Ectoparasites—
(i) Buffalo fly
(ii) Cattle tick
(iii} Blowfly :
(iv) Onchocerca gibsoni .
3. Intoxications—
(i) Botulism and para-botulism
(ii) Toxic plants
(iii) Mineralized drinking helter
4. Deficiency Diseases
PAGE
SHE
6
CoNTENTS—continued.
III. AustraLtan Prosiems in ANIMAL HEALTH—continued—
5, Diseases the Causes of which are as yet unknown or not confirmed—
Cattle Diseases.
(i) Haematuria
(ii) King Island disease
(iii) Scours in calves :
(iv) Denmark cattle disease ..
(v) Sterility in cattle
Sheep Diseases.
(vi) Enzootic icterus
(vii) Swelled head in rams
(viii) Braxy-like disease
(ix) Black disease
(x) Plethoric toxaemia
(xi) Fatty liver
(xii) Cancer
(xiii) Balanitis
(xiv) Ophthalmia
(xv) So-called rickets
(xvi) Sterility in rams and ewes
(xvii) Disturbances in the growth of Serf skin afleations, Mee faults
in the wool itself
Horse Diseases.
(xviii) Ulcerative enteritis
(xix) Waratah disease
(xx) Gilbert River disease
(xxi) Stringhalt
(xxii) Western blindness
(xxiii) Epitheliomata .. ae ‘
Pig Diseases.
(xxiv) Paralysis in pigs
6. The Healthy Animal
7. Genetics
IV. DiscussioN OF THE PROBLEMS AND THE ORGANIZATION—
1. Classification of the Problems—
(i) Pathological anatomy
(ii) Microbiology
(iii) Parasitology
(iv) Biochemistry
(v) Physiology
(vi) Genetics :
(vii) Intelligence or Bureau
2. The Organization
PAGE
48
49
49
50
50
50
51
51
51
51
"7
CoNTENTS—continued.
TV. Discussion oF THE PROBLEMS AND THE ORGANIZATION—continued—
3. Problems proposed for early Investigation—
A. Diseases under investigation—
(i) Haematuria
(ii) Braxy-like disease
(iii) Paralysis in pigs
(iv) Pleuro-pneumonia in cattle
(v) Tuberculosis in cattle
(vi) Caseous lymphadenitis
(vii) Black disease
(viii) Stomach worms
(ix) Cattle ticks
B. New subjects recommended for investigation—
(x) King Island cattle disease
(xi) Denmark cattle disease
(xii) Fatty liver (twin disease) in sheep
(xiii) Toxic plants
(xiv) Deficiency diseases .. 3
(vx) Contagious streptococcic mastitis
(xvi) Footrot in sheep
(xvii) Redwater in cattle .
(xviii) Lung worms in sheep
(xix) Onchocerciasis in cattle
(xx) Biochemical problems of the healthy esp
(xxi) Study of the sexual cycle
(xxii) Sterility in rams
(xxiii) Development of wool
(xxiv) The study of the eee of sheep for ae ‘sink of
blowflies
4. Proposed Staff
5. Salaries
6. Facilities for Research—
(i) Existing laboratories =
(ii) New laboratories required
(iii) Field laboratories available
(iv) New field laboratories of a temporary nature rexequsedt
(v) Fittings and equipments os
(vi) Probable number of animals scenic for aaere
(vii) Distribution of the animals
v. Poticy OF THE Division oF AnIMAL HEALTH
Vi. Tae Emprre OUTLOOK OF THE SCHEME
Vil. THe Suppty or RESEARCH OFFICERS
VIII. REcoMMENDATIONS
IX, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS aye =e nie a om
C.14842_—9
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ConTENTS—continued.
B.—Memorandum by Dr. J. B. Orr.
. General
. Economic considerations
. Schemes of research depend on nature of development
. Investigations of immediate practical importance irrespective of direction
of further development
A. Research in connexion with pastures
B. Lines of investigation other than those connected with pastures ..
-
. Organization of research - - », 61 Table 7, 3rd line, for 20th April read 23rd April.
> 64 Line 4, for ‘‘ detailed” read ‘‘ detached’’.
» 68 Last line should read ‘‘ towards the development of pit by reducing the total
amount of water ”
>» 98! Fig. 23, 2nd line, for “cell” read “cells’’.
By Authecrity:
H. J. Green, Government Printer, Melbourne
}
C.10462
PAMPHLET No. 11
COMMONWEALTH
|
i
]
| Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
lh
| TASMANIAN GRASS |
(Oncopera intricata Walker)
A Preliminary Report on its Life
History, and Methods
of Control
By
GERALD. Ace. ]
MELBOURNE. 1929
|
By Authcrity: |
H. J. Grcen, Government Printer, Melbourne
C.10462
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PLATE 1.
bo
ig. 1, larva; Fig. 2, pupa;
Tasmanian Grass-grub (Oncopera intricata Walker) F
(All figures natural size.)
Fig. 3, moth; Fig. 4, moth, with wings expanded.
M. Arnold pinx.
CONTENTS.
I. Inrropucrion—
1. General a aa sie
2. Investigations carried out by the Council—
(i) General
(ii) Investigations it in Victoria
(iii) Investigations in South Australia. .
3. Investigations in Tasmania
Il. Lire History—
1. Egg Stage—
(i) Duration of egg stage
(ii) Fertility of eggs
(iii) Oviposition
2. Larval Stage—
(i) The larvae and its habits
(ii) Certain soils not infested
(iii) Feeding habits and food
(iv) Migration Se
3. Pupal Stage
4. Moth Stage—
(i) Emergence from the pupa
(ii) Description of moth
(iii) Seasonal appearance of moths
(iv) Proportion of the sexes ..
(v) The mating flight...
Ill. Exprrments oN METHODS OF ConTROL—
1. Egg Stage
2. Larval Stage—
(i) Spraying—
First series of trials
Second series of trials ..
Results of second series of trials. .
(ii) Fumigation—
Calcium cyanide
Dichlorobenzene
(iii) Dusting
(iv) Poison baits .
(v) Cultural methods
(vi) Top-dressing
3. Moth Stage
4. General Conclusions
IV. NaturaLt ContTROoL
V. OrnerR PastuRE PEsts—
1. Army Worm ..
2. White Grubs (various species) —
(i) Natural enemies
(ii) Artificial methods of control
VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
VII. LireraTURE
VIL. APPENDIX
IX. EXPLANATION OF PLATES .. ste
C.10462.— 2
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1 orc
I. INTRODUCTION.
1. General.
The insect generally known throughout Tasmania as the “ underground
grass-grub”’ or ‘‘ corbie” is the larva or grub of the indigenous moth
Oncopera intricata Walker (Lepidoptera, Family Hepialidae).
The first reference to it in Tasmanian literature on economic ento-
mology appears to be that of Thompson (1895), who, ina general discussion
on “ grass-grubs”’ and without designating it scientifically, gave some
notes on its habits and a figure of a larva and moth. The latter, however,
is clearly not that of the species in question. Six years later, Lea (1901)
published a much more accurate and complete account, which he supple-
mented in 1908 with fuller details and good figures. In 1904, Littler
contributed a brief note on its habits, without making any new facts
known ; indeed, his contribution appears to be merely an abstract from
Lea’s first paper, although the latter’s name is not mentioned.
It is the generally accepted view that O. intricata Walk. is the species
found commonly in Victoria and in parts of New South Wales; but this
matter requires further investigation. However, under the above name,
McAlpine and W. H. F. Hill (1895) published what appear to be the first
notes on the early stages and habits of the mainland form. These authors
did not refer to the economic importance of the pest, although they were
well aware of its role in the destruction of indigenous pastures in Victoria.
French (1909), in writing of the same insect, remarked that it was
without doubt the most destructive of all grass-eating grubs known to
him. The inclusion of a fine coloured plate by Mr. C. C. Brittlebank
and a quotation from a Departmental Report on an outbreak near
Leongatha, Victoria, in 1908, add considerably to the value of his contri-
bution.
2. Investigations carried out by the Council.
(i) General.—Investigations by this Council commenced in October,
1926, when the writer made a preliminary survey of the position in
Tasmania. Subsequent visits were made during the following month
and in January, June, September, October of 1927, and in January,
1928, with the objects of obtaining an accurate knowledge of the life
history of the insect, and conducting field tests for its control by artificia.
means. Visits were made to Leongatha (Victoria) in April, June, August,
October, November, and December, 1927, and February, 1928, and to
several localities nearer Melbourne at various dates during 1927, whilst
the Mt. Gambier district (South Australia) was visited in August, 1927.
The object of these visits was to study the distribution and life history
of allied mainland forms and to search for possible controlling agents.
Before discussing the results of investigations in Tasmania, a brief
outline of the work undertaken in the abovementioned States may be
given.
(ii) Investigations in Victoria—In view of French’s statement quoted
above and the absence of more recent references in literature, it appeared
that the status of Oncopera as a pest in Victoria had undergone some
6
change since 1907. Through the courtesy of the Director of Agriculture
(Dr. 8. S. Cameron) and the Government Entomologist (Mr. C. French,
jur.) it was learned that no serious outbreaks of Oncopera had been reported
for many years past. Mr. Thomas Crichton’s farm at Leongatha, men-
tioned by Mr. C. French, senr. (1908), was visited in April, when the owner
stated that since 1907, when his own and surrounding grazing areas were
devastated by this grub, no extensive damage had been caused. Further
inquiries showed that the insect is practically unknown, and nowhere
in this district is it recognized as a pest. The opinion formed by farmers
is that Oncopera, cutworms, and grasshoppers, all of which were formerly
regarded as serious pests, are held in check by starlings, which, it is
stated, arrived in the district in great numbers about 1908. These
investigations showed that a species of Oncopera is fairly abundant and
constitutes a minor grass-pest, and that starlings, magpies, and crows
play a part in reducing their numbers. A small proportion of the grubs
was found to be affected by a parasitic fungus and by a disease that was
possibly of a bacterial nature, but no evidence was found of parasitic
insects.
Recent investigations within a radius of 15 miles of Melbourne indicate
that Oncopera is now a comparatively scarce insect in localities in which
it was formerly abundant, but in a suburban allotment about 70 examples
were located, isolated, and kept under close observation from August
until December, when the moths emerged. No evidence of parasitism
was observed.
(iii) Investigations in South Australia —There appear to be no published
records of Oncopera in South Australia, but through the courtesy of Mr.
N. B. Tindale, of the South Australian Museum, it was ascertained that
an example, now in the Museum collection, had been taken at Yaw,
near Mt. Gambier, on 17th September, 1896. In August of last year,
investigations were carried out over a wide area of country in this district
without finding auy evidence of the insect.
In Victoria and South Australia a good deal of information has been
obtained incidentally concerning the life histories of Porina fuscomaculata
Walker and Philobota productella Walker, two grass-eating species the
larval habits of which resemble those of Oncopera.
From the outset it was realized that the search for effective parasites
or predators of Oncopera on the mainland might be long and possibly
fruitless. There appear to be no known insect parasites of this genus
and extremely few of allied genera ; whether such exist or not can be
determined only by systematic research and a much wider knowledge of
the early stages than we now possess. Little is known of the eggs, egg-
laying habits, and early larval stages of this group of moths, and there
are many practical difficulties, associated with the capture and rearing
of sufficient numbers of naturally bred and possibly parasitized larvae
and pupae, yet to be overcome. It is proposed to continue these
investigations in Australia, and, later, to initiate similar investigations
abroad. The recent discovery in England of an ichneumon fly parasite
of Hepialus humuli, a close ally of Oncopera, is of special interest in this
connexion.
7
3. Investigations in Tasmania.
The greater part of these investigations was carried out in the
Scottsdale district, where the conditions were particularly favorable
for both life-history studies and experimental work. Brief visits were
paid to several other districts for special purposes, and the notes obtained
therein are referred to in appropriate sections of this report.
For the purpose of these investigations the types of pasture affected
by grass grubs may be roughly divided into three groups, as follows :—
1. Large uncleared or partly cleared grazing areas entirely or
almost entirely under indigenous grasses.
-
Second or third class grazing land, generally hilly and uncul-
tivated, with many logs, stumps and much standing timber,
sown with introduced ; grasses and clovers after burning off.
3. First class arable Jand generally held in small to medium sized
blocks and laid down in introduced grasses and clovers in
rotation with various annual crops.
Group | comprises the large sheep and cattle runs upon some of
which grass grubs are regarded as the most serious pest with which
owners have to contend. In many cases, pasture improvement has
been found to be almost impossible and in others the attempt has been
abandoned after many failures.
Group 2 comprises a considerable area of fairly good land, mostly
held in small and medium sized blocks, the greater part of which are
too hilly to cultivate, but are capable of producing good yields of
introduced grasses and clovers. Owing to the depredation ‘of grass
grubs and rabbits, useful herbage is rapidly eliminated and is replaced
by bracken fern and Sper enless secondary growth (Plate 6, fig. 13).
Arable portions produce moderate yields of hay, peas, &c., but are too
poor for continuous cropping and too small to permit of bare fallowing.
When laid down in pasture they commonly become heavily grub-infested
during the second year and become denuded of all profitable herbage
during the next year or two. Pastures on this class of land never recover
from such infestation as sometimes do those on first rate land. It is a
deplorable fact that many thousands of acres in north-eastern Tasmania
which were formerly under cocksfoot and other fodders are now fern-
covered and abandoned wastes. To what extent grass grubs are
responsible for this state of affairs cannot be determined, but these
investigations strongly support the view held by most local farmers
that they have been, and still are, one of the most important factors in
reducing the stock-carrying capacity of some of this land to such an
extent that grazing is no longer profitable. Other important factors
are the ravages of “white grubs” and ‘“‘army worms”; the cost of
fern cutting, which, at from 5s. to 8s. per acre, approximates the rental
value of the land; and low returns for farm produce.
In Group 3 are to be found the majority of the properties upon which
mixed farming, grazing, and dairying are being carried on with more or
less success. The land is worth from £12 to £20 per acre, and with skilful
C.10462.—8
8
handling is capable of producing very heavy yields. For successful
dairying, and to maintain the fertility of the soil, it is necessary that a
portion of the farm should be laid down in pasture, the cost of which is
from £3 to £4 per acre. Under ordinary circumstances, such pastures
become profitable in their second year and remain profitable for from
eight to twenty years or longer, but they are often ploughed under and
sown with other crops as a rotation during the sixth year or later. Under
prevailing conditions in grub-infested districts, these pastures are
depleted of the best grasses during the second and third years and
are destroyed for dairying purposes in the third or fourth year (Plate
4, fig. 10; Plate 5, fig. 11). Top-dressing, re-seeding and good seasons
may restore these pastures to something like the full value, but they
are subject to reinfestation.
The possibility of discovering a practical and economically possible
means of controlling this pest on the areas classified under group 1, and
on most of those under group 2, by artificial methods, appeared to be so
remote that is was decided to concentrate attention for the time being
on the smaller and richer pastures referred to under group 3, on which the
possibilities of obtaining a profitable measure of relief appeared to be
distinctly more encouraging. The final and only satisfactory solution
of the problem lies in the discovery and utilization of some form of natural
enemy; but it cannot be too strongly emphasized that control by
biological methods, if it can be established at all, involves prolonged
research, and that for years to come the destruction of grass land can
be only partly checked by the employment of costly and temporary
methods.
II. LIFE HISTORY.
1. Egg Stage.
The egg is broadly oval in form, measures from 0.944—-1.050 mm.
long by 0.768—-0.806 mm. wide, and is creamy white when laid, but turns
dull black several hours later. The surface appears to be smooth when
examined under a low magnification and is covered by a tough membrane
(chorion), which serves as a protection during the long period of exposure
on the surface of the ground. The number of eggs produced by an
individual moth varies from 80 to 700, the average being about 500.
(i) Duration of egg stage-——The duration of the egg stage has not
been determined under field conditions, but it is probably from 63 to 70
days, as in the case of numerous batches which were incubated under
various conditions as to temperature and humidity.
(ii) Fertility of eggs laid by wnfertilized females—Moths collected
on the wing, and therefore almost certainly unmated (see p. 16),
produced fertile eggs, and in two observations the resulting larvae
lived in captivity until late in September, when they appeared to be
of normal size.
(iii) Oviposition—Lea (1908) has already corrected the erroneous
belief that the eggs are laid whilst the moth is on the wing, and has
9
correctly stated that oviposition takes place whilst she rests upon the
ground. The entire batch is generally laid together, but it may be laid
in two or three groups, and nearly always in the shelter of a tussock
overhanging leaves of dandelion or other plant, under bark, cow-dung,
chips of wood or in holes made in loose soil by birds and bandicoots. Of
twelve batches of eggs laid under natural conditions on the 6th February,
1927, four were under dandelion, one under horehound, and seven close
to the butts of cocksfoot grass. The position of a recently-laid batch
of eggs is often clearly indicated by the presence of a mass of scales
detached from the parents’ body during the violent fluttering that
accompanies the act of oviposition. There appears to be a disposition
to select patches of long and rough grass in which to oviposit where such
exist in proximity to closely-grazed areas. This was noted particularly
where there existed matts of dry “silver grass” in pastures largely
composed of short cocksfoot and rye. But whatever may be the
attractiveness of long grass, it does not appear even to be sufficiently
strong to induce moths to deliberately leave a closely-cropped paddock
for a well-grassed one in the vicinity. A note from Longford is of interest
here. When top-dressing a heavily-stocked old pasture paddock in the
autumn of 1926, the owner left one “land” in the middle untreated
as a control block. During the following spring and summer the stock
(sheep and cattle) kept the top-dressed portion closely fed down, but
avoided the untreated “land,” resulting in a considerable carry-over
of dry grass in February and March, when the moths would be on the
wing. In the following August, the control block showed unmistakable
signs of heavy infestation ; and in January of 1928, when the writer visited
the farm, it was in a deplorable condition, whilst the remainder of the
field was only slightly damaged. The assumption was that the moths
had concentrated their attention on the control block when ovipositing
in February and March of 1927 and that the resulting grubs had brought
about the conditions noted subsequently. It would seem reasonable to
suppose that the concentration for a period of several months of many
head of stock on the top-dressed area would account to some extent for
its freedom from grubs.
2. Larval Stage.
(i) The larvae and its habits —The larvae at hatching measure about
2.88 mm. in length; the head and upper surface of the first thoracic
segment is dark brown, the legs greyish, and the body creamy white, with
numerous minute greyish tubercles. Observations carried out on
experimental plots of rye grass showed that during the first two days
of their life they live as a community under a light silken web over and
amongst the surrounding loose soil and debris and that, on the third day,
young grass in the near vicinity 1s attacked, either by grubs which emerge
from the shelter of the web or by others which have migrated outwards
and have commenced an independent existence under their own covered
ways, which by now may be 3 in. long by 4 in. wide and encircle the
stem of a young grass plant. In either case, the plant is cut through at
ground level, the upper portion being partly devoured and partly used
10
to extend and strengthen the covered way, and the lower gnawed away
to a depth of } in. or more below the surface, leaving a small vertical
hole which forms the commencement of the characteristic larval burrow.
Other migrating larvae form covered ways of silk and earth over a shallow
chamber excavated in the soil in which they may shelter, feeding on
surrounding plants, before commencing to burrow more deeply. Others
again live for a week or two on the surface under a leaf or surface debris
or under a very fragile web, through which they are clearly visible by
day.
By the end of the first week, some of the larvae have scattered widely
from their original position and have nearly doubled in length, but they
have changed" but little in general appearance, excepting that the body
appears to be light greenish or greyish white in colour, due to presence
of food in the intestines. Some are now to be found head downwards in
isolated vertical burrows about } in. deep, and others in their original
position or in small scattered colonies under a common shelter. The
burrow, which is characteristic of the larvae of this group of moths, is
thus commenced at a very early stage of the insect’s existence, and is
deepened and widened throughout the winter and early spring. It is
a common belief that the grub feeds on the roots as well as upon leaves
and stems, but Lea has correctly stated that this is not the case, and
gives convincing evidence in support of his statement.
At one month old, the most advanced larvae are about 7/16 in. long ;
the head, legs, thoracic plates, and tubercles are distinctly darker, and the
body is clothed with scattered long hairs, but in other respects it closely
resembles the younger stages. The destruction of the young grass is now
very evident throughout the plots and particularly in the vicinity of the
now greatly extended web-covered area which originally sheltered the
whole brood, but which now contains but a few dozen individuals. During
feeding, the covered ways are extended to, and around, new plants which
are cut off under protection of the web and allowed to fall to the ground,
where they are either eaten or built into the covered way, whilst the
stem is destroyed down to the root. At the end of the second month
(end of May), the largest larvae are about 2 in. long and are found in
burrows about | in. deep or under surface aoe or debris in the observation
plots and in the butts of the tussocks of grass in the field.
By the middle of June, the largest larvae have attained a length of
about 1 in., and are to be found in typical burrows at a depth of from
3 in. to 43 in., but the majority are considerably smaller, ranging from
5/16 in. to 9/16 in. in length, and are generally concealed in the butts
of the tussocks. The damage as yet is hardly appreciable in the field,
excepting for that caused by the larger examples, but there is abundant
evidence that the young growth, as well as the woody portions of the
stem and the enveloping leafy sheaths, are being attacked. Closely-
cropped tussocks, particularly of native grasses, cocksfoot and frog-grass,
are now slightly or extensively covered with a mass of excrement,
vegetable debris and earth woven together, under which much of the
feeding takes place. As this appeared to be the earliest stage at which
11
the pest could be attacked with poison sprays with any prospect of success,
arrangements were made for the first series of tests, which were commenced
n 2ist June and concluded on 24th June.
The irregular development of the larvae is very noticeable from the
middle of Tame to the middle of August ; thus collections made on Ist
July contained examples ranging in length from 2 in. to 14 in. (the latter
at a maximum depth of 6 in. in the soil), and on 8th bien from ? in.
to 1? in. The latter are nearly full grown and may be described as
preyish or leaden in colour, with several darker coloured tubercles on
each abdominal segment, dark brown head and thoracic plates and light
brown legs and prolegs.
From the beginning of August, the larvae become increasingly
destructive until about the beginning of November, when the most
advanced are full grown, 1.e., from 17 in. to 2 in. in length, and cease
feeding (Plate 1, fig. 1).
During the first week of September, the grubs are from 1] in. to a little
over 1? in. in length, and are found in burrows varying nm depth from
4 in. to 6 in. About this time the latter were being deepened at an
ieeenal rate, judging from the quantity of freshly turned soil which had
been brought up from below and spread over and around the covered
ways and over the closely-cropped infested tussocks. Whether this
activity was due to more favorable conditions for burrowing brought
about by recent rain, or whether it is a normal occurrence, could not be
determined, but the effect was to render the shorter and denser tussocks,
already often covered with a mass of web, earth and debris, still more
impervious to the sprays used in the second series of tests, which
commenced on 10th September. Whilst the majority of the burrows are
situated in or near tussocks and are protected by a common covering
of earth and debris, many are to be found under cow-dung, pieces of wood,
matted accumulations of dry grass (generally worthless indigenous
species), and in more or less open spaces. In the latter case, the burrow
is protected by a covered way, under which will be found in most cases
a shallow chamber or vestibule about } in. deep and large enough to
permit of the grub turning freely. This vestibule is in close proximity
to the entrance to the burrow and communicates also with one or more
tube-like extensions of the covered way, which enable the grub to attack
plants in the vicinity without unnecessary exposure. The appearance
of infested tussocks before and after removal of the surface protection
is illustrated in Plates 2 and 3.
The burrow and surface of the soil beneath the covered way is lined
with a densely-woven brownish silken film (Plate 4, fig. 9), which persists
in the former until after the emergence of the moth. In all cases the
excrement is deposited at some little distance from the vestibule and
entrance to the burrow, either in a densely packed heap under the
covered way or on the exposed surface of the ground beyond its
margin.
all
«
If the burrow is situated at some little distance from the nearest food
plant, a tube-like extension of the covered way is generally formed to
connect the two. This tube may vary in length from a few to 4 or 5in.,
but it is often dispensed with, and the feeding ground may extend over
an unprotected area of 6 or more inches.
When occupied by full-grown larvae the burrows vary from 54 in.
to 12-in. in depth, but the vast majority range from 8 in. to 84in. (3 in.
to 6 in., generally 4 in., in hard ground and seldom less than 9 in. and
frequently more than 12 in. in soft ground, according to Lea) and are
about 4 in. in diameter. That denseness or looseness of the soil is not
the factor that determines the depth of the burrows is shown by the
fact that they were found to be of average depth in a deep sandy loam,
in deep volcanic loam, on a black soil flat, on a stiff grey soil with dense
clay subsoil at 4 in., and on a disused bush track in the same paddock.
In Victoria, an allied species was found at 9 in. in dense clay underlying
6 in. of stiff grey soil and at 6 in. to 8 in. in light loam and in heavy
volcanic soil.
(ii) The non-infestation of certain soils —The reason for the comparative
immunity of certain pastures from infestation has not been satisfactorily
explained. It is well known that many existing first-class pastures have
survived heavy infestat on during their early years and have subsequently
recovered and remained practically free from the ravages of this pest
for long periods. Such recoveries appear to be confined to first-rate
land. Headlands, roadside grassland, and small paddocks adjacent to
farm buildings are rarely badly infested, even though fields in close
proximity be devastated. Low-lying land, especially if clayey, is often
but lightly infested, but some of the richest alluvial land in Tasmania is
as heavily infested as the poorest sandy soil and the richest of the well-
drained volcanic soils. Fertile hillsides and flats, apparently regardless
of the nature of the soil, are equally subject to infestation ; in fact no
district or soil appears to be entirely free from the pest. On the Lower
Tamar there is a small heavy alluvial flat surrounded by low hills, said
to be of limestone formation, which, though margined by grub-infested
slopes, has never been attacked. It was suggested that the supposedly
alkaline nature of the soil might offer an explanation of this fact, but
upon examination of samples it was found to be very acid (pH 4.57),
as were the following heavily-infested soils from Scottsdale, viz., blackish
granite sand (pH 4.02), brown sandy loam (pH 4.57), and first- class
volcanic soil (pH 5.17).
(iii) Feeding habits and food—Ordinarily, healthy larvae are found
on the surface of the ground only between the hours of 9 or 10 p.m. and
daybreak ; exceptionally, as during a fall of rain or when the burrows
are situated under a piece of wood, cow-dung or other object which may
be turned over rapidly, they may be surprised there during the day under
the covered way or other protection. Feeding, however, is not confined
to the hours of darkness, since it is a common occurrence to find grass
and other food gathered and stored in the covered ways earlier in the
process of being devoured during the day.
13
Feeding takes place whilst the larvae rest more or less horizontally
on the ground or closely cropped grass. Shorn off near the butt, the
grass falls to the ground to be eaten there, or drawn into the covered
ways for future consumption or to remain, as in the case of some native
annual species, as a closely-matted surface covering.
All varieties of grass and herbs ordinarily sown for pasture are attacked,
including the clovers. Rye grasses are generally attacked first and,
together with cocksfoot, are generally almost completely eliminated
from the field during the second and third year after sowing. Cocksfoot
is not readily attacked in some districts, but in others, in the absence
of rye grass, it is the first to suffer. The clovers are generally passed
over in favour of grasses, but often suffer appreciable injury whilst there
is yet an abundance of the latter. Sorrel and dandelion are rather less
attractive than clover, whilst thistles appear never to be eaten. Mosses,
indigenous grasses, and other small plants, appear to be their natural
food, but in times of great scarcity reeds, rotten wood, and other surface
vegetable debris, including cow-dung, are devoured. Grain crops
generally escape damage merely because routine farm practice is an
effective control against this pest, but under certain conditions very
extensive damage may occur, as the following record indicates -—In
December, 1927, it was reported that 30 acres of grassland on Mr. Horace
Young’s farm at Longford became badly infested during the second
year after sowing, and in November, 1926, when the grubs must have
been nearly full-grown, one half of it was fallowed, whilst the other was
left in grass. During the following June, the grassland was ploughed,
and within the week, the whole area (30 acres) was sown as a continuous
block with wheat. In August, the owner noticed an increasing thinning
out of plants on the unfallowed block, and upon closer examination found
that they were being cut off at ground-level by Oncopera larvae. This
destruction continued until the ears appeared, and at harvesting the loss
in grain was estimated to be one-third of the crop. An investigation
by the writer on Ist February confirmed the report as to the identity
of the insect concerned and the extent of the damage and appeared to
definitely establish the following facts :—(i) the November ploughing
had either destroyed the then mature, or nearly mature, larvae or
prevented effective re-infestation of the land during the following summer
by the resulting moths, or by others from adjoining headlands and
paddocks; (ii) when the second half was ploughed in June, young
larvae resulting from eggs laid in February or March, were turned under
with the grass, upon which they subsisted until the new growth (wheat)
enabled them to return to their normal surface feeding habits. It was
noticed particularly that none of the burrows found on ist February were
deeper than the depth of the ploughing (5in.). The effects of fallowing
on eggs, larvae, and pupae are discussed further on in this report ; but it
may be remarked here that a period of bare fallow should precede the
sowing of crops or grass on land previously under susceptible crops.
In addition to sown and indigenous pastures, lawns are frequently attacked
and often seriously damaged, whilst carrots, onions, and strawberry
plants are sometimes molested.
14
ee
(iv) Migration —Lea states that “from the time the grubs are half-
grown till their final change, however, it is certain that each grub con-
structs only one tunnel.” Whilst proof to the contrary is wanting, there
is very strong evidence that a partial migration involving the construction
of new tunnels does occur under certain conditions, as, for example,
when a particularly heavily-infested area becomes denuded of food before
the grubs have become full- or nearly full-grown. Specific instances
were “investigated in 1927 at Rosny Golf Links, near Hobart, at Cressy,
and at Scottsdale, in each of which there was every appearance of a
definite advance from the original site of infestation and progressive
destruction of the pasture, as had been reported by those who had the
areas under observation throughout the season. It is the writer’s present
opinion that it is not an unusual occurrence for these grubs to be forced
by starvation to leave the original burrows and to construct fresh ones
in more favorable positions ; that the advance is not in the nature of a
general migration, as in the case of the army worm, but is undertaken
by individuals acting independently, and does not involve the whole
grub population of a devastated area; that the advance is by short
stages and may involve the construction of even a third burrow; and
that grubs do not migrate from a ploughed field.
Observations on Tdseacea: Victorian, and South Australian forms
of Oncopera have shown that nearly full-grown larvae, if removed from
their original burrows, will construct others of normal depth even in
hard soil. The following observations are of interest in this connexion.
In August and September larvae were located by means of their covered
ways and destruction of grass in their vicinity in buffalo grass and
indigenous grass lawns in Melbourne, and were isolated by pressing into
the soil the cut edges of galvanized iron collars 8 in. to 12 in. in diameter
by 3 in. to 8 in. deep (with or without wire gauze covers). In each
enclosure there was abundance of grass and ample feeding range, as
shown by the fact that some of the grubs completed their development
and emerged as moths in December. Nevertheless, in several instances,
the grubs left the original burrow, constructed a new one within the
enclosure and, later, tunnelled under the collar and constructed a third
without, in which they completed their development at a normal depth
in the soil.
“This matter,” as Lea remarks, “‘is more important than appears
at first,” and-is discussed here at some length in the hope that it will
stimulate further observation on the part of graziers.
The density of the grub population varies very greatly in different
parts of the same field. In native pastures, two or three grubs to each
square foot might be regarded as a moderately heavy infestation, but it
is often greatly exceeded, whereas in sown pastures twelve to the
square foot or from five to nine to a single three-year old plant of
cocksfoot is of quite common occurrence.
3. Pupal Stage.
The larvae begin to reach maturity early in November, when they
cease feeding and allow the covered ways to collapse on the otherwise
open burrows. After evacuating the contents of the intestines and
15
shedding the skin, they are creamy white with light-yellow head and
blackish mouth parts; the dark horny plates on the thorax and the
tubercles on the abdomen disappear, but the scattered reddish hairs
remain ; nine pairs of spiracles (external openings of the air-tubes) are
now clearly visible as dark elongated spots, one on each side of the thorax
above the forelegs and one on each side of the first eight abdominal
segments. Seventy-five per cent. of the larvae examined at Scottsdale
from 28th November to Ist December were in this condition. Later
by a process of straightening out and contracting (to a length of from
Zin. to 14 in.), the larvae begin to assume the appearance of pupae, but
lack the dark colour and characteristic features of the latter. This
stage was found abundantly in the above district from 27th December
to 5th January, rarely three weeks later, and, finally, on 3rd February.
The first pupae were found on 5th January (none could be found on 27th
December), when the proportion of larvae and pupae were approxi-
mately equal. The pupa (Plate 1, fig. 2) varies in length from { in. to
14 in. and in width from 3/16 in. to in. The eyes are yellowish brown,
thorax and wing sheaths dark brown, abdomen yellow to light brown ;
the first segment is visible only from above; segments two to eight
are clearly visible, as are their spiracles; segments nine and ten are
very small and closely fused. To facilitate their movements in the
burrows, the pupae are armed with comb-like processes and rows of
teeth on some of the abdominal segments. Their arrangement is as
follows :—On the upper surface a double row of short stout spines on
segments three to six, four rows on the seventh, three rows on the
eighth, and a roughened horny plate on ninth; on the under surface
there is a comb-like process on segments four to six, on the seventh a
somewhat similar process, but bearing a continuous row of larger spines.
The pupae are not enclosed in cocoons, but are naked and capable
of moving upwards and downwards in the burrows in which they, like
the larvae, are always found head uppermost.
4. Moth Stage.
(i) Emergence from the pupae —Under natural conditions, the majority
of the moths emerge from the pupae between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. A few,
however, defer their emergence until 8 p.m. or a little later. When
about to emerge, the pupae makes its way to the surface, pushes its
way through the surface covering, if any, and rests generally with the
thorax projecting from the burrow until the moth bursts through the
hard enveloping integument and crawls away a few inches, leaving the
discarded pupal skin either in the burrow or on the surface of the ground.
In this position, the newly emerged moth rests perfectly motionless and
almost impossible to rouse until the mating flight commences. Until
this moment, it can rarely be induced to use its wings, even when thrown
into the air. Occasionally a moth may be flushed from the ground a few
minutes before the mating flight commences, but its flight is generally
short, though sometimes long enough to rouse a few others in a preliminary
flight of short duration.
C.10462.—4.
16
Occasionally, pupae have been noticed to appear on the surface as
though about to transform, then retreat ito the burrow until trans-
formation took place several nights later.
(11) Description of moth—-The moths are dull greyish brown with
forewings more or less boldly marked with a curiously involved pattern
in a light grey or whitish colour, and the hind wings mostly of uniform
greyish brown (Plate 1, figs. 3 and 4). The male, easily distinguished
by its plumose hind legs, is always more brightly coloured than the
female, in which the wing markings are commonly very obscure. ‘The
mouth parts are greatly reduced and not adapted for feeding: the
antennae are reddish brown, short and rather stout; the eyes large
and nearly hidden by the long brown hair-like scales on the face ; the
thorax densely clothed with long scales like those on the face and the
wings in repose carried roof-like and pressed closely against the body.
Except whilst on the wing, the insect rests horizontally on the ground,
never, apparently, vertically on fence-posts or other objects.
There is a noticeable variation in size. A long series of males and
females collected in 1927 and 1928 give the following range :—With
wings expanded, males 1} in. to 13 in., females 14 in. to 13in.; length
with wings folded, males 2 in. to 7 in., females 3 in. to 1} in.
(iii) Seasonal appearance of moths.—Lea (1908) states that the first
moths are to be seen early in January, and the last early in March. In
the Scottsdale district, moths were first noticed on 24th January in
1927 and on 21st January in 1928, and the last on 18th February in 1927,
and on 2nd February in 1928. In 1927, they appeared to-have reached
their maximum abundance about nine days after the first were seen,
and by the 12th day about 60 per cent. had emerged. In the Longford
district, in 1928, no moths had emerged either from grass or stubble
laid up to Ist February, but were reported by a local observer to be on the
wing from 8th February to 20th February. |
(iv) Proportion of the seves——Examination of pupae and recently
emerged moths indicated that the sexes are produced in approximately
equal numbers, but as some of the females do not fly and as some males
survive from the previous ‘night, the latter always predominate im
collections taken on the wing. During the first few minutes of the flight,
40 to 50 per cent. were found to be females, but the percentage diminishes
rapidly as the flight reaches its zenith and begins to wane. Thus of 407
ie collected on three nights during the period of maximum activity,
7.45 to 8.5 p.m., 399 were males.
(v) The mating flight—One may walk over heavily-infested land
before the flight commences and have difficulty in finding a dozen moths
where hundreds could be swept up in the net a few minutes later. They
are not in the burrows, as some believe, but lie on the surface entirely
exposed or, at the most, only partly hidden by grass or other herbage,
-elying upon a dull light and their protective colouring to save them
from detection by their enemies. The flight commences between 7.30
p.m. and 7.45 p.m. (the average for seven nights in 1927 and 1928 being
Ee
17
7.40 p.m.), and generally lasts for from 40 to 55 minutes (the average
duration of flights on seven nights was 41 minutes). The first intimation
that the flight is about to commence is generally the appearance of a
few moths flying rapidly backwards and forwards over the tops of the
grass. Within a minute or two, tens of thousands rise and join in the
flight, which is accompanied by a very audible humming of wings.
Contrary to the habit recorded of some allied moths, the males seek the
females, either amongst those on the ground, flying low on the grass, or,
rarely, flying at heights up to 30 feet or more. About five minutes after
the flight commences, the majority of the females are either mated or
to be found fluttering excitedly on the ground or low grass, where they
are sooner or later pounced upon by males. Commonly, from several
to twenty males compete in a struggling mass for a single female, and in
many cases similar masses comprise males only. Copulation usually
occupies about five minutes, after which the female, now often almost
denuded of scales, seeks the shelter of a tussock or other cover under
which to deposit her eggs ; whilst the males fly away but little damaged
to seek other females. Oviposition appears to take place about an hour
to three hours after mating. The average length of life of the male
has not been determined, but it is certain that many live to take part in
the following night’s flight. The female, on the other hand, rarely lives
longer than twelve to fourteen hours, and it is extremely improbable
that she ever lives to take part in a second flight. It is certain, at any
rate, that she produces but one batch of eggs, and that after this batch
is laid she is never again capable of reproduction.
On calm nights, the moths fly backward and forward over the ground
at a height of from 3 to 12 inches, rarely rising higher and rarely leaving
the paddock in which they were reared. On windy nights, however,
they have been seen to rise to a height of 20 to 30 feet or even more,
and in couples, threes or fours fly with the wind, across an adjacent
road and fallowed paddock and fall on grassland 300 to 400 yards distant.
On several occasions, such pairs and groups were captured in the net
either in full flight or as they fell to the ground together, and in every
instance were found to comprise a male and a female or a female and
two or three males. Such flights as these would readily account for the
heavy isolated infestations of small extent so frequently observed in
otherwise lightly-infested paddocks.
Ill. EXPERIMENTS ON METHODS OF CONTROL.
1. Egg Stage.
The artificial control of this pest in the egg stage does not appear to
be practicable, for the following reasons :—The batches are generally
deposited together in more or less sheltered positions; during the
incubation period some of the batches are further concealed by the
trampling of stock and the growth of herbage; effective sprays are
costly to prepare and apply and could be used only on certain classes of
land; fire could be employed only in rare instances and may cause
18
serious loss to the pasture, fences and adjoining properties. The latter
method is reported to have been tried and to have given very variable
results, but no details as to dates, nature of grass, and subsequent effects
on the pastures are obtainable. Experiments with suitable controls
should be carried out between the latter part of February to the end
of March to determine the effect of this treatment.
Spraying.—Experimentally it was found that the two undermentioned
sprays destroyed 100 per cent. of eggs, but both caused very severe foliage
burning :—
(1) Dinitro-o-cresol ce oe .«. &.20 92mg:
Crude naphtha (sp. gr.0.885) .. Sah DODGCER
Hard yellow soap 5 ie Ye
No, of Experiment, | soe fumigation rea
% Living. Dead. Total.
OZ. of
2. 2 51 0 13 13 100-0
4. 4 48 0 32 32 100°0
Dox 6 48 0 42 49 100-0
Gre 2 48 3 20 23 Sao
fae 5 48 ) 25 7 9985
Sue | 48 0 13 13 100°0
Fumigation was effective for from 2 in. to 5 in. laterally from the
boundaries of the plots, and as the soil was still heavily charged with
cyanide gas the range may have been increased had the examination
been deferred a day or so longer. In addition to Oncopera, white grubs
and wireworms—the larvae of an Elaterid beetle—were present in all
the plots and were 100 per cent. destroyed by fumigation.
A second series of trials was made concurrently with the above in
which dosages of 4 oz. and 1 oz. were placed in crowbar holes 6 in., 9 in.,
and 10 in. deep in the vicinity of heavily-infested tussocks of cocksfoot.
Two days later, the fumigant was found in almost unchanged condition
and the grubs unaffected. Believing that the probable causes of failure
were the dry condition of the soil and the brief duration of the test, a
further experiment was carried out on 13th September following, when
the soil was moist and registered a temperature of 58° F., rising to 65° F.
bo
vw
during the following eight days. A plot 16 feet square, with crowbar
holes 2 feet apart and 5 in. to 6 in. deep, was fumigated with calcium
cyanide dust (Cyanogas “A” Dust) at the rate of | oz. per hole. On
22nd September, the condition of the fumigant and grubs was as recorded
above, excepting that a few of the insects which were in close proximity
to the chemical were destroyed. On 2nd November, when the final
examination was made, much of the chemical still remained, but there
was no evidence of grub control beyond a radius of 6 in. from each charge.
Cyanogas flakes were further tested in November in a field which
had been laid down in grasses less than three years previously and which,
in the interval, had become almost denuded of useful grass owing to the
ravages of grubs. The soil, a light volcanic loam, was dry and warm
(70° F.) and broke loosely on ploughing. The flakes were sown at the
rate of about 350 lb. per acre by hand in the bottom of the preceding
furrow and were covered at once by the following sod. Five days later,
98 per cent. of the grubs were found to be dead.
Dichlorobenzene—a proprietary preparation, the active principles
of which are said to be paradichlorobenzene and orthodichlorobenzene—
was tested in September in Field 4 in two small plots heavily infested
with Oncopera and “‘ white grubs.” The soil was moist and registered a
temperature of 58° F. The plots were 16 feet square with crowbar holes
2 feet apart and 5 in. to 6 in. deep, and 15 feet square with barholes 3
feet apart and 5 in. to 6 in. deep respectively. The fumigant was used
at the rate of } oz. per hole in both plots. When examined on 2nd
November, the destruction of grubs was found to be negligible.
(iii) Dusting—Calcium arsenate was tested on a +-acre block in
Field 2 on 16th September and on a smaller area in Field 4 on 12th
September. Distribution was made with a Root Hand Dust Gun—a
thoroughly effective applance. The smaller block was dusted at the
rate of about 15 lb. per acre on a calm, dewy morning, permitting of even
and ample distribution of the insecticide over the foliage and surface
debris without waste of material. After several postponements, due
to unfavorable weather conditions, the larger block was dusted at the
rate of 48 lb. per acre at 6 a.m. during a period of alternating calms and
strong breezes from constantly changing directions, resulting in very
uneven distribution and much waste of material. Both blocks were
heavily infested with Oncopera larvae and, in addition, white grubs were
particularly abundant on the smaller. Heavy rain fell on the night of
21st and following day, washing off most of the dust. On the 22nd,
dead and dying Oncopera were found on both blocks, particularly in the
larger, while in the former there were many affected white grubs. On the
2nd November, it could be stated definitely that the control of Oncopera
on the large block was very satisfactory and better than that on an
adjoining block which had been sprayed on 13th September with lead
arsenate (paste) at 12 lb. per acre; whilst on 30th January, following
abundant rain in December, this block carried more grass than any of those
under observation. On the smaller block, however, Oncopera were
exceedingly plentiful on 2nd November, although white grubs had been
almost completely exterminated.
24
Writing on 26th March last on the results of the experiments carried
out in Field 2 generally, a local farmer and keen observer stated that
“apart from the grass being a little thin in some places it is one of the
best paddocks of feed about here.”
(iv) Poison Baits ——The following poison baits were tested on 16th
September on heavily-infested land carrying short, three years-old
cocksfoot grass :—
1. White Arsenic (80 per cent. AS,O3) .. ep alle
Bran As Ae ae ae 4.) 202 le
Molasses .. A ey os eels).
Winrar eee - Be es Ha) yeas:
2. Paris green Llp:
Bran Pole
Molasses . . A |b.
Water 3 qrts.
3. Paris green £ lb.
Bran ee 7 zs ote Je (e2bmlibe
Molasses . . ~ ee ae cob. jee tiles
Water hy Pes Le im i (SO BiEe
The mash was distributed by hand at the rate of 75 lb. per acre of
No. 1 and 150 lb. per acre of Nos. 2 and 3.
The plots were examined on 20th September and again on 2nd
November. On the first date there was very little evidence of poisoning,
but at the second examination plots treated with 2 and 3 were found
to be very free from grubs, whilst | gave distinctly poor results. It
should be noted that the quantities used per acre are greatly in excess
of those found effective in the control of cutworms, grasshoppers, and
other chewing insects.
In view of the great advantages of poison baits over sprays and dusts,
it is very desirable that the possibilities of this method of control be
thoroughly explored. It is very probable that there are cheaper and
more attractive ingredients than bran and molasses and that much
lighter applications of a suitable bait may be effective.
(v) Cultural Methods——Harrowing and rolling suggest themselves
as possible methods of control. Neither have been tested. The former
method is not likely to be effective. but experiments should be carried
out between 14th April and 7th May, when the grubs are near the surface.
Rolling appears to offer better prospects of success if carried out with a
heavy roller between the dates mentioned above.
For obvious reasons, ploughing could be employed only in cases
where it is intended to destroy the existing pasture. The best time
for ploughing must be determined by the condition of the land and the
use to which it is to be put. Only those crops that are not subject to
attack, such as peas, rape, &c., could be safely sown immediately after
autumn and winter, and, possibly, early spring fallowing.
The effect of ploughing on the egg and its subsequent development
isnot known. It is known, however, that young grubs when turned under
by the plough in June may survive until the newly-sown crop (wheat)
bo
Ce) |
is sufficiently advanced to enable them to resume the normal surface
feeding. It appears probable that other cereals or grass may be similarly
attacked if sown on grub-infested land immediately after ploughing at
any time from April to July ; or possibly later, and until further investi-
gations have been made it would be advisable to regard the best time
for ploughing such land, if intended to be laid down again in pasture
or under cereals, as from about the beginning of October to January,
which period covers the latter stages of larval life and the pupal or
chrysalis stage,
Late spring and summer ploughing is generally believed to be an
effective means of destroying the mature or nearly mature grubs and the
pupae. There is no evidence that the former ever migrate from recently
fallowed grassland; but during these investigations moths were seen
emerging from land that had been fallowed two months previously or
after “the grubs had ceased feeding. In this field the soil was very dry
and loose and had been ploughed to a depth of 25in.to3in. In another
field in which the soil was very stiff and clayey the emergences were
confined to those moths that were able to leave the pupal case at the
bottom of the furrow and make their way to the surface by means of
crevices between the sods. Harrowing after ploughing would almost
certainly have prevented the emergence of moths from either class of
land. Whether these moths subsequently mated and oviposited on the
fallowed land or whether they migrated to adjacent grassland could
not be determined.
(vi) Top Dressing—Top dressing with superphosphate is thought
by some to have an insecticidal as well as a manurial value when applied
to pastures. To test this point, a l-acre block in Field 2 was top-
dressed on Ist September at the rate of one bag (186 Ib.) per acre, with
apparently entirely negative results.
It was planned to carry out tests with mixtures of superphosphate
and calcium arsenate, but as supplies were not available sufficiently
early in the season they were deferred.
3. Moth Stage.
No economically possible method of controlling the pest in the moth
stage suggests itself. Lamplight (acetylene) and flares of burning brush-
wood appeared to be repellent rather than attractive.
Calcium cyanide (Cyanogas ** A” Dust) was found to be very effective
on a small test plot when dusted over the pasture at the rate of 200-250
lb. per acre between the time of emergence from the pupae and commence-
ment of the mating flight. Apart from the prohibitive cost of material,
there are many obvious reasons for dismissing this method of control
as practically and economically impossible.
4. General Conclusions.
1. The control of this pest in the egg and moth stages appears to be
economically and practically impossible.
2. In the larval stage a fair degree of control (say 75 per cent.) Is
economically possible by means of arsenical sprays if the pasture is short
and free from matted dead grass and other debris.
26
3. The cost of spraying, based on the following figures, viz. :—
s. od.
Hire of man and horse, per day be cat lo ee
Hire of assistant, per day ae , oe Oe
Lead arsenate powder, at ls. 6d. per lb., at rate of
4 lb. per 100 gals. water and 100 gals. per acre
peracre 6 0
Petrol, at 2s. 3d. per gal., used at rate of 1 pint per
100 vals. a. ae a .. peracre "0s
Lubricating oil as oh == eee
is estimated at 9s. 1d., 8s. 5d., and 8s. 2d. per acre for 10, 14, and 16 acres
per day respectively. An additional 2 lb. of arsenate per acre will give
better control, say, 90 per cent., at a cost of 12s. 1d. per acre for 10 acres
per day, with corresponding decreases for 14 and 16 acres per day.
4. Preliminary experiments indicate that dusting with calcium
arsenate is not a practicable method of control, but further trials are
desirable.
5. The results of trials with poison baits indicate the possibility of
developing an eflective and comparatively cheap means of control
applicable to types of grazing land inaccessible to sprays.
6. Two important pests, which are often associated with Oncopera,
namely, army worms and white grubs, can be controlled by arsenical
sprays and dusts directed primarily against the principal pest.
IV. NATURAL CONTROL.
No fly or wasp parasites have been discovered during these
investigations, nor can much be added to the information contained in
Lea’s handbook regarding other forms of natural control. The predaceous
beetle Promecoderus ovicollis plays an important part, but it is not
particularly abundant in the northern part of Tasmania. The small
red ant referred to by Lea as an egg predator was not encountered,
probably due to the fact that most of these investigations were carried
out in sown pastures, where ants are never very abundant. Birds
undoubtedly destroy an immense number of larvae, especially during
showery weather, when they are near the entrance to the burrows or
under the covered ways. Of the indigenous species, crows, crow-shrikes
or magpies (Strepera and Gymnorhina), and spur-winged plovers are
the most important in this connexion, but none of them compare with
the introduced starling. Lea places the bandicoot first amongst the
natural enemies of Oncopera, but unfortunately this animal appears to be
comparatively scarce in the more closely- settled districts, although it is
still an important factor in destroying the larval and moth stages. The
latter are preyed upon to a small extent by crows, brown hawks, fan-
tailed cuckoos, starlings, and domestic cats.
During seasons of exceptionally heavy rainfall countless thousands
of grubs perish by drowning. In the Longford district, masses of dead
grubs were seen floating downstream with driftwood and other flood
debris ; whilst at Cressy and near Hobart an incredible number were
27
found in fields that had been submerged during the previous week. A
mere surface film of water however, is not destructive to them since
they are able to live for weeks in flooded burrows with only the head
and thorax above water level.
Severe and continued frosts are popularly supposed to destroy Oncopera
and army worm larvae, but these investigations showed that both pests
are only temporarily affected by extreme cold.
A parasitic fungus apparently quite distinct from Cordyceps gunnii,
Berk and Jsaria oncopterae McAlp., the two species hitherto recorded
as attacking Oncopera, was found commonly in the Scottsdale district
from June to January. The smallest larvae found to have been destroyed
by this organism were about } in. long; all subsequent stages and the
pupae are similarly affected, indicating that its active period extends
over a period of at least seven months. In some localities, only about
2 per cent. of the larvae dug up during one day were affected ; in others
the percentage rose to as high as 15 per cent.
V. OTHER PASTURE PESTS.
In the preceding pages, references have been made to two other
insects which infest Tasmanian pasture lands, namely, army worms and
white grubs, both of which cause very extensive damage and must be
regarded as major pests. The life-history and habits of these insects
are imperfectly known, but it is possible to give some hitherto unrecorded
facts of practical value regarding them.
1. The Army Worm.
The army worm (Persectania ewingi Westw.). Periodic invasions
of army worms have, unfortunately, made this insect only too well known
to Tasmanian farmers. These invasions generally occur at intervals
of several years, consequently farmers are taken unawares and generally
lose heavily, as in the early summer of 1926. In seasons of normal
abundance, this insect passes almost unnoticed, and its depredations
are confused with those of Oncepera, with which it is commonly associated.
On 31st January of last year, Field 2 showed unmistakable evidence
of having been heavily infested with these caterpillars. The surface
soil and short tussocky grass was littered with their excrement and
almost every head of cocksfoot had been nipped off near the seed head,
whilst dead and shrivelled caterpillars, victims of an epidemic, were
to be seen in all directions. Full- “grown larvae and recently transformed
pupae were found in great numbers in the loose dry soil and ashes at
the butt of a burnt-out tree, under the shelter of cow-dung and chips,
and in the surface soil on the sheltered side of logs and fence-posts. A
large proportion of the larvae was parasitized by an unidentified species
of Tachinid fly, which emerged from 5th to 7th March, and from the
pupae moths emerged from 22nd to 26th February. These moths
(the summer brood) were doubtless the progenitors of the larvae which
were found abundantly in tussocks of grass during the following winter
28
and of the moths (spring brood) which emerged in the latter part of
September. From May onwards through the winter, and apparently
until pupation takes place in the early spring, the larvae live in the
tussocks and in burrows from 1 to 3 inches deep, which open out
on the surface to a short silk-covered runway from which they attack
the adjacent foliage. The burrows are neither as deep nor as well formed
as those of Oncopera, and differ from the latter in always containing a
mass of excrement at the bottom. In badly-infested pastures, the
damage caused by these caterpillars is very considerable, and for the
first few months of winter sometimes exceeds that of Oncopera; the
latter, however, have a much longer larval stage and, although only single
brooded, ultimately outrival the army worm in destructiveness in seasons
of normal abundance, not only by devouring more foliage, but by causing
permanent injury or total loss of the plants attacked.
The habits of army worms expose them to destruction by several
important natural enemies, in addition to the Tachinid flies and
epidemics mentioned above. The most important of these enemies are
starlings and a common reddish-coloured ichneumon-fly (Henicospilus sp.).
To what extent the former prey upon the army worm may be indicated
by the fact that from fiv> to sixteen quarter to half-grown larvae were
found in each of eighteen birds examined in July.
Because of its habit of feeding very largely upon the exposed parts
of grass plants, the army worm is much more susceptible to arsenical
sprays than is Oncopera, and in all the experimental blocks 3 lb. (powder)
and upwards per 100 gals. of water gave satisfactory results.
2. White Grubs (various species).
Several species of white grubs—the larvae of cockchafer (Scarabaeidae)
beetles—are found more or less abundantly in Tasmanian grasslands.
Lea (1908) mentions Anodontonyx nigrolineata Bir. (Scitala languida Er.)
as being the most destructive species and has, in addition, identified
the adult stage of Scitala sericans Er., Heteronyx tasmanicus Bl. and
Aphodius howitti Hope from material collected during these investigations
The larvae of the various species have not been studied in sufficient.
detail to enable them to be identified with certainty, but, so far as the
Scottsdale district is concerned, it can be said that one species is of
outstanding importance, although it is possible that some of the others
are more abundant than these investigations have so far indicated. The
identity of this insect has not yet been definitely established, but there
is some reason for believing that it is the larval stage of the beetle
Aphodius howitti Hope, which has not hitherto been recorded as a pest,
though it is well known as a common dung beetle. This species appears
to require about two years in which to complete its larval development,
during the greater part of which it lives a free existence in the soil, feeding
upon the roots of grasses and clovers. After a moult in May, it appears
as a whitish, curved grub with large dark brown head and _ yellowish
mouth parts and, abandoning its earlier habits, constructs a burrow from
which it emerges at night to feed.
29
In constructing these burrows the soil is thrown up loosely until in
June in heavily-infested ground the whole surface and small plants are
more or less covered with soil to a depth of an inch or more. The burrows
are from 3 in. to 4 in. deep and about 4 in. in diameter, with a sloping
runway leading out on to the surface. The runway and entrance are
generally closed by day with loose soil, which is cleared away at night
to enable the grub to reach its food plants. The vertical portion contains
a single grub resting upon or in a mass of freshly-gathered foliage,
comprising the leaves and stems of the various clovers and of cocksfoot
and rye grasses. About the middle of September, many of the grubs
were found to have reached maturity and to have entered upon a
prepupal stage of undetermined duration in rough cells at the bottom
of their burrows, where pupation subsequently takes place. A few
late developing individuals continue to feed until late in December, when
the first pupae were found. In light volcanic soils as many as 40 grubs
were collected in an area 12 in. square, whilst upwards of 50 were gathered
under a piece of cow-dung; fortunately most of the pastures are less
heavily infested or almost entirely free of the pest. The first beetles
were seen early in January, during which month and the first week of
the following month they were only moderately plentiful, suggesting
that the majority had already emerged.
Owners of the most heavily infested of the pastures examined stated
that it is only within recent years that the white grub has become
prominent as a pest in this district, and that its advent had rendered
almost impossible the establishment of clovers in some of their mixed
pastures and the maintenance of these fodders in pastures already
denuded of useful grasses by Oncopera. The history of a i2-acre
block on this property—some of the richest volcanic soil in north-east
Tasmania—indicates to what extent first-class land may be reduced in
value by the combined ravages of Oncopera and white grubs. After
many years of cultivation, this paddock was ploughed and sown in the
autumn of 1923 with oats, annual and perennial clovers and cocksfoot ;
seven months later 27 head of large stock were turned into it and remained
there continuously for six weeks, when, following a five weeks’ “ spell,”
it yielded 24 tons (dry weight) per acre of fodder. With the harvesting
of the annual plants, the paddock was considered to be an established
permanent clover and cocksfoot pasture. and as such should have been
a profitable investment until, by the system of rotation followed, it was
required for other purposes. During the following summer (1924),
it became infested with Oncopera, which by the end of 1925 had practically
eliminated the cocksfoot, leaving little more than the perennial clovers,
which alone were considered sufficiently profitable to justify the retention
of the area for grazing purposes. White grubs, however, made their
appearance in the autumn of 1926 and by the following October had left
nothing of any value as fodder.
(t) Natural Enemies—No fungus or insect parasites of white grubs
were observed on these pastures, and it is doubtful if many of them are
destroyed in their earlier stages by birds and other animals; but from
the time the burrows are commenced they are constantly preyed upon
30
by starlings, and to some extent by magpies and crows, to whom they
are generally accessible, due to the fact that the stores of green-stuff in
the burrows compel the insects to frequently rest near the surface.
(ti) Artificial methods of control—The surface-feeding habits of the older
stages of this grub, which appear to be unusual in allied pests, render
them susceptible to the effects of poisonous sprays and dusts, and in
all the tests made on Oncopera with lead arsenate (3 lb. and upwards per
100 gals. of water) and calcium arsenate dust the control was almost
complete.
The best time for either spraying or dusting would be the latter part
of June or early July; if delayed until September or October much
damage to the herbage would have resulted from their prolonged attacks.
If, however, the pastures are heavily infested with Oncopera and army
worms, as most probably would be the case, it might be more profitable
to delay treatment for a few weeks with the object of destroying all
three pests at one operation.
VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.
The writer extends very cordial thanks to those who have assisted
in these investigations. This assistance has been given most willingly
by officials of the Department of Agriculture, by graziers and agricul-
turists, by residents and by fellow entomologists, and has included
facilities for travel, the use of farm stock and equipment, labour, expert
advice, and hospitality. The co-operation of Messrs. P. E. Keam, H. G.
Salier, H. Briggs and Sons, to mention only a few individually, has been
enlisted on numerous occasions, and has been indispensable. The
coloured frontspiece is the work of Mrs. Mavis Arnold, B.Sc., to whom
thanks are due also.
VII. LITERATURE.
Thompson, E. H., 1895.—“ Insect and Fungus Pests of Field, Farm
and Garden,” Council of Agriculture, Tasmania.
McAlpine and Hill, W. H. F., 1895—‘‘ The Entomophagous Fungi of
Victoria,” Proc. Roy. Soc. Vict. Vol. VII.
Lea, A. M., 1901.—Journal of Agriculture, Tasmania, p. 265.
Littler, F. M., 1904 (communicated by H. Rowland Brown).—*‘ On
Oncopera intricata,” Trans. Entom. Soc. London ; Proceedings, p. XxXvi.
Lea, A. M., 1908.—“‘ Insect and Fungus Pests of the Orchard and Farm ”
(Third edition), Council of Agriculture, Tasmania.
French, C., 1908.—** Destructive Insects of Victoria,” Part IV., p. 103.
31
VITI.—_ APPENDIX.
During the progress of the foregoing report through the press, a
further series of experiments for the control of the grub stage of Oncopera
was carried out in the Scottsdale district between the 31st August and
14th September, 1928, details and results of which are recorded here-
under. Brief references are made also to the progress of investigations
elsewhere and to Tasmanian pastures.
1. Field Experiments.
(i) Spraying.
The equipment used in spraying was the same as that employed in
the earlier experiments (see p. 18), with the exception of the substitution
of two E.C. Brown strainer nozzles for an equal number of Friend nozzles
on the spray boom. The former pattern proved to be more satisfactory
than the latter, inasmuch that there were no stoppages due to the clogging
of nozzles. The fluid was distributed at the rate of about 90-100 gallons
per acre at pressures ranging from 200 lb. to 250 lb. per inch.
(a) Lead Arsenate.—Approximately 4 acres in Field 2 (see p. 19) were
sprayed on 3rd and 5th September with a well-known commercial brand
of lead arsenate (powder) in solutions of 3 lb., 4 lb., 51b., 6 Ib., and 7 |b.
per 100 gallons of water. The pasture was short, dense, and almost free
from weeds, dry grass and other obstacles to successful spraying ; young
clover was much in evidence, and the general condition of the field had
improved very markedly since the beginning of the year. Oncopera
grubs were moderately numerous throughout, and on one block, which
had been used as a control for previous experiments and had received
no previous treatment whatever, were exceedingly numerous on all parts
not affected by storm water from an adjacent road. Army worms and
white grubs were present in negligible numbers on all blocks.
Four blocks. each of } acre, were sprayed on 3rd September with
solutions of 3 lb., 4 Ib., 5 lb., and 6 lb. per 100 gallons, and two blocks
each of 1 acre were sprayed two days later with solutions of 4 lb. and 7 |b.
per 100 gallons. For several weeks previously the weather had been
very cold and windy, with frequent heavy showers of rain, but from noon
on Ist to 7.30 p.m. on the 4th there had been no rain and the conditions
on the 3rd were nearly perfect for spraying operations. Heavy showers fell
at intervals throughout the night of the 4th, but on the following after-
noon it was possible to spray the two larger blocks under favorable con-
ditions, although heavy rain fell at intervals for a few hours during the
evening after most of the spray had dried on the foliage. Following these
showers there was no further rain until the morning of the 9th, when there
commenced a period of five days of frequent and prolonged heavy falls.
In each of the four smaller blocks, small areas of infested pasture
were covered in various ways immediately after spraying to protect
them from the effects of rain. In some of these small areas the covered
ways over the burrows were removed so as to expose the entrance to
the latter and the damaged butts of the tussocks to the full effect of the
spray. (This procedure. was adopted also in experiments with calcium
arsenate, Paris green, sodium arsenate, and poison baits.)
32
On the 11th September, eight days after spraying, the grubs (25 in
number) in the small protected areas were removed from their burrows
and examined for evidence of poisoning ; none appeared to be affected.
This result was most unexpected in view of the fact that the exposed
feeding surface had been thoroughly wetted by the sprays used and that
sprays of similar strengths had given definite results on the third and
fourth days in the series of experiments carried out twelve months earlier
(p. 21).
; On the 25th October all six blocks were re-examined, when it was found
that there had been an almost complete destruction of erubs with solutions
of 5 lb., 6 lb., and 7 lb. per 100 gallons, and only slightly less satisfactory
results with 4 lb.-100 gallons. On the block prev viously referred to as
being most heavily infested, which was sprayed with 3 lb. per 100 gallons,
there was still present a destructive number of grubs in places, but over
the greater part of it they were not sufficiently numerous to cause app
able damage. The present condition of this field, including two 4-acre
blocks (to ‘be referred to later) which were sprayed with Paris green, iS
in striking contrast to its condition in the spring of 1926 and 1927. The
whole area (with the exception noted above), formerly heavily grub-
infested, and showing more or less extensive bare patches, is now a
continuous sward of grass and clover, with a grub-population over the
greater part of it of one per 10 to 12 square yards.
(b) Paris green.—Two 3-acre blocks in Field 2 were sprayed with
Paris green, 4 lb. per 100 gallons and 2 Ib. per 100 gallons, on 31st August
and 3rd September respectively. Rain fell during the night of 31st
August and morning of Ist September, necessitating the re-spraying of
one of the blocks on 3rd September. As previously noted, no rain fell
on the night of the 3rd, but there were heavy showers during the following
night. On the llth there was evidence of foliage burning with the
stronger solution, particularly along wheel tracks; but the amount of
damage to forage plants was negligible. On this date many grubs were
gathered from the protected areas and other parts of the pasture, none of
which appeared to be affected by poison. These two blocks were again
inspected on 25th October, when they were found to be almost grub-free.
(ce) Calcium Arsenate.—A }-acre block of very heavily infested land,
from which nearly all useful herbage had been eliminated by grubs
during preceding years, was sprayed on 6th September with calcium
arsenate at the rate of 8 lb. (powder) to 100 gallons water. From the
time of spraying until the morning of the 9th no rain fell ; there were,
therefore, three nights available for the ingestion of the heavily sprayed
foliage before rain could influence the results. On the 11th some of
the grubs appeared to be affected by poison, and there was a negligible
amount of burning of clover foliage. Slugs, which were exceedingly
plentiful in this field, appeared to be unaffected. On 25th October, when
the block was next examined, it was estimated that only 60 per cent.
to 70 per cent. of the grubs had been destroyed. The effect, 1f any, upon
slugs could not be determined.
(d) Sodium Arsenite-—In view of results obtained elsewhere it
appeared desirable to test sodium arsenite as a combined weed-killer
and insecticide. For this purpose an unstocked field. which had ceased
33
to be productive (as a result of grub infestation) and which was about to
be fallowed, was selected. The herbage comprised a small quantity of
worthless grass (fog and silver-grass), thistles, dandelions, sorrel, and
scattered plants of clover and trefoil. Oncopera grubs and slugs were
exceedingly plentiful, while several species of cutworms and army worms
were present in small numbers. The poison used was sodium arsenite
(containing 80 per cent. As, O;) in the form commonly retailed as
“weed killer.” Solutions containing 4 lb., 6 lb., 8 Ib., and 16 Ib. of the
poison to nue gallons water were used at the rate of about 100 gallons
per acre on 3-acre blocks.
SB alutions of 8 lb. and 16 lb. per 100 gallons were applied early in the
afternoon of 4th September. Heavy showers fell between 7.30 and
8.30 p.m. and again on the following night. On the morning of 5th
September dead Shes were to be found 1 in ‘considerable numbers on both
blocks. On the followi ing morning (6th) the eradication of slugs appeared
to be complete, whilst dead cutworms, army worms and another orass-
eating caterpillar (Anthela) were to be found in considerable numbers.
Neither in the covered nor open areas were there any indications that
Oncopera larvae had been affected. At 3 p.m. thistles, sorrel and
dandelion showed evidence of severe burning, trefoil and clover were
slightly affected, and grasses unharmed. On the 7th Oncopera appeared
to be still unaffected. On the 11th, when the next examination was made,
dead and dying Oncopera were found in both blocks, either on the
surface or with the head visible at the entrance of the burrows. On this
date, the various weeds previously mentioned showed extensive burning.
whilst trefoil was severely burnt. Clover was hardly affected at all and
was making new growth. Of the two grasses only silver-grass was
affected. In all cases the damage along wheel tracks was so great that
the latter were conspicuous at a considerable distance. When the final
examination was made on 25th October both solutions (8 lb. per 100
gallons and 16 lb. per 100 gallons) appeared to have reduced Oncopera by
about 75 per cent. to 80 per cent. The effect on weeds was most marked
where the stronger solution had been used, but in neither block had
the weeds sustained more than a severe check. There were no appreciable
il-effects on trefoil and clover.
Solutions of 4 lb., 6 lb., and 8 lb. per 100 gallons were applied about
noon on the 6th September under similar conditions to those noted
above. Following the application of the spray, there was a period of 60
hours during which no rain fell to affect the poison; there were thus
three nights available for feeding under conditions favorable to a satis-
factory degree of control. At 3 p.m. on the 7th shght burning of
susceptible foliage was noticed, but there was no indication that Oncopera
was affected. On the 11th the condition of the herbage and the grubs
on the block sprayed with 8 lb. per 100 gallons was similar to that re-
corded for the same date in the case of the block sprayed on the 3rd_ with
the same solution. Similar foliage burning occurred also in the block
sprayed with 6 lb. to 100 gallons, but there were markedly fewer dead
and dying grubs. Four |b. per 100 gallons caused extensive foliage burning
to susceptible weeds, but had no effect on fog-grass, clover, and trefoil,
whilst its effects on Oncopera larvae was perceptibly less pronounced
o4
than were those of the stronger solutions. Unfortunately these two
latter blocks were fallowed before further data could be obtained. On
25th October no appreciable difference could be detected between the
condition as regards both foliage-burning and grub population, of the
blocks sprayed with 8 lb. per 100 gallons on 3rd and 6th September
respectively, notwithstanding the fact that in the first trial spraying
operations were followed a few hours later, and again on the following
night, by heavy rain, whereas in the later trial there was a rainless period
of 60 hours.
(1) Rolling.
Trials made on 3rd May with an ordinary field roller on a l-acre
block in Field 2 indicate that this method is not likely to prove of
practical value in the control of Oncopera. In exceptional! circumstances,
1.e., when the surface is well graded and free of obstructions and debris
and the contour of the land such that a heavily-loaded implement could
be employed, it is possible that more satisfactory results might be
obtained. Such conditions, however, are seldom to be found in Tasmania.
(i) Dusting.
Attempts were made to carry out further trials with calcium arsenate
dust as a means of controlling Oncopera ; but, after repeated failures,
due to adverse weather conditions, these were abandoned. Apart
altogether from considerations of cost and effectiveness, it would seem
that meteorological factors alone render it extremely doubtful if dusting
could be employed against this pest.
(iv) Poison Batts.
The following poison baits were tested on 7th September on five
blocks each measuring 7 yds. by 273 yds. :—
(1) Paris green i - Be = 4 |b.
Brn ... ws ce sa 2. & oes
Water .. ~ Pe en 3 qts.
(2) Paris green z % i ee Jalb:
Brae - aa se ee ie W2BED:
Molasses we Ne fe .. 64 fluid oz.
Water .. oe < 3 qts.
(3) White arsenic (80. per cent. fee O;) at delib:
Bran oh by es 25 Ib.
Molasses 64 fluid oz.
Water .. 3 qts.
(4) Calcium arsenate 1 lb.
Bran 25 |b.
Molasses 64 fluid oz.
Salt 22 Ib.
Water ; 3 qts.
(5) Sodium fluoride .. 1 |b.
Bran 25 |b.
Molasses 64 fluid oz.
Water .. 3 qts.
35
The blocks were a continuation of, and in the same condition as,
those sprayed with sodium arsenate. The mash was distributed by hand
at the rate of 78 lb. per acre of No. 1 and 39 lb. per acre of Nos. 2-5. In
each block a few small particularly heavily-infested areas were isolated
within suitably covered metal collars which confined the larvae to
definite feeding grounds from which rain was excluded, whilst others were
very heavily baited and left unprotected from the elements. Distribution
was made during the evening of 7th September, and as no rain fell during
the following 36 hours, two fine nights were available for feeding before
the toxicity of the exposed baits could have been affected.
On 11th September, one dead and four living Oncopera were found
in each of two exposed areas which had been heavily baited with Nos. 1
and 2, whilst three dead and five living Oncopera and three dead cutworms
found in one similarly treated with No.5. There was no mortality with
Nos. 3 and 4.
On 13th September the following data were noted from the protected
areas :—
-- | Unaffected. | Affected. | Dead. Total.
No. 1 (a) 1 3 4 8
(b) 2 3 a}
(c} 4 hy el gar .
No. 2 (a) 2 2 | a 7
ib) 1 i I 3
(2) ] 2 3 | 6
No. 3 (a) ! | 2 4
(b; 2 1 3 6
No. 4 (a) 7 | | S
(b) >) | 6
No. 5 (a) | 3 3
(b) 5 | D
(c) 4 } 4
On the last-mentioned date only a few dead and affected larvae
were found on each of the main blocks. A small proportion of the
burrows had been vacated, indicating that their former occupants had
been affected by poison and made their way to the surface, probably
to be gathered by birds.
On 15th September, five blocks adjoming the above and similar in
area and condition were poisoned with baits Nos. 1-5 respectively, the
quantities used being the same as before. No records were kept of the
weather conditions subsequent to the distribution of the material.
On 25th October all of the blocks were found to be still very heavily
infested, the control being practically negligible. Of the five baits used,
sodium fluoride (No. 5) alone gave any appreciable result, and in this
case it was estimated that less than 25 per cent. of the grubs had been
destroyed.
36
(v) Top-dressing.
(a) Superphosphate-——On 3rd May further trials were made on two
l-acre blocks in Field 2 to determine the larvicidal properties of superphos-
phate when applied as a pasture fertilizer in the usual quantity (186 lb.
peracre) and manner. The results, noted in the following October, appeared
to be entirely negative, as in the case of the first experiment (September,
1927).
(b) Lime.—A }-acre block in Field 2 was top-dressed with 23 ewt. of
lime on 3rd May. In October it was evident that the treatment had been
ineffective, even in isolated places where the quantity deposited had been
sufficient to completely cover the burrows to a depth of from } inch to
3d inch.
(c) Superphosphate—Arsenic.—Twelve 7-lb. samples of H.G. super.,
containing respectively 5 per cent., 10 per cent., 20 per cent., 30 per cent.,
40 per cent. and 50 per cent. calcium arsenate (samples Al -A6) and 2°5
per cent., 5 per cent., 10 per cent., 15 per cent., 20 per cent., and 25 per
cent. arsenic trioxide (samples B1-6) were courteously supplied by the
Electrolytic Zime Co. Ltd., Risdon, Tasmania, and tested as a combined
fertilizer and larvicide on moderately heavily-infested pasture in which
trefoil predominated. The various mixtures were distributed by hand
at the rate of 186 lb. per acre during brief intervals of calm and fine weather.
Following a few hours after the distribution of sample Al-A5 on 4th
September, and A6, and B14 on 5th September, there was heavy rain
which removed most of the material from the foliage. Samples B5 and 6
were distributed on 7th September, and were not subjected to the action
of rain until two days later.
On 11th September, when the first examination was made, one dead
grub was found on the surface of block treated with A5; whilst on blocks
treated with Al and A2 there was evidence of foliage burning on thistles
and other weeds. On 25th October, when the second examination was
made, a very marked improvement in the herbage on all blocks was noted,
due almost entirely, 1t appeared, to the action of the fertilizer. The
trefoil, formerly stunted and more or less dormant, had become a dense
mat in which Oncopera burrows were difficult to locate. In blocks treated
with Al-3 and B1-3 the destruction of grubs was negligible; in the
remaining blocks the control showed progressive improvement as the
percentage of arsenic increased, but in none were the results at all satis-
factory. Comparisons between blocks treated with A6 and B6 with their
controls showed a reduction in grub population of only 31 per cent. and
24 per cent. respectively. These figures, however, are only approximate,
since it was impossible to determine the population of the several blocks
before the experiments were commenced.
(vi) Conclusions.
1. The results of the spraying experiments outlined in the Appendix
confirm conclusions 2, 3, and 4 (p. 25) previously arrived at.
2. Lead arsenate (5 lb. to 6 lb. (powder) per 100 gallons of water) is the
most satisfactory of the various sprays tested.
3. Spraying is likely to be most effective if carried out during the latter
part of July to the early part of September.
4. Dusting, rolling, the use of poison baits and top-dressing have proved
unsatisfactory for the control of Oncopera.
37
2. Other Investigations.
(i) Investigations wm Victoria.—Further investigations in this State
have failed to demonstrate the existence of parasites other than those
previously referred to (p. 6).
Porina fuscomaculata, the life-history and habits of which are very
imperfectly known, has been found recently in abundance in a Gippsland
pasture, where it was causing damage to introduced fodder grasses hardly
less serious than that observed in Oncopera-infested pastures in Tasmania.
It would appear from these investigations that the larval stage of this
insect requires a much longer period for its completion than is the case
with Oncopera, but in certain stages in their development and in their
habits they so closely resemble Oncopera that they cannot be excluded
from this research.
(ui) Investigations in England.—Arrangements have been made for an
investigation to be undertaken in England on the life-history of Allomyia
debillator Fabr. the ichneumon-fly parasite of Hepialus humuli referred
to on page 6.
(ii) Taxonomic Work.—The investigation of the Oncopera problem
in Tasmania has led inevitably to a study of certain allied mainland species
which have received, or are receiving, the attention of specialists. In
order to avoid overlapping and resulting confusion, it has been deemed
advisable to secure the collaboration of a lepidopterist with an expert
knowledge of this group of insects and with access to material not available
to the writer. Arrangements have been made accordingly, with the
approval of the authorities of the South Australian Museum, for the co-
operation of Mr. N. B. Tindale in the preparation of a paper dealing with
aspects of the research of no immediate interest to the Tasmanian
orazier.
3. Tasmanian Pastures.
The possibilities of controlling Oncopera in Tasmanian grass-lands
by artificial and biological methods have been discussed in the preceding
pages ; there remains to be considered the question of introducing other
varieties of fodder plants and a system of shorter rotation of crops.
The writer’s enquiries amongst farmers indicate that there are practical
difficulties to be overcome in both directions ; these matters, however,
are receiving the attention of the experts of the State Department of
Agriculture, whose objective is not only an improvement in the fertility
of arable land, but the elimination of the present waste due to the
depredations of Oncopera. Since the most serious loss due to the latter
generally occurs during the third and fourth years, it is obvious that any
system of rotation which will reduce the period during which the land
is under grass must have a very important result in relation to the pests
referred to in this report. It is of interest to note in this connexion
that cow-grass clover is reported to have been seriously damaged by
these grubs in the Ringarooma district during the second year of its
growth.
Co
P
EXPLANATION OF PLATES.
Plate 1.
Fig. 1—Tasmanian Grass-grub (Oncopera intricata, Walker).
Fig. 2.—Pupa.
Fig. 3.—Moth.
Fig. 4.—Moth, with wings expanded.
. 14.
Plate 2.
. 5.—Grub-infested cocksfoot before removal of covered ways; also
showing spray residue.
. 6.—The above after removal of covered ways ; showing entrances
to five burrows and damage to crown of plant.
Plate 3.
. 7.--Grub-infested cocksfoot before removal of covered ways.
. 8.-The above after removal of covered ways ; showing entrances
to five burrows and damage to crown of plant.
Plate 4.
ig. 9.—Section through cocksfoot plant, covered way and burrow ;
showing destruction of butt and silk-lined burrow.
. 10.—Grub-infested four-years old pasture (Field 2) ; note destruction
of grass below and to left of sheep.
Plate 5.
g. 11.—Close view, showing grub-holes after sweeping away surface
coverings (Field 2).
g. 12.—Rougher type of pasture (Field 3).
Plate 6.
. 13.—Hilly grazing land ; Field 2 in top left corner, bracken-covered
field in centre ; ferns in paddock on left have been recently cut.
Spraying outfit.
39
PLATE 2.
Fic. 5.—Grub-infested cocksfoot before removal of covered ways; also
showing spray residue.
Fic. 6.—The above after removal of covered ways, showing entrances to
five burrows and damage to crown of plant.
40
PLATE 3,
Fic, 7,—Grub-infested cocksfoot before removal of covered ways.
Fic. 8.—The above after removal of covered ways, showing entrances to five
burrows and damage to crown of plant.
41
PLATE 4.
Fic. 9.—Section through cocksfoot plant, covered way and burrow: showing
destruction of butt and silk-lined burrow.
Fic. 10.—Grub-infested four years old pasture (Field 2)
of grass below and to left of sheep.
; ncte destruction
Fic. 11,—Close view showing grub-holes after sweeping away surface
covering (Field 2).
Fic. 12.—Rougher type of pasture (Field 3).
Fie. 13.—Hilly grazing land; Field 2 in top left corner, bracken covered
field in centre; ferns in paddock on left have been recently cut.
APRY HA ee
an She a i Pe ma SE
lic. 14.—Spraying outfit.
By Authority: H. J. GREEN, Government Printer, Melbourne.
1
PAMPHLET No,
OF AUSTRALIA
ion
ad
2
1
'
ic
z
fee
2
cil for Sie
w. 1 ‘Young, aa. C.B.E. ae
ees, Australia),
PAMPHLET No. 12
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
|
|
OF AUSTRALIA
TE
Pee ILE TICK PEST
AND
Methods for its Eradication
|
MELBOURNE, 1929
By Authority:
H. J. Green, Government Printer, Melbourne |
TSE einen
C.11071.
PREFATORY NOTE.
This pamphlet is a report prepared for publication by the Cattle
Tick Dip Committee, which has for some years been carrying out a
programme of investigation in Queensland. The necessary funds are
contributed by the Departments of Agriculture of New South Wales
and Queensland and by the Council. The Committee is composed of
representatives of the contributing organizations. Its personnel at
the time this report was prepared is given on page 17.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
I. IntTRoDUCTION = So Se ae ae ig is 5
Il. Tar Cattie Tick Prst—
1. Life History of the Cattle Tick 45 ee es 6
2. Influence of Climate on the Activity of the Cattle Tek. =
3. Media for the Spread of the Cattle Tick Eye si Ne 8
If. Tick INFESTATION .. ee we = i ae at 9
IV. Tick FEvER—
1. General Ae ; ae i e u: £4 9
2. Clinical Manifestations at 8 is $: «i Ye
3. Post-mortem Lesions .. e. a 2s 2 so5ql2
4, Treatment .. = te or We bys 3 spe ke
5. Protection .. ie ae We ae wv « ge
V. METHODS ADOPTED FOR TioK ERapIcaTION— :
1. General x Es me ne a ae <3 ee
2. Dipping AP is Le Ppa |!
3. Investigations of the Cattle Tick «Dip Committee in Queensland .. 17
4. Summary of Investigations of the Tick Dip Committee .. or
5. Present and Projected Activites of the Tick Dip Committee -.
IR. Ree aby, LICK PEO e
AND
METHODS FOR ITS ERADICATION.
I. INTRODUCTION.
The eradication of the cattle tick from Australian herds is a problem
which is of vital concern to the welfare of the pastoral and dairying
industries of the Commonwealth. To place these industries on a
scientific and profitable basis the minimization of the tick is essential,
and its elimination is greatly to be desired.
Although the stock owners and dairymen will obtain the greatest
advantage from the results of a campaign for tick eradication, the
benefits to be derived in other directions, such as in the tanning and
leather industries, make the problem one of national importance.
This pamphlet contains a summary of the latest information on the
cattle tick and the methods by which it can be eradicated. It contains
the essential features of the previous Bulletins (1) and (13),* and, in
addition, the results of further scientific investigations carried out in
pursuance of the policy originally outlined by a special Committee
appointed by the former Institute of Science and Industry in 1917.
The recommendation of that Committee was as follows :-—
That further scientific investigations should be carried out
on the life history of the cattle tick in Australia, the micro-
organism conveyed by the tick which causes tick fever,
methods of treatment of cattle, and improvement of tick
destroying agents.
A Cattle Tick Dip Committee was appointed in 1918 to carry out
the proposals outlined above and, infer alia, to ascertain and collate
scientific data in respect of dipping fluids, their potency in relation
to the destruction of tick life, and the effect of dipping upon treated
animals. .
The activities of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in
relation to the cattle tick are primarily centred at present in the opera-
tions of the Tick Dip Committee. The investigations of this body are
outlined in the pamphlet.
* Issued by the former Institute of Science and Industry.
€.11071.—2
6
Il. THE CATTLE TICK PEST.
Owing to the serious losses it occasions, the extent of its incursion,
and the persistent manner in which it spreads, the cattle tick pest
constitutes an ever increasing danger to the bovine herds of the Common-
wealth, and a grave menace to many important industries.
The incidence of the pest causes two distinct disease conditions in
cattle, viz., tick infestation and tick fever. The former may occur alone,
but the latter under natural conditions is dependent upon the presence
of infected ticks. ’
The fact that the cattle tick is capable of giving rise to disease per se,
by gross infestation, has not always been recognized, and early records
of the pest refer almost exclusively to tick fever or its synonyms.
Tick fever belongs to the class of diseases known as piroplasmoses,
which are caused by endo-corpuscular parasites belonging to the group
Protozoa. Many diseases which are now classified as piroplasmoses are
known to have existed for centuries and to have a wide geographical
range. The particular form of piroplasmosis known as tick fever in
Australia is due to Piroplasma (Babesia) bigeminum, which is also the
cause of Texas fever in the United States of America, and similar diseases
in Kurope, Asia, South America, and South Africa.
(1) Life-History of the Cattle Tick.
The Australian cattle tick (Boophilus Australis) differs in slight
structural features from the “ Texas fever” tick (Boophilus annulatus)
of the United States of America, but the life-history and habits of the
two are practically identical.
When the female tick becomes fully matured, she detaches herself
from her host and falling to the ground preferably seeks some secluded
spot, where she remains quiet for a period of from two to ten days in
summer, or from two to three weeks, or even much longer, in winter;
after which she commences to lay eggs. The number laid varies from
about 1,500 to 3,000, the average being about 2,500. Those which hatch
out vary from 3 to 98 per cent. Partially engorged females also lay
viable eggs, but in smaller numbers. The eggs appear as dark reddish-
brown ovoid wax-like bodies, about one-fiftieth of an inch long, and
one-sixty-sixth of an inch broad at their widest part, and they are very
resistant to changes in temperature. Moisture has but little effect upon.
them, consequently the spread of ticks by heavy rains washing the eggs
from one pasture to another frequently occurs. Protracted exposure to
direct sunlight destroys their fertility, although they may retain their
viability for over eight months in creek flotsam. They are capable of
withstanding the effects of low temperature (even 15° F.) to a remarkable
extent. Under favorable conditions, the eggs proceed to develop larval
or “seed”? ticks, the time required for which varies from a fortnight to
three weeks or more, depending upon external influences, such as tem-
perature, moisture, shade, &c. Warm moist weather, such as that
existing in our coastal areas, is most conducive to speedy hatching.
7
Since each female tick lays an enormous mass of eggs at one spot,
thousands of larvae appear in the course of time at the same place, ascend
the vegetation, fencing, &c., and collect in masses ready to swarm upon any
object that brushes past. They do not appear to display any discernment
as to the object to which they attach themselves, as is evident by their
swarming on inanimate articles, such as clothing, blankets, &c. Their
parasitism is, however, so perfect that, unless they attach themselves to
a suitable host, no further development occurs ; they soon fall off and
in time perish. They are very tenacious of life and have been known to
live for nearly eight months during the colder part of the year in America.
The larval tick, having gained its host, crawls over the skin and finally
attaches itself by means of its mouth parts, preferably to places where
the skin is soft, and at once commences its parasitic life by obtaining
nourishment from the blood of its host. If infected with the pathogenic
micro-organism it may cause fever, although it is so small as to be
difficult to detect with the unaided eye. After being on its host for
about a week, the six-legged larval tick casts its coat and emerges as
an eight-legzed nymph. It fastens itself clese to the spot where it
was previously attached, commences to grow, and becomes of a russet-
brown colour with markings along the back. During the nymphal
stage, the sexual organs develop, and at the second moulting in about
another week, they are complete. The sexually mature female tick re-
attaches herself on or near her original site, soon becomes fertilized by
the wandering male, and rapidly increases in size until she becomes fully
matured, when she is about half-an-inch long. At first she is of a slate
grey colour, with a few irregular yellow markings and white legs, but
‘becomes darker, longer and rounder as she distends her body with
blood, a day or two before she drops off her host. The different periods
occupied by the tick in its metamorphoses are subject to variations
depending chiefly on meteorological influences and environment. Experi-
ments made at Rockhampton by Tidswell in summer months indicate
that the non-parasitic stage extended on the average to 23 days, and
that the parasitic stage was fairly consistently about 21 days.
The cattle tick is the natural intermediary in the dissemination of
tick fever, and it is probable that a single infected tick is capable of
reproducing the disease in a susceptible beast. The transmission of the
disease usually occurs soon after the larval tick attaches itself to the
skin of the host, the infection being transmitted to the larval tick from
the infected adult female parent through the egg. Non-infected ticks
become infected when they feed upon an animal that harbours the piro-
plasma in its blood stream. Consequently those ticks which develop
upon cattle that have not suffered tick fever, or upon other animals
naturally insusceptible to the fever, are incapable of spreading infection.
This fact accounts for the absence of tick fever in certain centres where
the tick has been introduced by horses or sheep.
Adult ticks have been found on the face and legs of sheep in Queens-
land. It is generally considered that the tick would not develop where
yolk exists on the skin, but Pound states he has found cattle ticks maturing
in places where the wool was dense. Matured female ticks developing
upon horses and sheep lay fertile eggs.
8
(2) Influence of Climate on the Activity of the Cattle Tick.
Although cattle tick infestation is practically confined to areas in
Queensland, New South Wales, Northern Territory, and Western Aus-
tralia within an average of 200 miles from the coast line, and only sporadic
outbreaks have been noted and dealt with in the inland portions of
Queensland, Western Australia and the Territory, it would be incorrect
to say that cattle ticks will not live in the latter areas. They certainly
do not flourish in those areas during a prolonged spell of dry weather
when there is an absence of suitable vegetation necessary for protecting
the engorged female ticks during oviposition and hatching of the eggs,
but in an abnormally wet season, when heavy rains have been wide-
spread, conditions are temporarily favorable for the unimpeded
development of cattle ticks in localities in which they would not survive
in normal seasons.
(3) Media for the Spread of the Cattle Tick.
Cattle are the natural hosts of the tick, and whilst horses and sheep
are hosts in a lesser degree, their presence has not proved a serious -
obstacle to practical eradication work. At the Yeerongpilly Experiment
Station, Queensland, which was stocked with horses and sheep as well
as cattle, ticks were completely eradicated by the regular treatment of
the cattle only, the horses and sheep being untreated. Nevertheless,
where complete eradication is being undertaken the horse must be
regarded as a potential source of danger and necessary precautions taken
to deal with it. Especially is this necessary in the case of horses moving
from tick-infested country td clean country or from infested to clean areas.
All experiments, both in Australia and in America, to induce cattle
ticks to mature on dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits and native wild animals
and birds have been unsuccessful. In Australia, it has been shown
that by regular and systematic dipping of cattle in standard arsenical
solution, ticks have been eradicated in several districts where marsupials
and other wild animals and birds are known to exist. During the visit
of a representative of the Queensland Department of Agriculture and
Stock to America in 1912, he personally observed in the tick infested
areas in the southern States, numbers of wild animals including native
jack rabbits, imported English wild rabbits, coyotes, prairie dogs,
squirrels, opossums and numerous small animals, also a large variety of
wild birds. Notwithstanding the unrestricted movements of these wild
animals and birds, thousands of square miles of country, including entire
States, have since his visit been completely freed from cattle ticks and
released from quarantine restrictions. In the voluminous literature
published by the Federal and State Governments in the United States
dealing with practical tick eradication, it is significant that no mention
is made of wild animals proving a hindrance to the work.
In portions of South Africa where similar conditions prevail regarding
the presence of numerous wild animals and birds, successful eradication
has been accomplished, although the matter was further complicated by
the fact that at least three distinct species of cattle ticks had to be
dealt with and that some of the indigenous wild animals are bovines.
9
Il. TICK INFESTATION.
Apart from causing tick fever, a few infesting ticks do not give rise
to any appreciable inconvenience, but when they exist on a beast m
numbers, they cause constitutional disturbances.
The first indication of heavy tick infestation is irritation. Evidence of
local inflammation soon becomes manifest about the points of attachment,
which are usually on the parts where the skin is thin. As the ticks
increase in number, the irritation produced becomes so great that the
infested beast isin an almost continuous state of unrest. In gross
infestation, parts such as the escutcheon, scrotum, and flanks, where the
ticks attach themselves in countless numbers, become inflamed, corru-
gated and fissured, gangrene supervenes, and often patches of skin the
size of one’s hand slough off, leaving nasty ulcerated sores which quickly
become fly-blown if left unattended. Pendent parts, such as the dewlap
and scrotum, become dropsical, and superficial lymph glands stand out
prominently. The affected animals grow dull and listless, not caring to
move in search of food, stand in shade not far from water, lose condition
daily, and soon present a miserable appearance.
The condition produced by gross infestation is variously known as
tick worry, tick poverty, and tick anaemia. It was first clearly described
in Queensland by the late Dr. Sydney Hunt, in connexion with the Bool-
burra cattle, which showed symptoms of fever, anaemia and exhaustion,
and many of which died. Hunt showed that the degree of anaemia
was roughly proportional to the number of infesting ticks and the condi-
tion was quite distinct from that due to tick fever, although, as has been
previously pointed out, tick fever and tick worry may concurrently
affect the same beast. Cattle suffer more severely from tick worry when
in low condition, particularly if the fodder is dry and scarce, as in periods
of drought. Moreover, cattle newly exposed to infestation not only
suffer to a greater degree from tick irritation than those accustomed to
ticky pastures, but they become more grossly parasitized. Those born
and reared on infested pastures seem to a certain degree to become
habituated to the tick.
Horses at pasture also suffer from tick irritation very keenly. They
tub themselves violently, nibble and bite affected parts until bleeding
abrasions are produced, become listless, lose condition, and cannot stand
work. Horses groomed and worked seldom become grossly infested.
IV. TICK FEVER.
(1) General.
The best known synonyms of this disease are Texas fever, bloody
murrain, southern cattle fever (United States of America), bovine malaria
(Europe), tristeza (South America), red water,(South Africa, Great Bri-
tain, and Australia), bovine piroplasmosis and babesiosis bovum. By the
name red water, it was extensively known in the Northern Territory and
Queensland, owing to red-coloured urine being voided by some of the
affected animals; but as haemoglobinuria (red water) is a symptom
common to several affections, the use of this synonym is to be discouraged.
-
10
Tick fever is a specific disease of cattle caused by a protozoan parasite,
the Piroplasma bigeminum or Babesia bigemina. In natural conditions
there is no reason to suppose that the disease is spread by means other
than the cattle tick. It can, however, be reproduced in susceptible-
animals by artificial inoculation with fresh blood of an affected beast ;
but exposure to urine, manure and nasal secretions of sick animals, and
to blood and viscera of cattle dead of the disease, has always been attended
with negative results.. An affected animal may, upon recovering, regain
good health, become well-conditioned, and cohabit with susceptible
animals without harm accruing ; but as soon as the cattle tick is
introduced and develops upon it, the recovered beast becomes a serious
source of danger to uninfected cattle.
When the disease is induced by artificial inoculation, the period of
incubation usually ranges from three to ten days. When naturally ac-
quired by exposing susceptible animals to tick-infested pastures, the
first manifestation of the disease is usually seen between the tenth and
eighteenth day, and the influence of certain factors, such as age, sex,
condition, season and nourishment, upon the symptoms of tick fever has
long been recognized. Young cattle, and particularly sucking calves,
are more resistant to acute tick fever. Bulls (vearlings and over) are
prone to suffer the fever in its most acute form, the fatality in adult
bulls being from-80 to 90 per cent. Adult unprotected cattle usually
manifest a severe type, and 40 to 60 per cent. may die, those carrying
extremes of condition generally suffering most. The disease exists in
its most acute form during summer and autumn months, and mortality
is always accentuated when the season is dry and fodder scarce. The
management of the animals during their illness also has a marked influence
on the severity of the attack. Extremes of climatic temperature,
excitement and exhaustion caused by worrying, droving and search for
food greatly reduce the chances of recovery. On the other hand, losses
are greatly minimized when the cattle are stalled and nursed, or are left
undisturbed in paddocks containing succulent fodder, good shelter, and
an ample supply of water easily accessible.
(2) Clinical Manifestations.
The chief clinical manifestations of an acute attack of the disease are
fever, hurried respiration, increased pulse, suppression of milk yield,
icterus, gastro-intestinal derangement, anaemia, emaciation, and haemo-
globinuria. As a rule, the onset of fever is sudden and the initial stage
is usually intermittent in character, there being a sharp fluctuation
between morning remissions and evening exacerbations; but as the
thermal crisis approaches, the temperature tends to become constantly
high and the variations less marked, after which it generally falls to normal
or sub-normal. The duration of the fever is from four to ten days, the
average being seven days., The visible mucous membrane of the eye is
at first red and injected, but quickly becomes anaemic and often of a
yellowish hue. In milch cows the secretion of milk becomes suppressed,
, and what little can be drawn has a thick creamy appearance. While
total suppression may occur, as a rule the cessation of lactation is but
temporary, and more or less complete restoration is dependent upon the
11
care and management of the cow whilst ill. If well nursed and judici-
ously fed, and the udder milked dry at the usual periods during sickness,
the cow not infrequently comes back to almost her full milking capacity.
During the progress of the fever the blood becomes thin and watery,
owing to the destruction of the red corpuscles by the piroplasmata, and
the affected animals rapidly become emaciated, weak, and anaemic.
The extent to which the number of corpuscles becomes diminished is in
proportion to the acuteness and severity of the attack. In acute natural
fever, the loss of red corpuscles as a rule amounts to between 25 and 75
per cent., but in isolated cases it may be still greater. A case is recorded
where the number of red blood corpuscles fell at the onset of fever from
8,200,000 to 1,800,000 per c.mm., while on the next day, a few hours
before death, only 31,000 per c.mm. were counted. The anaemia reaches
its full extent on about the seventeenth day, and as recovery ensues the
number of red blood cells becomes normal again at various times between
the twenty-third and ninetieth day. ;
Haemoglobinuria, or “red water,” as it is popularly called, often
becomes manifest to the naked eye in acute cases, but this symptom
is not a constant one, as many animals suffer from acute fever and some
may die without its ocular evidence. Death usually occurs within
one to seven days, and may take place when the fever is at its height, or,
as is more common, subsequent to a marked fall of the body temperature
to normal or sub-normal within a few hours. In non-fatal cases, the
temperature gradually falls after the crisis, and reaches normal in a few
days, while the natural functions of organs are slowly restored. Poorly-
nourished animals may show subcutaneous oedema in pendulous parts
for some time. Occasionally complications arise, especially abortion.
In addition to acute fever, a mild type and a chronic type are
recognized. In the mild type the fever does not exceed 105° F., and the
natural functions and general conditions are but temporarily interfered
with, and toaslight extent. In practice it is usual to regard as belonging
to this type all gradations from acute fever to an attack so mild as to
pass almost unobseryed clinically, if the microscope and thermometer
are not brought into requisition. Convalescence is usually of short
duration, and the loss of flesh may be slight in well-nursed animals, but
under adverse conditions it may be considerable. This type is most
frequently seen as the result of artificial inoculation, and rarely causes
mortality exceeding 5 per cent. It, however, is apt to increase the
severity of co-existent diseases. |
The chronic type of the disease is not common. Occasionally an
animal will survive an acute or mild attack, and instead of recovering
its normal healthy appearance within the usual period, it remains for a
long time in a condition resembling pernicious anaemia. It acquires an
emaciated, unthrifty appearance, becomes stunted in growth, the coat
grows shaggy and rough, the appetite is capricious, the rumination
sluggish, the heart is irritable and visible mucous membranes are pallid.
Occasionally animals that recover from the acute and mild types
suffer relapses, which are often mild and fleeting, but at other times severe
and even fatal. These relapses may occur without the presence of the tick.
? 12
(3) Post-mortem Lesions.
The post-mortem lesions of an animal which died of tick fever are
usually well-marked and fairly characteristic. The more pronounced
pathological changes are found in connexion with the blood, serous
membranes, liver (including gall bladder), spleen and kidneys, and have
been fully recorded by many observers. Consequently the differential
diagnosis of tick fever is not a perplexing matter to the trained
veterinarian, and confirmation by microscopic examination of blood
from recent cases is usually definite.
(4) Treatment.
As previously indicated, young cattle left undisturbed in sheltered
localities, with sufficient green fodder and a plentiful supply of water
readily accessible, seldom suffer the fever in its most virulent form.
Even with grown cattle, other than bulls and pregnant cows, mortality
may not be heavy under these conditions without medicinal treatment
of any kind. Still, in many instances, owing to either adverse conditions
or natural susceptibility of the animal, or possibly prevalence of fever of
exalted virulence, the mortality has been so heavy that medicinal treat-
ment has been indicated, and the usual therapeutic agents have been used,
but without much success.
In 1909, as the result of their work in connexion with canine piro-
plasmosis, Nuttall and Hadwen recommended the use of trypan blue, to
be administered subcutaneously or intravenously in doses of from 100
to 200 c.c. of a 1 per cent. solution. This treatment has been favorably
reported upon by several observers, particularly in South Africa, as it is
stated that the injection of the drug in the majority of cases is followed
by an immediate increase in fever for 24 to 48 hours, and a subsequent fall
of temperature to normal, accompanied by speedy recovery. With the
fall of temperature, marked destruction of the parasite occurs ; but the
destruction is not complete, as a small proportion survive. It is claimed
that the drug is most effective when injected at an early stage of the
disease, and while good results may be anticipated if administered when
the fever is at its height, its efficacy in advanced cases is not to be relied
upon with confidence. The drug when properly administered appears
to produce no ill effects upon the health of the animal, but being a dye,
has the disadvantage of colouring the tissues for some considerable time.
Experiments by Dodd in Queensland in 1909 and 1910 were reported
by him as indicating that trypan blue, in cases of tick fever, was in the
main an effective remedy when used at an early stage of the disease,
but work by Cory and Pound has failed to substantiate these results.
(5) Protection.
It has long been recognized that an animal recovered from an attack
of tick fever possesses a degree of protection against a second attack, and
advantage has been taken of this fact to prepare animals for exposure
to virulent pathogenic ticks. This is carried out by inducing fever
artificially by inoculation. j
13
Protective inoculation consists in the subcutaneous or intravenous
injection of susceptible animals with the blood of a beast containing the
causal piroplasma. The dose usually injected varies from 3 ¢.cm. to
5 c.cm. (about half to one teaspoonful), although the fever has been caused
by much smaller quantities. Experimental doses of over 100 c.cm. have
been given without death occurring. The inoculation is followed by a
period of incubation, usually of three to eleven days, the average being
about seven, though in some cases even 20 days may elapse. The
injection of blood intravenously may be followed by a shorter incubation
period than when used subcutaneously. As a rule, a short period of
incubation is followed by an acute attack, and a lengthened period by an
unsatisfactory reaction. The resulting sickness and temperature reaction
are by no means constant in severity, and would appear to be dependent
largely upon the infectivity or quality of the blood used to reproduce
the fever, and the natural susceptibility of the inoculated animal.
The infectivity of the blood varies both in degree and duration in
individual beasts. It may show recurrences and exacerbations, and the
quality of infectivity is not identical with tolerance to the fever. Con-
sequently the fact that a protected animal remains unaffected on subse-
quent exposure to the disease, whether acquired naturally or by
inoculation, is of no service as an indication of the value of its blood for
inoculation purposes. It is obvious that to ensure good results the
quality of the blood used should be reliable.
Tick fever induced by inoculation is similar to the disease naturally
acquired, but as a rule is of a modified nature. It is very liable to be
- affected by the same conditions that influence naturally-acquired fever.
Adult bulls and pregnant cows always suffer severely, while the mortality
in adult bush cattle and young bulls is, as a rule, from 2 to 5 per cent.,
but may be considerably higher. In bush cattle under one year old, and
in quiet stall-fed stud or dairy cattle, under favorable conditions, death
rarely ensues, and similarly the appearance of a relapse subsequent to
the reactional fever following inoculation is rare. The duration of the
fever is usually shorter than when acquired naturally ; occasionally it
may last eleven days, but very rarely becomes chronic or even prolonged.
Not only does inoculation afford a decided protection against tick fever,
but this protection is rapidly produced, being manifested as early as the
sixth day after subsidence of the fever. The protection is not absolute,
and is more of the nature of a tolerance than of an immunity. Its
duration and degree are subject to variation, and would appear to depend
largely upon the idiosyncrasy of the animal.
Under natural conditions cattle running on pastures cohladning
infective ticks are continually subjected to successive inoculations by
these parasites, and protection is in this manner maintained throughout
life. With cattle depastured in clean country, that have been protected
by artificial inoculation, one may safely assume that the majority enjoy
a protection for a period of from one to two years, and occasionally with |
jndividual beasts it may last longer.
The indication of the value of the inoculation of each beast is to be
sought in the reactional quality of the blood used, and this is best obtained
by microscopic examination of the blood of the treated animal. Where
14
this is not practicable, the morning and evening temperatures should be
recorded systematically to ascertain the nature and degree of the febrile
disturbance that follows, but it must be remembered that some animals
although infected show no rise in temperature. When a large number of
cattle are inoculated, this should be done with one or two quiet beasts
that were inoculated at the same time with some of the blood used for
general inoculation of the herd.
When the tick spread down the Queensland coast, it was a practice
to inoculate herds in its advance in order to obviate the serious mortality
that occurred in the northern herds. An inoculated beast, however, acts
as a reservoir of infection, as the infesting ticks extract from it the
piroplasma and thus spread the disease. As already pointed out, all
cattle ticks are not infective, and there is little doubt that protective
inoculation was an important factor in the dissemination of tick fever in
certain centres in Queensland.
In Queensland, protective inoculation is still extensively carried out.
Yeerongpilly Stock Experiment Station, and its branch at Townsville,
supply infective blood, and prepare a large number of “ bleeders ” for
station use. As the cattle tick in New South Wales is not infective,
inoculation is prohibited in that State.
V. METHODS ADOPTED FOR ERADICATION.
(1) General.
From the foregoing it is evident that the eradication of the tick is of
primary importance, for without the tick there can be no tick fever.
From the summary of the life-history given, it is evident the tick must
be attacked either during its parasitic development on its host or during
its existence on the pastures.
It is considered that the most efficacious method of controlling the
pest is to attack the tick during its parasitic existence.
The methods employed are—
(a) Hand-dressing and Spraying—Small lots of quiet cattle and
horses are sometimes treated by this process, particularly at
remote parts of the quarantine boundaries where the traflic is
light, and on isolated farms some distance removed from a
dip. It is also used in the treatment of animals in advanced
pregnancy and injured animals, but speaking generally, its »
efficacy depends on the thoroughness with which it is performed
and the completeness of saturation of the animal’s coat with
an effective solution. The process, however, is laborious and
relatively expensive.
(6) Dipping—The most expeditious and efficacious method of
treating infested animals is undoubtedly dipping. It is the
only practical method of treating unhandled cattle and horses.
For the treatment of large numbers it is also the cheapest
-method. In dipping, the animals are caused to plunge into
a tick-destroying solution contained in a narrow tank, so as
to become completely submerged, and on rising to the
surface to swim for a short distance.
15
Another method of destroying ticks is the freeing of pastures by the
**starving-out method,” which consists in excluding all possible hosts of the
tick from the pastures until sufficient time has elapsed for the tick to die
out and the eggs to perish. In practice, it is usually combined with the
“feed-lot” or “pasture rotation” system, which consists in moving infested
stock from paddock to paddock in rotation at definite periods, so that the
cattle are removed systematically to clean pastures before the eggs laid
by the matured females that drop from them have time to hatch out.
Upon removal of the cattle, the land recently vacated is placed under
cultivation, and it is not re-stocked until sufficient time has elapsed to
assure death of the progeny of the ticks that were dropped there. There
exist no reliable data as to the safe limit of this period in Australia,
although field observations in the north coast districts of New South Wales
indicate that it exceeds one year. In America, where this system has
been practised, it is usual to remove the cattle every twenty days during
the season when the tick thrives, and the result is reported as satisfactory
in certain localities. The success of the system is necessarily dependent
upon a more efficient control of stock than exists in this country, and at
best is applicable only to specially-selected localities. In all cases there
is the danger of re-infestation of the pastures by agencies difficult to
control, and as a practical method for general adoption in Australia it
does not commend itself, although it may be applicable in isolated cases.
With this system, as with all other methods, improvement of the pastures,
burning-off, and cultivation are valuable adjuncts.
(2) Dipping.
Many substances fatal to ordinary parasitic insects have but little or
no effect upon the cattle tick, owing to its extreme tenacity of life. Others
poisonous to the ticks are equally fatal to the host. Numerous experi-
ments have been carried out in America, Australia, and South Africa,
with a view to the discovery of an agent capable of general application
that will destroy the tick without incurring any risk of injury to the
host when dipped in it.
Experience indicates that arsenic is the most reliable tick-destroying
agent at our disposal. Certain official formulae are adopted in New
South Wales and Queensland, and in the latter State are incorporated
in regulations promulgated under a State enactment. In addition, there
are a number of proprietary mixtures on the market which receive official
recognition. The official formulae are as follows :—
Formula used in Queensland ce
Arsenious oxide ot ae 8
Caustic soda .. si ue fr 5 Ib.
Stockholm tar ; a) 3 gallon
Tallow or oil (animal or vegetable) ays 4 |b.
Water .. 400 gallons
Directions.—Mix from 8 to 84 ‘Tb. adviemercial arsenic (to contain
8 lb. arsenious oxide) in its powdered dry state intimately with 2 lb.
of caustic soda, and, while stirring, add slowly up to 4 gallons of water.
Heat to boiling point if arsenic has not properly dissolved. Then boil
26
from 50 to 100 gallons of water in a 400 gallon tank, add 2 |b. of caustic
soda and 4 lb. of tallow (or oil); boil for about 15 minutes, then add
slowly in a thin stream half a gallon of the best Stockholm tar. When
the whole of the tar has been added, boil from 30 to 40 minutes, then add |
the arsenical solution and fill up the tank with water.
Formula used in Queensland (B)—
Arsenious oxide bat a o2 8 |b.
Caustic soda .. a digs mh 4 Ib.
Bone oil sit K i me 1 gallon
Water at : .. 400 gallons
Directions.—Mix from 8 to 83 Ib. of dprenhinessl arsenic (to contain
8 Ib. of arsenious oxide) in its powdered dry state intimately with 2 lb.
of caustic soda. In a separate vessel add 2 lb. of caustic soda to 1 gallon
of bone oil, heat for about fifteen minutes with constant stirring,
withdraw for five minutes, and then while stirring add cautiously the dry
arsenical mixture. Now add hot water to make on stirring a thin
homogeneous paste, then add cold water up to 400 gallons.
Formula used in New South Wales.
The composition of the medicament used for tick eradication purposes
in the quarantined area of New South Wales is as follows:—
Arsenious oxide ng i af 6 Ib.
Caustic soda .. 3 ~ abe 13 lb.
Potash soap .. ‘e a2 me 3 |b.
Stockholm tar. . os i wr 3 pints
Water ig .. 400 gallons
Stock leaving the ete a area for shee country are treated in
the following (stronger) solution :—
Arsenious oxide me $ at 8 Ib.
Caustic soda .. te | aR 2 |b.
Potash soap .. it We at 4 lb.
Stockholm tar. . uC Kt a 4 pints
Water ch a 25 .. 400 gallons
The medicament is manufactured in concentrated form in the
laboratory at Lismore, whence it is issued in two sets of containers to
the various baths to be mixed with water in definite proportions as
required.
The composition of the “ concentrate” is 4 lb. arsenious oxide per
gallon, in the form of sodium arsenite, that of the “ emulsion” being
4 lb. potash soft soap together with half a gallon of neutralized
Stockholm tar per gallon.
These are added separately to the mixing tanks, and dissolve readily
in cold water.
Application of the Medicament.—For treatment to be effective, it is
necessary that the medicament containing the standard percentage of
active arsenic be applied to the whole of the external surface of the
animal’s body. To maintain the standard desired, periodical chemical
examination of the medicament, especially when contained in dipping
ce
17
vats for long periods, is very important, and should be efficiently carried
out. This procedure is carried out in New South Wales every 21 days,
and is recommended.
The effect of these arsenical preparations is not immediately noticeable,
and one treatment cannot be relied upon to clean a beast of the parasites.
For eradication of the pest, the treatment must be continuous and
systematically carried out.
The fact that the cattle tick takes about 21 days to develop upon
the host permits of opportunity for its destruction before it matures.
In the experience of the United States of America (Farmers Bulletin
No. 1057, U.S.A. Department of Agriculture), it would appear that
fourteen (14) days is the most satisfactory interval to be adopted between
treatments.
(3) Investigations of the Cattle Tick Dip Committee in
Queensland.
Initiation of Investigations —A proposal was made in 1918 by the late
Institute of Science and Industry for the establishment of a Special
Committee to superintend investigations into cattle tick dips in relation
to tick control and eradication. It was ultimately decided in December,
1919, that the proposed Committee should be formed and have its head-
quarters in Brisbane.
The present personnel of the Committee is as follows :—
G. E. Bunning (Chairman) ]
W. A. N. Robertson, D.V.Sc., Director | Representing the Com-’
of Veterinary Hygiene, Common-| monwealth Council for
wealth Department of Health Scientific and Indus-
E. J. Goddard, B.A., D.Sc., Professor of | trial Research
Biology, University of Queensland
J. ©. Brunnich, Agricultural Chemist,
Queensland |
A. H. Cory, M.R.C.V.S., Chief In- |
spector of Stock, Queensland
C. J. Pound, Government Bacteriologist
and Director of the Yeerongpilly
Experiment Station, Queensland
H. Tryon, Government Entomologist
Max Henry, M.R.C.V.S., Chief Veter-
inary Surgeon, New South Wales
A. A. Ramsay, Chief Agricultural
Chemist, New South Wales
C. J. Sanderson, M.R.C.V.S., Senior
Government Veterinary Surgeon, New | Representing New South
South Wales . Wales
C. L. O’Gorman, M.R.C.V.S., Chairman
of the Board of Tick Control, New
South Wales
L. Cohen, Chemist, Board of Tick Con-
trol, New South Wales
) Representing Queensland —
18
Nature and Scope of Investigations.
At the initial meeting of the Committee held in Brisbane on the 24th
and 25th March, 1920, it was decided to conduct investigations in
conformity with those suggested at the Conference of Delegates appointed
by the Institute of Science and Industry, as set out in Item 7, page 36,
of Bulletin No. 13, and which reads as follows :—
Although the present official formulae used in Queensland and New
South Wales have proved to be efficient and generally satis-
factory, it is possible that the same parasiticidal results
might be maintained and the ill effects that sometimes
occur obviated by alteration of the composition of the agent.
There is evidence that solutions containing a lower arsenical
content than officially stipulated are effective in the hotter
parts of Queensland. It is possible that it will be found that
the strength of the parasiticide used may with safety be
varied according to the time of the year, and the climate of
the locality where it is used. With a view to determining the
limitations, experimental investigation is deemed necessary.
The Committee, during the course of the experiments, found that it
would be desirable in some instances to enlarge and in others to modify
the scope of the investigations to cover any collateral questions which
might arise in the course of the conduct of the work, and permission
was obtained from the Institute to do so.
Scheme of Investigations and Progress of Work.—Field Experiments.—
It was decided to conduct field operations to ascertain the optimum
arsenical strength, i.e., the minimum effective amount of arsenious oxide
required in a medicament, either alone or combined with Stockholm tar
and soap (emulsion). These investigations were conducted at Talle-
budgera (Queensland) from 19th January, 1921, to the 20th April, 1921,
and at Oxenford (Queensland) from 2nd June, 1921, to the 12th June,
1921. The experiments were definite in one point only—that no
concentration of medicament used killed all the ticks as a result of one
application. A decision was subsequently arrived at to make use of the
Stock Experiment Station, Yeesongpilly, Queensland, for the purpose of
carrying out further investigational work.
Experiments at Stock Experiment Station, Yeerongpilly, Queensland.
Experiment No. 1.—Action of standard arsenical dip fluid on ticks
during the moulting stage. .
This experiment was carried out in March, 1923.
Experiment No. 2.—The extent, if any, of the protective action of
medicament against re-infestation by larval ticks.
This experiment was first carried out in March, 1923, and repeated in
June, 1923.
Experiment No. 3.—The effect of subsequent rainfall on the efficacy
of treatment.
This experiment was carried out in June, 1923.
19 }
_ Conclusions based on initial experiments.—The investigations definitely
established the following facts :—
1. No single treatment with fluids of concentration up to 10 lb. of
arsenious oxide per 400 gallons and containing up to five
times the prescribed standard proportion of saponified tar,
is efficacious in destroying ticks in all stages of development
on an infested animal.
2. The survivors from such treatment are adults, and in a stage of
development not inconsistent with the hypothesis that they
were undergoing the second moult at the time of treatment.
3. Some survivors lay a full complement of eggs which duly hatch.
4. A single treatment with arsenical solutions up to full standard
strength shows no superiority in destroying all the ticks,
over those of half-strength and upwards.
The following tentative conclusions were also arrived at, the correct-
ness of which was subject to modification i in the light of more elaborate
projected experiments :—
(a) Treatment with the prescribed standard arsenical fluid affords
protection against re-infestation by larval ticks for a period
of two days.
(6) Heavy rain falling on cattle four hours subsequent to treatment
does not diminish the efficacy of such treatment, provided
the cattle had dried in the interim.
(c) During the second moulting period of the ticks’ parasitic life,
a phase exists in which the tick is resistant to the action of
arsenical fluids, and the existence of surviving adult females
after treatment is apparently due to such a phenomenon.
As Experiment No. 3 demonstrated that the tick destroying properties
of the arsenical solution were not materially impaired when sprayed
cattle were subjected to the effect of hosing with water (simulating rain)
at a minimum interval of four hours, it was decided to repeat the
experiment in order to determine how soon after dipping a shower of
tain would influence those properties. :
Experiment No. 3 (supplementary).—To test further the effect of rain
on tick infested cattle that had been recently treated with standard
arsenical dip solution.
The results of this investigation, which was carried out in September
and October, 1923, indicated that the tick destroying properties of the
standard arsenical solution are considerably reduced if sprayed animals
are subjected to rainfall at a short interval after treatment, as was
shown in the animals which were hosed hali an hour, one hour, and
two hours after the application of the dipping fluid.
Experiment No. 4.—To test the comparative effect of two applications
of dipping fluid at short intervals, and at strengths of 4, 5, and 8 lb. of
arsenious oxide, per 400 gallons of water.
This test, which was carried out’ in November, 1923, did not give
conclusive results.
20
Experiment No. 5.—-To determine the minimum amount of arsenic
(combined with soap and tar) necessary to kill all ticks with two sprayings.
This test was carried out in October, 1924, and it was agreed that the
result determined that the minimum amount of arsenic (combined with
soap and tar) necessary to kill all ticks with two sprayings, was 8 lb. to
400 gallons of water.
Experiment No. 6.—To investigate the effect of the omission of
emulsion from the official formula.
As a result of this experiment, the opinion was formed that the
omission of Stockholm tar and soap from a dipping fluid clearly showed
that the efficacy of that fluid was diminished as a tick destroying agent.
Furthermore, it was indicated that the addition of Stockholm tar and soap
had a protective effect on the skin of the animals submitted to treatment
with arsenical fluid.
Experiment No. 7.—To ascertain whether (the percentage of arseni-
ous oxide remaining constant) the efficacy of the dipping fluid is
diminished by continuous use.
After consideration it was decided that experiments in this connexion
were not necessary.
Experiments No. 8 and 9.—
No. 8. To find a substitute for Stockholm tar, which varies
considerably in composition and is difficult to obtain.
No. 9. To ascertain whether a decreased amount of arsenic can
be compensated for by an increased amount of Stockholm
tar or substitute therefor. (It is considered that to a certain
extent any injurious effect of the dip must be in proportion
to the quantity of arsenic, whereas soap and emulsions
have an emollient effect.)
These experiments were carried out in conjunction. As only one tick
survived which hatched viable eggs, 16 was obviously impossible to make
any comparison between the tar and the resin which was used as a
substitute. It was therefore decided to repeat the experiments -with
modifications.
Experiments No. 8 and 9 (repeated with modifications) .—
The results of these experiments indicated—
(2) That resin can be used as an efficient substitute for tar.
(b) That double the amount of tar does not compensate for the
omission of quarter the amount of arsenic.
Experiment No. 10—Commercial Concentrates——Although many
concentrates give good results when freshly prepared, it is a well known
fact that the liability to oxidation varies. Concentrates which show
exceptional liability to oxidation cannot be recommended for general use
in substitution for the official formula. It was therefore decided that
1 aie
* ;
21
before the experiments were conducted on cattle, the comparative
oxidation be first determined on a laboratory scale. For this purpose,
it was arranged that small quantities—approximately 4 gallons—of the
various standard strength commercial concentrates, approved under
Government regulations, be exposed to the air after the addition of a
small amount of bovine excreta, and the rate of oxidation determined by
periodical analyses.
The experiment indicated that before the addition of milk (i.e:, during
a period of about two months), all concentrates oxidized to a greater or
lesser extent. In one case, after the addition of milk there was an
immediate reversion which was maintained for a further two months.
This was probably due to the absence of antiseptic substances in that
particular concentrate. As this experiment was carried out on the small
scale originally suggested, it must not be understood to indicate that a
parallel rate and extent of oxidation takes place in a dipping bath, owing
principally to the difference in ratio of surface to volume of fluid as well
as to local conditions, such as soil, &c., the process being of biological
origin.
As the results of this experiment carried out on a laboratory scale
indicated liability to oxidation, it was decided that there was no necessity
for further experiments on a field scale.
Experiment No. 11.—Prevention of Oxidation of Dipping Fluid—As
experiments by the New South Wales Department of Agriculture had
shown that, in the absence of much germicidal material, the addition of
2 per cent. of skim milk to the dipping fluid both prevents oxidation
and brings about the reduction of any arsenate already formed,
steps were taken to confirm this in dips charged with dipping fluid which
had been oxidized to a considerable extent.
The result of this experiment clearly indicated that the addition of
2 gallons of skim milk per 100 gallons of dipping fiuid brought about
complete reduction of the arsenate into arsenite under field conditions.
These tests were carried out by officers of the Department of Agriculture
and Stock, Queensland. In several other tests carried out at the instiga-
tion of the Committee by stock owners in various parts of Queensland.
similar results were revealed. The adoption of this practice for general
use can therefore be confidently recommended.
Experiment No. 12.—Test of Derris root (Tuba root) or its manu-
factured products, as a tick destroying agent.
It was arranged to dilute an extract from the powdered root of Derris
elliptica, add the usual quantity of potash soap, spray three head of
moderately infested animals, and compare the results with a similar
number of untreated controls.
The result established the fact that although the derrisine solution
kills a considerable proportion of the ticks, it has no practical value as a
tick destroying agent.
22
(4) Summary of Investigations of the Tick Dip Committee.
A summary epitomizing the findings of the Committee, based on the
investigations carried out, was adopted as follows :—
1. The field experiments showed that at Tallebudgera, where the
experimental cattle had to be driven some 2 miles to the dip, and the
weather was hot and humid, epidermal exfoliation (scalding) took place
even at the lowest arsenical strength employed, whereas at Oxenford,
where the weather during the experiment was cold and the cattle were
depastured on the holding on which the dipping took place, no scalding
was noted.
This would support the view that dipping in arsenical solutions, per
se, used in the concentrations commonly employed, does not cause injury
to the skin unless other factors such as humidity or driving prior or
subsequent to dipping are present.
2. No single treatment with fluids of concentrations of from 4 lb. to
10 lb. arsenious oxide per 400 gallons, or containing up to five times the-
prescribed standard proportion of saponified tar, is efficacious in des-
troying all ticks in all stages of development on an infested animal; and
further, during the second moulting period of a tick’s parasitic life, a
phase exists in which the tick is resistant to the action of arsenical fluids.
The existence of surviving adult females after treatment is apparently
due to such a phenomenon.
Some survivors lay a full complement of eggs which duly hatch.
3. Treatment with prescribed standard arsenical fluid as set out in
paragraph 5 affords protection against re-infestation by larval ticks for
a period of two days.
4. Heavy rain falling on cattle subsequent to treatment does not
diminish the efficacy of such treatment provided that not less than two
hours had elapsed and that the cattle had been dry in the interim.
5. While two treatments, at an interval of two or three days, with
medicament containing 8 lb. of arsenious oxide, } gallon of Stockholm
tar and 5 lb. of potash soap to 400 gallons, do not actually kill all the
ticks present on an animal at the time of the initial treatment, these
repeated applications are successful in preventing the propagation of such
ticks by destroying the fertility of the resultant eggs.
6. The result of the experiments indicates that the minimum propor-
tion of arsenious oxide (in conjunction with Stockholm tar and potash
soap) necessary to prevent the propagation of all ticks by two sprayings
of the animals at an interval of three days is 8 lb. per 400 gallons.
7. The omission of Stockholm tar and soap from the dipping fluid
diminishes the efficacy of that fluid as a tick destroying agent, but soap
is not weight for weight an efficient substitute for Stockholm tar.
Resin can be used as an efficient substitute for Stockholm tar, and
4 lb. of resin were found to be more effective than half a gallon of tar.
8. Oxidation in dipping baths can be prevented or rectified by the
addition of 2 per cent. skim milk or butter milk, or an equivalent amount
of casein or dried butter milk,
sl dA
apee*
A re
:
23
(5) Present and Projected Activities of the Tick Dip Committee.
The desirability of adopting uniform efficacious methods for the
cleansing of cattle for eradication purposes has already been emphasized.
To secure this uniformity in dipping methods in the States concerned,
it is essential that information based on conclusive investigations should
be secured so that the dipping regulations imposed shall be such that a
maximum of results is secured at a minimum risk to the cattle treated.
To obtain the objective indicated, it is essential that experiments under
natural conditions should be carried out in a suitable location where the
isolation of the experimental cattle can be provided for in order to
determine—
(a) the most suitable interval between dippings, and
(6) the optimum composition of the dipping fluid,
by observing the time required to eradicate all ticks on the experimental
holding.
It has been agreed that the ees solutions and intervals should
be adopted :—
(a) 8 lb. arsenious oxide at 14 days’ interval.
(6) 63 lb. arsenious-oxide at 18 days’ interval.
Suitable experimental paddocks have been secured at Samford, near
Brisbane, experimental cattle have been purchased, and all arrangements
have been made for this investigational work, which is now about to be
initiated .*
* These experiments have now (April 1929) been in progress for some time.
Printed and Published for the GoveERNMENT of the CommMonweatru of AUSTRALIA
by H. J. Green, Government Printer for the State of Victoria.
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PAMPHLET No. 13
«
.. OF AUSTRALIA
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
THE:
wa AN ICAL ANALYSIS :
OF SOILS a
By
C. S. PIPER. M.Sc., and H. G. POOLE, M.Se.,
i Waite Agricultural Research Institute
ye }
vi
MELBOURNE, 1929 |
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PAMPHLET No. 13
OF SONS
By
Waite Agricultural Research Institute
MELBOURNE 1929
MECHANICAL ANALYSIS
fear rik, M.Sc., and H. G. POOLE, M.Sc,
|
CONTENTS>.
opment of an International method ae Be ab
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—
The Mechanical Analysis of Soils.»
By C. S. Piper, M.Sc., and H. G. Poole, M.Sc.,f Waite Agricultural
Research Institute.
1. General.
While Pamphlet No. 8 of the Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research (6) was in the press, the method for the mechanical analysis
of soils, as officially adopted by the Agricultural Education Association of
Great Britain, was modified to conform to a newly-adopted International
method. Corresponding changes have now been made in the method in
use at the Waite Institute, and the purpose of this paper is to supplement
Section IIT. (pp. 10-20) of the aforementioned pamphlet (6). The use
of an end runner grinding mill for the preparation of soil samples, and
a motor dispersion unit, are also discussed.
It is to be hoped that the International method will be extensively
adopted throughout Australia, so that the results of mechanical analyses
of soils will be comparable with those obtained in other parts of the world.
2. The International Method for the Mechanical Analysis of Soils.
(a) Development of an International Method.—
One of the functions of the International Society of Soil Science 1s
the standardization of methods for the examination of soils, so that
results obtained in any one country will be directly comparable with
those obtained elsewhere. The first of such methods to receive inter-
national acceptance is the method for mechanical analysis. A preliminary
meeting of Commission I. of the International Society (Soil Physics)
was held at Rothamsted in October, 1926, and, as a result of the delibera-
tions of representatives of different countries, tentative proposals were
formulated for an International method. With only minor modifications,
this method was adopted at the Washington Conference of the Society
in June, 1927. In a number of countries, it will mean the introduction
of some changes in the methods and standards in use at the present time,
but the benefits to be derived will far outweigh any inconvenience due to
the change.
In 1928, the International method was adopted by the Agricultural
Education Association of Great Britain (1, 2), thus superseding the
method adopted two years previously. Results obtained by the older
method can be transposed to the new system by interpolation from
summation curves and a knowledge of the loss on ignition of each soil
fraction. (See Section ¢.)
* Manuscript received 6th May, 1929.
t+ Of these two authors Mr. Piper is an officer of the University of Adelaide, and Mr. Poole an officer
of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.
6
(b) The major differences between the International and the former British
Methods.
The chief differences between the two methods are the separation
of four groups of particles instead of five, and the recording of
these fractions on the oven dry instead of the ignited basis.
In the International method the results are expressed as percentages
of the oven dry sample. It is our experience that an oven dry soil should
never be used in the analysis, as in some cases it has been found to lead to
difficulties in the dispersion when using the pipette technique. Keen (5)
considers that in the past the air dry moisture content of a soil has been
found to be a very useful determination, enabling some idea to be formed
of the probable effect of the clay and organic matter on the moisture
relationships of the soil in the field. For these reasons, and because
the values expressed as percentages of the air dry sample can be easily
converted to the corresponding oven dry figure by a simple calculation,
it is proposed to retain this method of expressing the results. This is
in accord with the present British practice.
The limiting dimensions and the critical settling velocities of the
fractions in the International and old British methods are given in Table I.
The settling velocities used in the International method are derived
from Stokes’ law on the assumption that particles with a settling velocity
of 10 cm. in 8 hours at 20° C. have a diameter of 0°002 mm. Corrections
due to the change of the viscosity of water with temperature have to be
applied to the above settling velocities. (See Table II.)
In the International method a 70 mesh I.M.M- sieve is used for the
separation of the fine and coarse sand fractions instead of the 90 mesh
sieve used in the old British method. When the latter sieve is used the
upper limit of the fine sand is only 0°14-0°155 mm. in diameter (not
0:2 mm. as given). This accounts for its assumed settling velocity
(shown in the last column of Table J.) being lower than that of the
corresponding International fraction, which actually has a limiting
diameter of 0:2 mm.
The recording of the results of all the fractions on the oven dry instead
of ignited basis constitutes the biggest difference between the two methods.
The old British method was about the only method in which the fractions
were ignited, the object being to remove organic matter, but the intro-
duction of the hydrogen peroxide pre-treatment has largely removed
the necessity for this ignition. All the fractions will be greater if reported
on the oven dry basis, but the difference will fall mostly in the clay, the
water of constitution, which was formerly removed by the ignition, being
retained. For some time it will therefore be desirable to determine the
clay on both the oven dry and ignited basis.
The loss on ignition, although not included in the International method,
should still be determined and recorded separately. Together with the
ignited value of the clay fraction it gives a useful check in routine analyses,
since the summation of the results, including the loss on ignition and
using the ignited value instead of the oven dry for the clay, should
approximate to 100 per cent.
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(c) Analytical Details.—
No alteration is required in the moisture, loss on ignition, and loss on
acid treatment determinations, and the hydrogen peroxide treatment*,
acid treatment, filtration and dispersion of the 25 grm. sample are exactly
as described in the pamphlet (pp. 12-16), except that a 70 mesh I.M.M.
sieve is used instead of a 90 mesh sieve in the dispersion.
Pipetting the samples —After 16-18 hours shaking the soil suspension
is diluted in the cylinder to the 1250 ml. graduation and shaken by hand
for half a minute. The cap is then removed and the cylinder placed
aside to sediment, noting the time.
The first sample to be removed corresponds to a settling velocity
of 10 cm. in 4 mins. 48 secs. at 20° C. It is more convenient to use the
long-stemmed pipette and to withdraw the sample from 28 cm. below
the surface, the corresponding time of sedimentation being 133 mins.
at 20° C. Should the temperature be other than this standard tem-
perature, the correct time of withdrawing the first pipette sample is
shown in the third column of Table IJ. After the proper time has elapsed
from the commencement of the sedimentation, the pipette, closed at the
top with the forefinger, is passed through a hole in a sheet of cork and
carefully lowered into the suspension until its tip is 28 em. below the
surface. A piece of thick walled rubber tubing on the lower stem of the
pipette serves as a stop to indicate the correct depth if the pipette is
always used in the same cylinder.
After filling the pipette, using continuous gentle suction as produced
by the device figured on page 20 of Pamphlet 8, the 20 ml. of suspension
are transferred to a weighed silica basin, evaporated on a water bath,
dried at 105° C. in an electric oven until constant (generally overnight),
cooled in a desiccator and weighed.
The second pipette fraction corresponds to a settling velocity of 10 em.
in 8 hours at 20°C. In order to allow the sedimentation to proceed over-
night when there will be the least temperature fluctuation in an ordinary
laboratory, one of two alternative depths is used in pipetting this second
sample. If the average temperature during sedimentation is likely to be
less than about 21° C. the second sample is pipetted from a depth of
22 cm. below the surface, the corresponding time being given in the fourth
column of Table II. At the proper time, the pipette is lowered into the
suspension and the 20 ml. sample withdrawn as before.
When the average temperature exceeds 21° C. the time of
sedimentation for 22 cm. becomes too short for convenient use as an
overnight sedimentation. When this is likely to be the case the cap
is replaced on the cylinder after withdrawing the first pipette sample,
and the suspension shaken until it is again uniform. It is then set aside
to sediment for the correct time, as given in the fifth column of Table IT.,
and the second sample pipetted from a depth of 28 cm. below the surface.
Evaporate, dry and weigh as before.
SS eee
* Experience with the hydrogen peroxide pre-treatment suggests that it is more economical to add
the hydrogen peroxide to the soil and leave overnight before heating on the water bath. _ The soil organie
matter is slowly attacked in the cold, and there is no wasteful decomposition of hydrogen peroxide due
to the heating.
9
It is desirable that, after weighing the second pipette fraction in the
oven dry condition, it be ignited in an electric muffle and reweighed.
The percentage of silt is given by the difference in weight between the
1250 100
first and second samples xX 4) X 55 = difference in weight x 250.
The percentage of clay is given by the weight of the second sample
x 250.
After the second pipette sample has been removed, most of the
suspension is siphoned off and the residue washed into a 500 ml. tall
pyrex beaker as in the previous method. The fine sand is separated by
repeated decantation, the height of water being 10 cm. and the time of
sedimentation 4 mins. 48 secs. at 20°C. The second column of Table IT.
gives the appropriate time for other temperatures. Towards the end of
the decantations the sand should be rubbed once or twice with a rubber
pestle.
After its separation the fine sand is dried at 105° C. and weighed.
The coarse sand, retained on the 70 mesh sieve, is also weighed in
the oven dry condition instead of the ignited. No separation is made
of[the 2 mm. to 1 mm. portion, formerly “fine gravel.” (See, however,
Section e.)
The results of the mechanical analysis should be recorded in the
following form :—
Coarse sand. Clay.
Fine sand. Loss on acid treatment.
Silt. Moisture.
The loss on ignition should be given separately.
Equipment for mechanical analysis—The change to the International
method has necessitated small changes in the sieves and pipettes used
in the method. All the other apparatus is the same in both methods.
The alterations in the sieves and pipettes are given below.
Sieves.—As previously mentioned, these should be of 70 mesh I.M.M.
gauze instead of the 90 mesh formerly used.
Pipettes—For the samples taken at 28 cm. below the surface the
long stemmed pipettes as used formerly (41 cm. stem) are still used, but
the lower stem is graduated at 28 cm. instead of 30 cm. from the tip.
For the sample from 22 cm. below the surface a 20 ml. pipette, with lower
stem 31 cm. long and marked at 22 cm. from the tip, has been used. The
time of delivery of all pipettes should be between 2* and 30 seconds.
Two sets, each of 10 pipettes, with 41 cm. stems, and one set of 10
pipettes with 31 cm. stems are used.
(d) The Effect of Temperature on Sedimentation.—
If the temperature of the suspension differs from the standard tem-
perature (20° C.), the time of sedimentation, or conversely, the depth of
sampling, must be adjusted to allow for the change in viscosity of the
water.
10
It has been found preferable to adjust the time of sampling rather
than the depth, and Table II. shows the times for pipetting the first and
second samples and also the time of decantation of the fine sand
separation for temperatures between 8° and 32° C. The temperature
coefficients used in these calculations are those given by Robinson (8).
and Crowther (3), the value at 10° being 0°767 instead of 0°784 as
previously given. (1, 6.)
TasiE: II.
TIMES OF SEDIMENTATION AT DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES.
INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM.
FINE SAND. SILT. CLAY.
Temperature. ‘
Decantation. ey Second Pipette Sample.
| | (a) | ()
Deg. €. Depth 10 cm. Depth 28 em. | Depth 22cm, | Depth 28 cm.
| Mins. Sees. | Mins. | Hrs. | rs.
ome Nihil mane era 183 | 244
ee sail. chee eins pelea als rate:
1 “3 ies Ae si 174 | 23
1: ee a6 RRO 17 i ae ee areal
12°: ak 164 | 213 |
13m: 5 50 16} | 214 |
La x 2x |I 5 40 152 | 203
152. SPL 5930 15%. lla meee
16°. 5 oe ee 15 | 19d a 243
Lie 5 10 14} 19 eee
180: 5 0 141 | 184 | 234
19 . 5 0 133 18 23
20. 4 48 134 | 174 | 224
21. fe ae aly ‘Seo i
2. me oat | 163 eee
23 | rigs 124 ‘3 21
4. 4 20 12} * 204
yaa 4 15 12 | iy fe
26 . 4 10 113 | ig | 193
27 4 5 114 ‘ | 19
28 aE 114 i | 18
29 . 3 55 11 EE 18}
ee 3 50 103 5 173
31 3 45 104 * | 174
32 3 40 104 23 173
| |
It was expected that the application of the temperature correction
to the settling times would result in considerable differences from previous
uncorrected analyses. The temperatures at which the latter were obtained
1]
have not been recorded, but by choosing a number of analyses from the
laboratory card index a considerable temperature range seems assured.
Comparison of these analyses with those obtained by the use of corrected
settling times shows that, on the whole, no serious errors are involved.
Joseph and Snow (4) have also noted that in soils examined by them
the temperatures of sedimentation have had little effect on the percentages
of clay obtained. Earlier analyses, without the temperature correction,
can therefore be used, after the interpolation, for comparison with
analyses now being made, without fear of serious error. However, in
all the analyses recorded in this paper, the times of sedimentation have
been corrected for temperature.
(e) Transposition of Analyses from the former British -System to the
International System.—
The alteration in the size limits of the various soil fractions and the
expression of results on the oven dry, instead of ignited, basis brought
about by the adoption of the International system would constitute a
serious change if it were not possible to transpose results from one system
tothe other. Analyses can be so transposed, provided both sets of results
are required on the same (oven dry or ignited) basis, by interpolation
from summation curves in which the accumulated values for the successive
fractions are plotted against the logarithms of the settling velocities.
(Robinson (7) ). However, since former analyses are given on an ignited
basis and the International system requires results on an oven dry basis,
a correction has to be made to allow for this difference. To determine
whether a factor for such a correction could be generally applied, twenty-
two soils were selected, covering a wide range of types, and these were
analyzed according to both the British and International systems. All
fractions were determined on both the ignited and the oven dry basis
and the results are summarized below.
(i) Clay.—lt will be seen from Table III. that the clay ignition
losses lie, with one exception, between 8 and 19 per cent.
of the clay fraction. If we make the assumption that the
ignition loss is the same for all clays, a good approximation
to the oven dry clay can be found. The mean loss is
calculated by summing all the clay fractions and all the clay
losses, and is found to be about 14 percent. It is not sound
to take as the mean loss the mean of the individual
percentage losses of the fractions, as this would attach too
much importance to large losses in small fractions, as for
example in the case of soil No. 90a. Using the above
value, and comparing the oven dry values so obtained
with the experimentally determined figure, quite good
agreement is observed. Even in the case of the exception
mentioned above, soil No. 904, the calculated value is
sufficiently close to the experimental to be useful.
(u) Silt—Although the silt ignition losses vary considerably,
the same assumption can be made as for the clays, and
leads to a mean loss of 7 per cent., as shown in Table IIT.
12
The percentages calculated on this basis show fair agreement
with the experimental figures, although not so good as in
the case of the clays.
(iii) Fine Sand and Coarse Sand.—The ignition losses of these
fractions are very small, and can be taken, with sufficient
accuracy, as 0°5 per cent. of the fraction concerned.
TasLeE III.
THE RELATION BETWEEN OvEN Dry AND IGNITED VALUES FOR
INTERNATIONAL CLAY AND SILT.
| CLay. SILT.
Soil Number. | | rae oA] j ie
= | ) ce Fs j ag i nee ci
Ignited. | Oven Dry. | ippited te | Ignited. | Oven Dry. | een ~
| 0/ to) Coy o/ o/ o%
' /0 70 /0 /O /0 (a)
14 27-9 31-8 14 78 7:8 0
19 | 58 6-9 19 ee Deas om 4
21 | 44-6 5263 17 hoe Bak Spb al 15
22 | 53 +3 61-6 16 3+4 3°6 6
21 57+9 66-5 15 11-4 13-2 16
30 | 2965 33-0 12 be ¥
32 6-9 7:7 12 4-8 5+0 tf
50A 49-9 56-8 14 7:7 7°6 —l
60 4-5 533 18 7:3 8-1 Il
904 6-6 9-2 40 7-6 | 8°7 14
99 23-1 26-0 13 39-7 40-6 2
100 12-2 13+3 9 16-0 | 168 5
101 50-1 55°55 ll 6-6 8-0 2)
103 14+5 17°3 19 4-6 57 24
Leas, 25 8-6 9-7 13 12-5 13 +4 7
20d nA 21-9 25-1 15 27 2-6 —4
278 ir 24-3 27°6 14 Fe Aue she
279 3 15-4 18-0 17 2-4 353 37
790 ay 17-9 19-4 8 5+3 6-1 15
807 Petre || 38-1 42-] 10 ae | fais :
843 ly, 48e8 54-6 13 eee Rs bees OT a
U.65 meaty 12-4 13 +4 8 19-6 20°5 4
|
_ oven dry
Weighted mean ratio ‘ignited clay = 1°14
oven dry
Weighted mean ratio ignited suit. = 1°07
The summation curves of the 22 soils were plotted, using the ignited
British figures, and values for the ignited International fractions were
obtained by interpolation. In most cases these showed good agreement
with the International ignited values found by analysis. In some cases,
however, the coarse sand and fine sand fractions showed disagreement.
This was found to be due to the true curve being much steeper than the
British system analysis indicated. It seems desirable therefore to
determine one or two intermediate sand fractions in such cases ; this can
be done quite rapidly by means of sieves. The coarse sand does not
always extend up to the 2 mm. limit, and it is then misleading to plot
this fraction on this assumption. The use of two round hole sieves
0°5 mm. and 1:0 mm. respectively, suffices to determine roughly the
upper limit of the coarse sand.
13
4.08 206 106 032 194 254 406_ 20
254
6 )
454 24 0.54 454 254 0.54 254
FIGURE I.— ILLUSTRATING THE METHOD OF INTERPOLATING RESULTS
FROM-.THE FORMER BRITISH TO THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM.
‘The ordinates’ represent summation percentages, and the abscissae the
logarithms -of the settling velocities at 20° C. The solid vertical lines
represent the limiting settling velocities at 20° C. of the fractions in the
British system, and the dotted lines correspond to the fractions in the
Internationa] system. soar
14
Having thus obtained the values of the different International fractions
on an ignited basis, they can be converted to the oven dry basis with
reasonable accuracy by multiplying by the factors given above, namely
1:14 for clay, 1-07 for silt, and 1-005 for fine and coarse sands. It is of
interest to note that the ratios obtained by J. A. Prescott for Egyptian
soils are 1-15, 1*11, and 1-05 for British clay, fine silt, and silt respectively.
Typical summation curves of some of the soils analysed are shown in
Fig.1. These illustrate the method ofinterpolation. The experimentally
found International fractions on an ignited basis are indicated by circles,
and it will be seen that they are close to the summation curves drawn
from the values obtained by analysis according to the old British method.
Table IV. shows some of the International analyses, and the agreement
between the experimentally determined oven dry values and those
obtained by interpolation from British values followed by correction to
the oven dry basis is typical of most of the soils examined.
The soils which lead to difficulty are those having a fairly large coarse
sand fraction. The shape of the curve near the upper limit then
considerably affects the point at which the curve passes through the line
representing the upper limit of the International fine sand. Curves 19
and 278 show this clearly. In certain soils the difficulty is accentuated
to such an extent as to render accurate interpolation impossible for this
fraction ; Curve 60 is such a case. Curves such as 22 and U 65 lend
themselves readily to interpolation.
Generally speaking, interpolation is easy for the International clay
and silt fractions.
TABLE IV.
CoMPARISON OF INTERPOLATED AND OBSERVED INTERNATIONAL
ANALYSES.
| | |
Soil Number. 14 27 99
| ie enh |
| () | () | @ | @) | ® | @ | @ | @ | &
Coarse Sand .. | 14-5 | 14-6 | 13-7 | 0-4 | 0-4 | 0-3 | 0-9 | 0-9 | 1-0
Fine Sand -. | 39-0 | 39-2 39-9 | 4-5 | 4-5 | 48 | 27-5 | 27-6 | 28-4
Silt - .. | TL | 7-6] 7-8 | 13-0 | 13-9 | 12-3 | 36-2 | 38-7 | 40-6
Clay 43 .. | 2729 31-8 | 31-8 | 56-5 | 64-4 | 66-7 | 25-7 | 29-3 | 26-0
a fh
|
Soil Number. 278 - 279 | 807
Coarse Sand .. | 26-3 | 26-4 | 24-5 | 25-4 | 25-5 | 28-4 | 6-2] 6-2] 64
Fine Sand "* | 95.9 | 26-0 | 31-3 | 47-5 | 47-7 | 50-2 | 25-5 | 25-6 | 25-4
Silt Jol Sb-Bok 1-9 | 5256) PRB © 2-9" 3-85 169a" | 17a Fee
Clay ie: .. | 23-8 | 27-1 | 27-6 | 14-6 | 16-6 | 18-0 | 39-8 | 45-4 | 43-1
i
(a) Interpolated values on ignited basis.
(b) Interpolated values corrected to oven dry basis.
(c) Observed values on oven dry basis.
15
3. The Use of an End Runner Grinding Mill in the Preparation
of Soil Samples.
Before the laboratory investigation is commenced, the soil sample
as taken from the field, has to be air dried and ground under such
conditions as will not actually break down any of the ultimate particles.
For this purpose, a mortar and wooden pestle is generally used, but it
becomes very tedious for heavy clay soils.
An end runner mill fitted with an iron mortar and wooden pestle was
tried, but it was found to have far too drastic an effect on some soils.
In one case the coarse sand was reduced from 50°0 per cent. to 4°9 per
cent., all the other fractions, especially the fine sand and silt, being
correspondingly increased. This occurred even when there was no weight
on the wooden pestle. The mill was driven at about 100 revolutions per
minute by an electric motor.
To determine whether the actual grinding of the soil particles could
be prevented, the mortar was specially lined with rubber.* Samples of
six soils were then ground in the mill for several times as long as would
normally be required. Sandy soils which would not usually require any
grinding were included in the series, since, if the mill was still too drastic,
this type of soil would show most change. No weight was placed on the
wooden pestle during grinding, except in the case of heavy clay soils, and
then the weight was as small as conveniently possible.
After grinding, mechanical analyses were made on all six soils and
‘Table V. compares the results with the corresponding analysis of the same
soil before grinding in the mill. The analyses were made before the
International System was finally standardized in this laboratory.
TABLE V.
GivInc THE MECHANICAL ANALYSES OF SIx SOILS BEFORE AND AFTER
GRINDING IN A RUBBER-LINED END RUNNER MILL.
(Results Expressed on Old British System.)
Soil Number .. oa) eee) a | so. | 90, | 279
| | ! | |
Locality | Berri. | Mobilong. | Angaston. | Penola. | Mt. Gambier.) Pinnaroo.
aA ou | 7 b ‘eae
| ®| @|® | @ Lo{@|® |@] | @|
| of oy ‘le lo |o lola o/ o | o of | 1B
+ i 704 =£0° '}:70 F 4G)". 40 /O /O_| so. | FO. . | O- /O C oe
Coarse Sand 49.5'48-7| 0-5) 0-4/16-7)19-5| 2-5, 2-5 39-6 34-8 34-9 33-7
Fine Sand 38-3 39-7| 2-5) 2-5.65+2.62-5! 9-7) 9-5 (25-8 32-0 37-2 |38-7
Silt 1+1| 1-0} 4-9] 4-3] 5-3| 5-1] 4-4| 5-0 | 4-1 | 4-2 | 1-4 | 1-1
Fine Silt .. | 267] 2+2/14-6114-0| 3-9 3-8] 6-9] 6-5 | 9-0 7-3 | 2-8 | 345
Clay. _. | 465] 4-9'51-8'54-1/ 6-0 5-9'48-1'48-6 | 2-8 | 5-2 [13-9 |13-9
Loss on Acid Treat- 9-6 0-5) 1-5 1-8) 0-4) 0-3] 2-7| 3-6 | 4-4 | 3-3 | 3-4 | 3-1
ment | | |
Loss on Ignition .. | 1-8 1-9 14-414-8) 1-8) 1-811-5 11-8 11-6 10-9 | 4-0 | 41
Moisture 0-7| 0-8 8-0, 7-5| 9-5) 0-513-313-3 | 3-6 | 3-2 | 2-6 | 2-5
oe SS EEE = | \—
99 -2.99-7 98-2 99-4 99-8 99-499 -1 100-8|100-9 100-9 100-2 190-6
| | | j |
|
(a) Mechanical analysis after hand grinding.
(6) Mechanical analysis after grinding in end runner mill.
* By arrangement with the Dunlop Rubber Company, Melbourne.
16
An examination of the table will show that excellent results were
obtained after the mortar of the mill had been rubber lined, the analyses
before and after grinding agreeing very closely, except for soil No. 90a.
This sample represents a volcanic soil from Mt. Gambier and the percent-
age of fine sand has been increased due to the crushing of some of the
coarse sand particles. This is perhaps to be expected in this type of soil
since some of the sand particles are of a soft material that is easily broken
down. In this soil the clay also shows a marked increase as a result of
grinding. However, in the ordinary preparation of this sample, prac-
tically the whole of the soil would pass through the 2 mm. sieve without
requiring any grinding in the mill.
The three soils, Nos. 19, 32, and 279 show that the rubber lined end
runner mill can be used for sandy soils without fear of breaking down
any of the ultimate soil particles. The analyses before and after grinding
are in very good agreement throughout.
Soils Nos. 27 and 50a represent heavy clay soils, and here again there
is practically no difference in the analyses before and after grinding.
It is thus seen that the rubber lined mill can be used for the preparation
of most soil samples without altering the mechanical composition due
to breaking down of the soil particles. The soil sample after grinding
appears much finer than the corresponding sample prepared by hand,
but this must be due to the greater crushing of all aggregate particles,
since the analyses show conclusively that it is not due to a real grinding
of the ultimate soil particles.
4. The Motor Dispersion Unit used in the Mechanical Analysis.
On page 15 of the previous pamphlet, No. 8, an alternative method
of dispersion was given, a fan motor directly coupled to a nickel propeller
being used. This method has now been fully tested on a large number
of soils, and has been found to give results quite comparable with those
obtained when the soil was dispersed by repeated rubbings with a rubber
pestle. It is quicker than the hand rubbing method, and eliminates any
personal error that might otherwise occur in the dispersion. The
apparatus and method has been fully described previously (6) and is
illustrated in Plate 1.
In Table VI. the dispersion of ten soils by the motor dispersion unit
is compared with that obtained by the earlier method of rubbing with a
rubber pestle. Only the values for silt, fine silt and clay are given, since
the separation of the fine and coarse sands is the same in both methods.
It will be seen that there is very good agreement throughout, differences
greater than 1 per cent. occurring in only three instances.
17
TABLE VI.
Disperston OBTAINED BY THE Motor Dispersion Unit ComMPpAaRED
WITH THAT OBTAINED BY HANnpD DISPERSION.
Soll Nuraber. | 19 21 | 22 a7 | 82 | 50a | 90a 99 177 | 277
| } '
i = = Al | Se
| ; ah rae : :
tact. | er. | Mon | plone | Moth ARES] rent, | "Gate | Sule ze | 2
} 1er
} : |
Old British Units. | (2) (6) (a) | (5) | (a) (0) (a) | (8) (a) (5)| (a) | (6) (a (b) (a) (5) | (a) | (b) | (a) | (
a a cal | | | J Sit =a beara | oes mera
%| %| % 1%. | % | %| %.| % | %|_%| %,| % | %| %| % | % | % |% || % | %
silt ‘31 7°3)6"4| 3°9| 4°4 es 4°9|5°3/5°3| 4°5| 4°4/4°1)4°1/18°1)16°5,14°113°7| 1°4) i°3
i ] | |
Fine Silt .. 12°0.2°7| 9°0 85) 5°8I Gore ee oes a4 6°9/8°419°0 eae 8°7| 9°0| 3°3| 3°2
Clay : sees 41°9 41°6)52°5)52°1 50°9|51°8 6°3)6°0 47°3)48°1 3°62°8)17°7)17"4 7°7| 771119" 7|20°3
(a) Soil dispersed by rubbing by hand with a rubber pestle.
(6) Soil dispersed in motor dispersion unit for fifteen minutes.
If the average value for the silt, fine silt and clay, as determined by
hand rubbing, is called 100 per cent. then the average values as found
when the motor dispersion is used, are 93°7 per cent., 100°0 per cent., and
99-4 per cent. respectively. The agreement in the fine silt and clay is
seen to be particularly good, and shows that the motor dispersion unit
is very efficient in securing dispersion. Possibly, experimental errors
in pipetting the first samples account for some of the differences observed,
since particles of this fraction have a high critical velocity.
Similar results to those given in Table VI. have been obtained with
all the soils that have been tried. The motor dispersion unit has thus
been shown to give satisfactory dispersion, and it is now being regularly
used.
5. Summary.
Details are given of the alterations necessary to bring the method
for the mechanical analysis of soils, as developed at the Waite Institute,
into line with a recently adopted International method.
Tables are given showing the times of sedimentation for fine sand,
silt, and clay at different temperatures.
A number of soils have been analysed according to the old and new
standards, and the method of interpolation of results from one system to
the other illustrated.
The average difference between the ignited and oven dry values of
the silt and clay fractions of a number of soils has been found to be7 per
cent. and 14 per cent. respectively.
An end runner grinding mill, the mortar of which is lined with rubber,
has been shown to be satisfactory for the preparatory grinding of soil
samples.
Results are presented to show that a motor dispersion unit, which
had been previously described, gives satisfactory dispersion for mechanical
analysis.
18
6. References.
1. AcricuLTtuRAL Epucation AssoctaTion. Agric. Progress (1928)
5, pp. 137-144.
2. AGRICULTURAL Epucation AssocraTion. Journ. Agrie. Set.
(1928), 18, pp. 734-739.
3. Crowruer, EK. M. Proc. 1st Int. Congress Soil Scr. (1927), 1, pp.
399-404.
4, Josepn. A. F., and Snow, O. W. Jour. Agric. Scr. (1929), 19, pp.
106-120.
5. Kern, B. A. . Soil Research (1928), 1, pp. 43-47.
6. Prescott, J. A.,and Preer,C.S. ‘Methods for the Examination
of Soils,” Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Australia,
Pamphlet No. 8 (1928).
7. Roprnson, G. W. Jour. Agric. Scr. (1924), 14, pp. 626-633.
8. Rosryson, G. W. Proc. 1st Int. Congress Soil Ser. (1927), 1, pp.
359-365.
19
PLATE I.—THE MOTOR DISPERSION UNIT.
H. J. GREEN
GOVERNMENT PRINTER
MELBOURNE
‘ THE WORK ‘oF THE . i 2 » f
si IN OF ECON! MIC |}.
PBOTANY. 8
oe oe YEAR ae if ae
sede i Rab aencrer nt eines ae
Me ae DICKSON, a
» Chief of the one
Eacheduptpe gay Wile Nine ats
Re Ot si ek { Sa nha 7
MELBOURNE, 1929
My
Ae . B. Rivet, Beg Sas D.Sc.
PAMPHLET No. i4
————————
een
THE WORK OF THE
DIVISION OF ECONOMIC
BOTANY
FOR THE YEAR 1928-29
Chief of the Division
MELBOURNE, 1929
By
B= T:. DICKSON, B:A., Ph.D.
By Authority :
H. J. Green, Government Printer, Melbourne
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CONTENTS.
I. GENERAL—
Lie
2.
3.
4.
Creation of Division and Personnel!
Projected Scope of Work
Relations with other Bodies
Publications of Division
IL. Seectric INVESTIGATIONS—
. Mould in Sultanas
. Leaf-spot of Bananas ..
. Bitter Pit and Associated Diseases of Apples
. Spotted Wilt of Tomatoes
. Tobacco Diseases
. Pineapple Diseases
. Plant Disease Survey .
. Mycological Investigations in Prickly Pear Control
. Pure Cultures. .
. Plant Breeding
. Noxious Weeds
. The Koonamore Vegetation Reserve
PAGE
oO ON
ll
12
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The Work of the Division of Economic
Botany for the Year 1928-29."
By B. T. Dickson, B.A., Ph.D., Chief of the Division.
In submitting this, the First Annual Report of the Division ot
Economic Botany, it is a pleasure to acknowledge the support of the
Council, the courtesy and consideration of Headquarters and the loyal
and willing co-operation of the Divisional Staff during the period of
mitiation of the work embodied in the Report.
The Report is presented in two parts, dealing respectively with a
general outline of the programme of the Division, and with specific
undertakings up to 30th June, 1929.
I. GENERAL.
1. Creation of Division and Personnel.
In pursuance of the general scheme of operations decided upon as
being within the province of the Council, the importance of the field of
investigations into the many and varied problems concerning crop and
other plants rendered necessary the creation of a Division for that work.
While the term “ Plant Industry ” more adequately envisages the field
involved, it was decided that the Division should be known as that of
“Economic Botany,” and Professor B. T. Dickson, B.A., Ph.D., assumed
charge as from 27th February, 1928. Temporary quarters in the Botany
School were provided by arrangement with the authorities of the
University of Sydney, whose constant courtesy and consideration have
been much appreciated. Obviously, while in temporary quarters, the
Division has been inevitably seriously handicapped in the prosecution
of problems in spite of the utmost consideration on the part of the
University. Nevertheless, satisfactory progress is recorded in the details
of investigations to be noted later in this Report.
Inasmuch as the scope of work is varied, it was decided that certam
definite sections should be initiated first, and that others should develop
as a matter of growth. Consequently the section of plant pathology,
by reason of the serious losses from plant diseases, was first organized
by the appointment of a nucleus of staff, and investigations into certain
problems were commenced. This was followed by the initiation of work
in plant breeding, and arrangements are now in progress for the com-
mencement of sections of plant introduction and agrostology. A serious
handicap is the lack of a sufficiency of well-trained men in Australia to
undertake the scientific investigations of the Division—a lack due not
to any intellectual inferiority on the part of students in our universities,
but to the few openings and rather meagre financial returns presented
* Typescript received 30th July. 1929.
6
in the past. It is hoped that this situation will gradually be remedied,
but it will inevitably be some years yet before a fully concerted attack
on some problems can be launched.
The present staff of the Division is as follows :—B. T. Dickson,
B.A., Ph.D., Chief; H. R. Angell, B.Sc.Agr., Ph.D., and W. M. Carne,
F.L.S., Senior Plant Pathologists; C. C. Brittlebank, Mycologist ; J. G.
Bald, B.Agr.Sc., Assistant Plant Pathologist; J. R. A. McMillan,
M.Se., Senior Plant Geneticist ; and T. B. Paltridge, B.Sc., Field Officer
in Agrostology. In addition, W. V. Ludbrook, B.Agr.Sc., is a research
student in plant pathology, and W. Bryden, M.Sc., in plant genetics,
each working under the guidance of a senior officer and Dr. Dickson.
Dr. Jean White-Haney is seconded from Headquarters for six months to
the Division as a temporary officer for Noogoora burr investigations.
Mr. H. A. Pittman, B.Agr.Sc., was an Assistant Plant Pathologist in
the Division until lst March, 1929, when he became Plant Pathologist
for the Department of Agriculture of Western Australia.
In accordance with the announced policy of the Council, the Division
will engage in such studies of plant problems as call for fundamental and
long-time investigation, and which are of importance to more than one
State of the Commonwealth. In these problems, the co-operation of
the scientists in State Departments will be sought, and effect has already
been given to such an arrangement, as in the case of studies in bitter pit
of apples, spotted wilt of tomatoes, and water blister of pmeapples.
In certain imstances, the Division may be asked specifically to
undertake an investigation, as illustrated by those on water blister of the
pineapple, blue mould of tobacco, and Noogoora burr; but even then,
co-operation is desirable, certainly on some phases of the problems.
2. Projected Scope of Work.
In a first annual report, it is well to give an outline of the projected
scope of the work, bearing in mind, however, the fact that modification
in detail may be necessary as the Division develops.
A matter of prime importance is that of improvement in our present
crop plants, and such improvement may be in yield or quality, or both.
One of the chief factors in reducing yield is that of disease, and conse-
quently efforts must be made to prevent or minimize this loss. Usually,
it is only when disease occurs in epidemic severity that definite attention
is focussed upon it and estimates of losses are available. Every year in
every crop, however, a toll is taken which is generally regarded as reaching
about 10 per cent. of the crop, but the general distribution of the loss,
and in many cases the obscured occurrence and results, tend to a false
impression of the health of the crop. A loss of £50,000 per annum is
estimated as a result of bitter pit in apples, and £7,500 per annum by
water blister of pineapples, two diseases with which we are now working.
“ Bfue mould” of tobacco is so serious in some years that almost total
loss occurs, and that disease, coupled with “‘ aroma,” constitute limiting
factors in the development of supplies for the Australian market, which
is worth £2,000,000 per annum. Rust in wheat gave rise to a loss of
f:
£2,000,000 in New South Wales in 1916, the year when Canada lost
100,000,000 bushels through stem rust. In 1924 at Cowra it was found
that Waratah wheat gave 48 bushels per acre when free from “ take-all,”
and only 11 bushels per acre when diseased. Bunchy top of bananas
and spotted wilt of tomatoes are limiting factors with those crops.
The reduction in loss may be brought about by actual control of the
disease, by seed selection, seed treatment, spraying or other methods,
or by the selection and breeding of resistant or immune types.
Yield may be improved by the breeding of higher yielding types, even
if the question of disease does not enter. Farrar’s development of
Federation and other wheats in Australia, and Saunders’ work on Marquis
Wheat in Canada illustrate this, the fermer being worth many hundred
thousand pounds to wheat growers in Australia. Another phase of
possible improvement in yield is that involved in nutrition, and one has
only to think of the influence of superphosphate on wheat to realize what
an important part nutrition plays. Much has yet to be done with respect
to deficiencies in nutrition and the role of infinitesimals or minimals.
Quality is susceptible of improvement by selection and breeding,
and nutrition studies may throw light here also. A wide, yet highly
important, field in this work is that dealing with pasture grasses and
plants, both native and introduced. It must be borne in mind that
there are no short cuts in these investigations, and usually they require
several years of patient work before promising results may be expected.
Grading for market quality falls outside the scope of the divisional
programme.
In order clearly to visualize the situation regarding any problem in
the above-mentioned categories, it is necessary to know as fully as
possible what the present condition is with respect to the occurrence and
severity of disease, the possibility of yield and quality improvement,
and soon. This calls for surveys, and of these surveys those of plant
diseases and of pastures are the most important.
The field of crop improvement so far dealt with has been concerned
with present crop plants, but it is obvious that most of these plants have
been introduced into Australia. That the field of plant introduction is
not exhausted of its potentialities is certain, and efforts will be made to
find, test, and mtroduce valuable additions for the benefit of the pastor-
alist and agriculturist. The mtroduction of subterranean clover (Trifolium
subterraneum), Kikuyu grass (Pennisetum clandestinum), and lucerne
(Medicago sativa), are illustrations of what has been done in the past in
this respect. The United States Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Intro-
duction of the Department of Agriculture has tested over 65,000 species
and varieties of plants since its inception, and many valuable additions
to American agriculture have been selected. It is of interest to Australia
to note that in Oregon and Idaho half a million acres are sown to Federa-
tion and Hard Federation wheats, and also that recently an aeroplane
expedition by U.S.A. agriculturists to New Guinea resulted in the finding
of over one hundred varieties of sugar cane, many of which were apparently
resistant to mosaic disease.
8
In order to safeguard against undesirable introductions, of which
this contment already has some outstanding examples, e.g., prickly pear
and Noogoora burr, studies will be made under quarantine conditions
by arrangement with the Federal Department of Health, and only after
rigid tests will releases be allowed. The variety of climates from which
plants come, and for which they will be suited, will make it necessary to
arrange for plant introduction gardens. At present it is contemplated
to arrange for one suitable for cool climate grasses, &c., probably
in Tasmania, one suitable for warmer climate plants, probably in
Queensland, and also to use the glasshouses and experimental plots at
Canberra.
Yet another source of loss, either in the crop itself or in the depreciation
of agricultural lands, is the presence of weeds. In the former case, it calls
for the use of clean seed and of proper cultural operations, but im the
latter the problem is more difficult. The imfestations by prickly pear,
Noogoora burr, Bathurst burr, hoary cress, St. John’s wort, &c., are
cases in pomt. Prickly pear is being combated by attack from several
angles, and there is now distinct hope that by the agency of imsects,
aided by fungi and bacteria, a satisfactory measure of control will be
established. It is too much to hope for unqualified success in every case,
but each pest plant will be investigated and efforts made to ascertain
possible control measures. To this end, co-operative measures or co-
ordinated studies between this Division, as that concerned with plants,
and the Division of Economic Entomology are projected.
Finally, representative specimens of each plant or disease studied,
each plant introduced as desirable or destroyed as a pest, will be recorded
and preserved in suitable condition. This involves the establishment
of an herbarium, which in course of time should accumulate a represen-
tative Australian collection. To this may be added representative
specimens from State collections, so that in course of time a National
Herbarium may become a fact.
The following tabulated outlme indicates the proposed programme
of the Division :—
Proposed Programme of Division.
A.—Improvement of Present Crops—
1. Improvement in yield—
(a) Reduction of toll taken by diseases—
(i) By control by spraying, &¢.—Section of
Plant Pathology.
(ii) By selecting and developing resistant
types.—Sections of Plant Pathology
and of Plant Breeding.
(b) Breeding higher-yieldmg types—Sections of
Plant Breeding and Agrostology. (Suited to
climatic zones, &c.)
(c) Balanced nutritional requirements—Section of
Plant Nutrition or Physiology.
3)
2. Improvement in quality—
(a) Selection and breeding of better types.—Seetion
of Plant Breeding and Agrostology.
(b) Properly-balanced requirements during crop
development—Section of Plant Nutrition (in
co-operation with Divisions of Animal Nutri-
tion and Soils).
B.—Improvement by Introductions.—
(a) Exploration and exchange.—Section of Plant Introduc-
tion (and other Sections as occasion offers).
_ (b) Testing introductions—
(i) For disease, &c.—Section of Plant Pathology
and Division of Economic Entomology.
(ii) For agricultural value—Sections of Plant
Introduction and Agrostology.
C—-Control of Weeds—
(a) Studies of weeds as to distribution, &¢,—Section of
Noxious Weeds Control.
(b) Control investigations.—Sections of Noxious Weeds
Control, Plant Pathology, and Nutrition, co-operatmg
with Division of Economic Entomology.
D.—Surveys--
(a) Plant disease and mycological—Section of Plant
Pathology.
(b) Pastures and pasture plants.—Sections of Agrostology
and Nutrition.
(c) Weeds—as to extent, &c.—Section of Noxious Weeds
Control.
E—Herbarium Collections—
(a) Plant disease and mycological specimens—Sections of
Plant Pathology and Herbarium.
(b) Grasses and forage plants.—Sections of Agrostology and
Herbarium.
(c) Economic plants, flora generally —Herbarium Section.
At present, work is in progress in the sections of Plant Pathology,
Plant Breeding, Plant Introduction, Agrostology, Noxious Weeds Control,
and Herbarium, although under the considerable handicap of lack of
adequate facilities and staff.
In Plant Pathology, bitter pit, cork, water-core and internal break-
down of apples ; blue mould, phoma stem-rot and anthracnose of tobacco ;
spotted wilt of tomatoes, and water blister of pineapples, are under
investigation. An outbreak of moulds in sultanas was looked into and
cleared up, and reports have been made on leaf spot of bananas and on
the mycological factor in prickly pear control. Concerning the latter,
the Division is maintaining, on behalf of the Commonwealth Prickly Pear
10
Board, some 250 pure cultures of organisms isolated from diseased prickly
pear in U.S.A. by Mr. Lewcock. In addition to those from prickly pear,
pure cultures of over 300 other fungi and bacteria are being maintained
as the basis of a pure culture collection for investigational purposes. A
beginning has been made in organizing a complete record of the occur-
‘rence and severity of plant diseases in the Commonwealth, and this will
develop into a Plant Disease Survey to be maintained by co-operative
effort for the use of investigators working on disease problems.
In the Section of Plant Breeding, no specific investigation has yet
been initiated because of the recent appointment of the Senior Geneticist,
and the lack of facilities for laymg out work at the time. Now, however,
an area of approximately 3 acres has been fenced in, partly cultivated,
and water laid on. Scme 300 varieties or strains of wheat, 30 of barley,
and 20 of oats from different sources have been planted, and 200 strains
of maize are to be planted as soon as danger of frost is over. This small
area is merely sufficient to carry over the essential material, andit will
be necessary to obtain an area of between 50 and 100 acres of suitable land
as near as possible to Canberra, even to cope with immediate develop-
ments im breeding work.
The Section of Plant Introduction is only now being initiated, but in
the meantime Dr. Dickson has communicated with colleagues in various
countries with a view to the organization of exchange facilities. Some
material has already been received, including grasses, wheats, and also
a small sample of seed of Solanum sanitwongsei, the fruit of which is
reputed to be a palliative for diabetes. The closest touch will be main-
tained between the sections of Plant Introduction and Agrostology, in
view of the importance of pasture grasses and plants to the basic industry
of the country. Arrangements regardmg quarantine conditions have
been concluded between the Department of Health and the Council.
The importance of grasses and other pasture plants is realized when
it is recalled that over half of the exports of Australia is made up of wool
and other animal products, all of which originate from food plants.
Pasture improvement has been, and is, a matter of fact with many leading
pastoralists, but there is still room for investigation into agrostological
problems in the differing climatic zones. Work is in progress at Koona-
more, South Australia, where attention is bemg focussed on the possibility
of regeneration of eaten-out areas. This was initiated by Professor T.
G. B. Osborn while at Adelaide University, and is now carried on as a
co-operative project between the University of Adelaide, C.S.LR., and
Professor Osborn, as noted below. It is planned that the Division shall
co-operate with the Waite Agricultural Research Institute in determming
methods of technique suitable to agrostological surveys, and to that end,
it is anticipated that at least two officers will spend a year or more at
the Waite Institute.
In the Section of Noxious Weeds Control, there are unfortunately
many problems and but few workers. Furthermore, in spite of the
present prcmising possibilities in prickly pear control, resulting from
years of patient effort, it must be borne in mind that because weeds
are weeds they are not easily eradicated. In any work undertaken,
ll
close co-operation with the Division of Economic Entomology will be
a matter of course. At present Noogoora burr is being investigated
to ascertain its economic importance, its life history and distribution,
and also to determine whether any insect or fungal pests attack it in
its natural state. Noogoora burr belongs to the cockleburs, which are
Xanthiums, and it has been generally known botanically as Xanthiwm
strumartum. A certain amount of doubt attaches to this name, and
Dr. Dickson has submitted specimens to authorities at Kew and Wash-
ington for determination. Interest is aroused in Scotland by the occur-
rence of a disease of bracken, and this is being inquired into by the Chief
of the Division. By the kindness of the Scottish investigators, a pure
culture of the organism has been received and tests under controlled
conditions are planned.
At present, the collection of material for herbarium purposes is strictly
limited because of lack of a place in which it may be suitably preserved.
Arrangements have been made for a collection of Tasmanian grasses
and herbage plants, and gradually it is hoped to build up collections of
Commonwealth character.
As pointed out above, the Division has been partly accommodate1
since February, 1928, in the Botany School, by the kindness of the
University of Sydney, and grateful acknowledgment is made for many
courtesies freely extended during this occupancy. Here are ta be found
Divisional headquarters and part of the Section of Plant Pathology.
The Plant Disease Survey work is in progress at C.S.I.R. headquarters
im Melbourne. The work on bitter pit is centred at present in Perth,
Western Australia, where scanty accommodation is available but freely
given. The Plant Breeding Section is at Canberra in temporary quarters
im Civic Centre. Naturally under such conditions there is a lack of
adequate office and laboratory accommodation. Glasshouses with
temperature control equipment, &c., are not available, and experimental
plots cannot be laid down except under permanent occupation. It is
most important that suitable facilities be provided as soon as feasible,
and it is hoped that by the time the next annual report is being prepared,
the Division will be occupying its own quarters,
3. Relations with other Bodies.
Before concluding this part of the Report mention should be made
of relations with other bodies.
1. Merbein Research Station—The research work of this station
having to do mainly with vines under irrigation, and therefore being
concerned jointly with plant and soil problems, has been placed under
the control of a committee consisting of Dr. B. T. Dickson, Chief of the
Division of Economic Botany (Chairman), Professor J. A. Prescott,
Chief of the Division of Soils, and Professor T. G. B. Osborn, University
Professor of Botany, Sydney.
2. Commonwealth Prickly Pear Board.—In view of the fact that certain
fungi and bacteria affect prickly pears, and that disease, alone or in
combination with insects, may be a factor in control, Dr. Dickson has
been asked to act in an advisory capacity on mycological matters.
12
3. Australian Tobacco Investigations Arrangements have been made
whereby Mr C. M. Slagg, Director of Tobacco Investigations for the
Australian Tobacco Investigaticn, and Dr. B. T. Dickson shall constitute
a Research Committee responsible to the Executive of the Australian
Tobacco Investigation for the organization and carrying out of research
work in tobacco aroma and “blue mould.”
4, Poison Plants Investigations—The Chief of the Division of
Economic Botany is a member of the Commonwealth Poison Plants
Committee, which is investigating the plants actually or reputedly
poisonous to stock in Australia.
4, Publications of Division.
The following is a list of publications by members of the staff to
date :—
1. Preliminary note concerning the transmission of “ spotted
wilt” by an insect vector (Thrips tabaci Lind.) H. A. Pittman,
Jour. Council Sc. Ind. Res. 1 : (1927), pp. 74-77.
2 Dusting and spraying experiments for the control of
“spotted wilt” of tomatoes. G. Samuel and H. A. Pittman,
Proc. Aust. Assoc. Adv. Sc. 19: (1928), pp. 588-590
3. Leaf spot of banana in Southern Queensland. B. T.
Dickson, Q. Agric. Jour. 30: (1928), pp. 455-457.
4. Notes on certain disorders of Cleopatra apples. W. M.
Carne, H. A. Pittman, and H. G. Elhott. Jour. Council Se. Ind.
Res. 2: (1929), pp. 49-52.
5. Studies concerning the so-called bitter pit of apples in
Australia, with special reference to the variety Cleopatra. W. M.
Carne, H. A. Pittman, and H. G. Elliott. Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research, Bulletin 41: (1929), 101 pp.
6. Division of Economic Botany: Some present activities.
(From Progress Report of Chief of the Division), Jour. Council Se.
Ind. Res. 2. (1929), pp.94-97.
Il. SPECIFIC INVESTIGATIONS.
1. Mould in Sultanas.
During April and May, 1928, a considerable development of moulds
in the Nyah district threatened heavy loss in the dried fruits dustry.
Moulds are present to a limited extent every season when rains fall at
the time of ripening of the fruit, but give rise to no concern. Owing,
however, to heavy rains, much more was present this season and the
pack was affected.
At the time of my visit in company with Mr. A. V. Lyon, Officer in
Charge of the Commonwealth Research Station, Merbein, and Mr A.
Lochhead. of the Dried Fruits Board, 5 tons of fruit had already been
condemned by inspectors as unfit for export out of 4,000 tons of fruit in
the district. Four large packing plants were visited; one only was
13
relatively free from moulds, and that because infected fruit was refused
entry to the packing plant. Examination of fruit from boxes taken at
random showed the presence of various moulds which were determined
later. Sometimes single berries were affected, but more often the mouldy
fruit was in clumps of varying size which were easily noticed when a box
was turned out. Infection may have occurred while the fru t was still
on the vines, and this is probably the case with attack by Botrytis sp.
Further spread or new infections may arise in fruit on the racks, especially
under humid conditions. Penicillium is commonly found on injured rack
fruit. Wherever it may have arisen it was then in the boxes in much
greater quantity than it should have been.
Laboratory studies of the moulds showed that the following fungi
were present in the boxes of fruit :—
Botrytis cinerea, Penicillium sp., Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus glaucus,
Rhizopus nigricans, and Mucor racemosus.
Moulds of this type develop rapidly under humid conditions and
they are able to attack ripe or ripening fruit. That they are not confined
to Australia is evidenced by reports of Botrytis cinerea, Penicillium sp..
Rhizopus nigricans and Aspergillus niger on grapes for export from South
Africa and of Botrytis cinerea and Penicillium glaucum on grapes in Tunis.
In the boxes examined, Botrytis cinerea and Penicillium sp. were most
common, Aspergillus glaucus, Mucor racemosus, Aspergillus niger, and
Rhizopus nigricans occurring in that order of importance. By experi-
mental tests, it was found that heating moist sultanas inoculated with
the organisms for one to three hours at 145° F. checked the growth of the
fungi and did not appear to injure the fruit.
Mr. Lyon undertook to test the feasibility of washing, dehydrating
for three hours at 145° F., and regrading representative boxes of fruit.
with the result that a very marked improvement was demonstrated not
only in the reduction of mouldy sultanas but in general appearance. No
new growth of mould was observed in treated boxes two weeks after
treatment, whereas new growth was readily observable in control boxes.
Recommendations following on this investigation are that :—
1. Growers should discard diseased fruit at picking or when
spreading on racks.
2. Drying should be thorough and the fruit watched for
mould if humid weather occurs.
3. Packing houses should wash and dehydrate fruit when
mould is likely to develop. If this were a regular
practice, the pack would most likely be more uniform
and it would certainly be cleaner, thus enhancing
Australia’s reputation for dried fruits. The dehydra-
tion recommended is at 145° F. for three hours.
4, All debris, waste, and condemned fruit is a source of
infection in the packing plant itself and should be
removed from the packing sheds.
14
2. Leaf Spot of Bananas.
At the request of the Government of Queensland, the Chief of the
Division of Economic Botany was asked to visit the banana-growing areas
of southern Queensland in order to advise on leaf spot of bananas. This
disease was causing considerable perturbation among growers because
of the severity of attack during 1928, although undoubtedly it has been
present in plantations for a number of years. Visits were made to
representative Cavendish plantations in seventeen districts between
22nd June and 3rd July, 1928, and in every plantation the disease was
present. Where trash had been removed and where plants were growing
on well-drained, sheltered slopes, leaf spot was not serious, but in most
cases it had spread to the young non-bearing plantations. During the
tour it was evident that there were a number of abandoned plantations
which constituted a menace to newer areas in the vicinity.
As the name indicates, the chief symptom of the disease is the spotting
of the leaves. The lower leaves are affected first, the number of spots
appearing depending on the conditions for infection in the plantation.
If there is an abundance of diseased foliage and rains are frequent, there
is also an abundance of infection, and it appears as if the disease gradually
gets up a momentum so that there is a serious increase in its severity,
as was in the case in 1928.
The middle of each rather oval spot dies and becomes somewhat ashy-
brown or grey in colour, and later a fungus develops its spore-bearing
bodies in that dead tissue. From these small black fungal bodies, many
thousands of spores are spread during continued wet or muggy weather.
Around the spots, the leaf-blade turns yellow, later becoming brown and
dying. The coalescence of such areas may involve most or all of the leaf.
Gradually the spot invasion reaches the upper leaves, those below
being now dead and hanging down against the stem. It was a common
sight to see plants with but three living leaves left at the growing point,
and when the bunch of fruit is maturing, it needs all the foliage pos-
sible, since it draws upon the leaves for its starch. Jn some cases,
the bunch was developing sufficiently fast and was already near enough
shipping maturity that it would just ripen, but much more fre-
quently it was just reaching that stage of maturity when the demand
on the few remaining leaves was heaviest. At this time, they also became
infected with leaf spot and rapidly succumbed, so that the bunch could
not mature.
The organism causing the disease (Cercospora sp.) is not a strong
parasite, and, in order to affect the plants seriously, the conditions must
be such that plants are weakened or debilitated. Cold, wet weather,
unsuitable situation, poorly-drained soil, and poor cultural practices give
a set of circumstances definitely favorable to the fungus and enabling
it to assume epidemic proportions. That the trouble is seasonable is
evidenced by its relative non-occurrence in summer, but growers should
remember that the organism is still present and alive. Until more is
known about the organism causing the disease, recommendations are
based on hygienic precautions. Trash should be removed and destroyed
15
and care taken in selecting clean suckers for new plantings. Old
abandoned plantations should be destroyed, because they may be sources
of disease.
Mr. J. H Simmonds, of.the Queensland Department of Agriculture,
is making a careful study of the disease.
3. Bitter Pit and Associated Diseases of Applies.
Bitter pit has been for many years, and still is, the major cause of
wastage in expcerted Australian apples. Invest gations, since 1892,
have indicated that it is not of parasitic origin but that it belongs in the
physiological diseases. Prelimimary experiments in 1925 and 1927,
and a study of the literature, suggested that the disease might be due to
immaturity at picking time. The main lines of work have been :—
1. A comparative study of bitter pit lesions on stored fruit with
those of the disease known as bitter pit occurring in fruit
on the trees.
2. A comparative study of susceptible and non-susceptible
varieties.
3. Attempts to find some method of determing maturity.
4, Picking and storage tests to determine the effect of varying
Maturity at picking time.
5. Incidental studies of other diseases of apples met with in the
investigations.
6. A study of the relation of pit and other diseases to the general
problems of the industry.
The work has been conducted by Mr. W. M. Carne, now a Senior
Plant Pathologist, C.S.I.R., assisted (part time) by Messrs. Pittman and
Elliott of the Plant Pathology Branch, Western Australian Department
of Agriculture. The Department of Agriculture has willimgly provided
such office, laboratory, and library facilities as are available, but these
are distinctly limited by the fact that the Department itself is sadly
lacking in necessary accommodation.
The work done during 1928 and published in C.S.1.R. Bulletin 41
demonstrated :—
1. That the so-called pit developed on fruit while on the tree is
cork and not bitter pit.
2. That pit is the result of picking apples before they have reached
a certain stage of maturity.
3. That a simple iodine test for starch.is a guide to maturity.
4. That bitter pit may be avoided by picking apples after they
have arrived at a stage of maturity at which they are no
longer susceptible.
During 1929, the work has been developed on the following lines:
1. Confirmation of the conclusions arrived at in 1928 and noted
above.
16
2. Further inquiry into the causes of cork, breakdown, water-core,
scald, &c., with a view to finding methods of controlling
these diseases.
3. A study of the export industry, particularly in regard to the
defects affecting sales and competition with other countries,
and the problems arising out of later picking for pit control.
The work has not been completed, as storage tests will not be finished
until October, and it is not considered desirable at the present stage to
detail the conclusions reached. A new form of breakdown has been
recognized and its control demonstrated. In regard to cork, interesting
data relative to fruit acidity and fruit and leaf-sap pressures have been
collected, which will probably aid in the solution of this problem. Rather
definite conclusions have been arrived at as to the cause of one form of
cork and of water core.
In reference to bitter pit, some very suggestive data in support of the
theory put forward last year have been obtained. Further, it has been
shown that there are at least two types of apple varieties on the basis of
their lability to bitter pit at different storage temperatures.
On one section of the work, however, it is possible and desirable to
make very definite statements. Our study, based largely on reports
from Europe, of the apple export industry has shown that it is not m a
healthy condition. The quality and condition of Australian fruit on
arrival in England is not generally satisfactory and complaints are much
more frequent than praise. The shipments from the different States
vary in market value, those from Western Australia being in general
best. This is principally due to the fact that the fruit im that State is
the earliest to mature. That the low prices obtained are not due so
much to weak markets, but rather to the poor quality and condition of
our fruit, is shown by the growth of the competition from New Zealand
and Chili, and these countries are securing better prices on the same
market. Indeed, our failure to compete successfully with them shows
that there is a danger of Australia being forced out of the European
market unless there is some very definite improvement in our fruit im
the near future.
The three principal defects of Australian apples in Europe are
immaturity, bitter pit, and breakdown associated with over-maturity.
As we demonstrated in 1928, and have confirmed beyond all doubt this
year, bitter pit is definitely associated with immaturity. It follows
therefore that the principal causes of wastage are immaturity and over-
maturity, and a most important phase of the problem of wastage reduc-
tion is that of recognizing the correct maturity for pickmg. Further.
we have found that the iodine test is an effective guide to picking maturity.
The way has been opened for an immediate and much-needed improve-
ment in the industry. Admittedly, varietal and seasonal differences
require that each variety shall be picked according to the season and to
varietal susceptibility to pit, breakdown, &c. Nevertheless, the general
principle holds good for all apples, that later picking is essential for the
elimination of immaturity and bitter pit, and a shorter picking season to
avoid over-maturity. Local details must be worked out locally—a
17
function of the Governments of the several interested States. In any
case there is nothing to prevent at least a partial application next season
of the principle of picking according to maturity.
The foregoing statements are so emphatic that supporting evidence
is necessary. This is given briefly as under :—
1. All tests, whether in Australia or America, of picking and storing
apples at different stages of maturity, have resulted in a
decrease in pit development as the fruit was picked in a
more mature condition. This has been shown in various
years and places to be true for Cox’s Orange Pippin, Ribston
Pippin, Cleopatra, Dunn’s, Jonathan, Granny Smith,
Gravenstem and Annie Elizabeth. It has been shown for
Cleopatra to apply as well in years of light crops as in those
oi heavy crops; for Jonathan, to apply in America as well
as in Australia. No tests to our knowledge have ever given
contrary results.
2. Secondly, by picking immature and matured apples on the
basis of maturity as shown by the iodine test, we have
obtained pitted and non-pitted apples respectively after
storage. Apples picked when over-mature for picking on
the basis of the iodine test gave over-mature apples in
storage.
3. By examination of the earlier shipments of fruit leaving Western
Australia this season, we were able, on the basis of the
iodine test and a knowledge of the type of fruit shipped.
to make predictions which were in complete conformity
with European brokers’ reports some six to eight weeks
later. It should be pointed out that the condition of the
fruit determines pit liability, as well as maturity. The
large puffy fruit common in a season of light crops is very
subject to both pit and breakdown. So short is the time
of suitable picking maturity for such fruits that their export
should be discouraged.
4. Lastly, on our advice some 800 cases—mainly of Cox’s Orange
Pippins—were rejected for immaturity from the first ship-
ment (a small one) leaving Western Australia this year.
This rejection was based on the iodine test* and was contrary
to the opinion of both shipping agents and fruit inspectors.
To support a claim for compensation for the rejection of
reputedly prime fruit, a portion of the rejected lots was
cold stored by the agents, to be opened on the arrival
of the vessel in England. This was duly done. When
opened the fruit was found to be badly pitted, already
showing evidence of breakdown, and practically unsaleable.
Much of the fruit was literally covered with pit spots.
Examination showed that the percentage of affected apples
varied from 55 in 2-in. to 97 in 23-in. sizes.
* ‘The iodine test is not advised for general inspection work on wharts, though it may be used as a
valuable aid in certain circumstances. Its principal value is to determine maturity for picking.
18
It is claimed that an immediate and much-needed improvement can
be obtained in our exported apples by picking them on a basis of maturity.
It is admitted that this complete change in pickmg methods cannot be
brought about suddenly, but it is obvious that a reduction in the amount
ofimmaturity, bitter pit, and breakdown may be obtained next season by
those controlling the industry.
During the 1930 season, it is proposed to concentrate particularly on
the cork problem, with further incidental studies on water core, &c.
Further attention will be given to the relation of storage temperatures
to pit development to check results of this season’s work. It is also
intended to initiate preliminary experiments in regard to the picking of
pears for export, this fruit bemg much more subject to wastage than
apples, a factor which limits its export from Australia.
4. Spotted Wilt of Tomatoes.
The investigation of the “ spotted wilt ” disease of tomatoes was one
of the first projects to be undertaken by the C.S.1.R., owing to the extreme
severity of the disease and the general demand from growers for a complete
investigation of the trouble. The disease is by far the most serious with
which the tomato grower has to contend. In epidemic seasons it may
destroy the entire crop over considerable areas, even with the larger
growers who plant 10,000 or more plants. Within recent years,
it has also appeared in tomato glass-houses, and it is rapidly becoming
a serious problem to this more expensive industry. At the time the
investigation commenced (October, 1926), nothing was known of the
disease beyond the fact that it appeared to be of the nature of a virus
disease, and the way in which it spread with such extraordinary rapidity
remained unexplained.
Efforts were concentrated first on determinmg whether some insect
was the carrier of the disease, and after a number had been tested with
negative results it was discovered that a species of thrips, known as
Frankliniella insularis, is the insect which normally spreads the virus,
at least in South Australia. This thrips has also been found in New
South Wales, at Bendigo in Victoria, and in Western Australia, but not
yet near Melbourne, where spotted wilt of tomatoes is often severe. The
insect vector in the vicinity of Melbourne has still to be determined,
therefore, and the plans for carrying this out are mentioned below.
Concurrently with the work on the determination of the insect vector,
experiments on control have been carried out by spraying, dusting, and
fumigating, and cross-breeding work has been commenced with the aim
of developing, if possible, a variety of tomato resistant to the disease.
Preliminary experimental work has been carried out to determine certain
relations between the virus and the thrips which carries it, and also what
other plants than the tomato may harbour the disease—all of which
points may have a bearing upon the development of the best control
measures.
The investigation to date has been carried out at the Waite Agricul-
tural Research Institute in South Australia. At the time the work was
commenced, the Division of Economic Botany had not been established.
19
Since the Waite Institute had just been opened, and since it was situated
within easy reach of extensive outdoor and glasshouse tomato areas
which suffered severely from spotted wilt, it was considered the most
suitable locality. An arrangement was entered into between the C.S.1.R.
and the University of Adelaide whereby the Plant Pathologist, Mr. G.
Samuel, M.Sc., at the Waite Institute should take charge of the investi-
gation and be supplied with an Assistant Plant Pathologist, now Mr. J.
G. Bald, B.Agr.Sc., of the Division of Economic Botany, and the necessary
equipment by the C.S.I.R. The main item of equipment required was
an insect-proof glasshouse, which was completed in May, 1927, and which
was described in an article in the Journal of the Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research, Vol. 1 : (1928), pp. 2738-274, Pls. 1 and 2.
The information obtained during last season’s work on the insect
vector, Frankliniella insularis, will prove very valuable in planning
further experiments on control. Since this thrips has been found to be
a widespread inhabitant of both cultivated and wild flowers, the contro]
of spotted wilt in outdoor tomatoes may prove to be particularly difficult
unless a resistant variety can be bred. On the other hand, methods of
control for commercial glasshouses should be able to be developed, based
upon exclusion of the insect right from the seedbed stage, rather than
on eradication when once it is in the glasshouses.
Experimental work is now being carried out to determine whether
certain weeds or other plants found near tomato fields can harbour the
virus of the disease. The question of the insect vector of the disease in
the vicinity of Melbourne has also to be cleared up. This can best be
done by a worker stationed on the spot, and arrangements are being made
whereby the Assistant Plant Pathologist, who has been working hitherto
at Adelaide, will be transferred for a period to Melbourne to work in
co-operation with the Plant Pathologist of the Victorian Department
of Agriculture in an endeavour to clear up this side of the problem. It
may also be found advisable to obtain the co-operation of an entomologist
to work on matters connected with the life-history of the vector thrips,
in order to provide adequate information on which to develop methods
of control. Such questions as the source of thrips invasion of tomato
glasshouses, whether from seedlings from the seed-beds, from the outside
through cracks or holes in the glass, or from the soil as a carry-over from
the previous season, come within the province of the entomologist rather
than the plant pathologist.
The work done to date has been written up as a bulletin which is now
in course of publication. The information which it gives on the manner
of spread of the disease will enable careful tomato growers to do more
towards controlling spotted wilt than was possible before, but further
research work on a number of points in connexion with the disease is
still required. This work is still bemg carried forward at the Waite
Institute.
5. Tobacco Diseases.
(1) Blue Mould.
Introduction—In January, 1929, arrangements were made with the
Australian Tobacco Investigations Committee whereby the investigation
20
of the “blue mould” disease of tobacco was to be undertaken by the
Division of Economic Botany of C.S.L.R. The research committee,
’ consisting of the Director of Tobacco Investigations and the Chief of the
Division of Economic Botany, later assigned the problem to Dr. H. R.
Angell, Senior Pathologist of the Divis.on.
With a view to becoming acquainted with the disease in the field,
visits were paid to the tobacco-growing districts around Mpyrtleford,
Victoria; Tamworth, N.S.W.; Mareeba and Herberton, Queensland ;
and the Experiment Station at Wahgunyah, Victoria. During these
visits, seed was collected from many farmers who had had blue mould
during the previous season. Material from naturally-infected plants was
also preserved for preliminary study of the relation of the parasite to the
host.
Systemic Infectton.—Blue mould is one of the principal factors limiting
the expansion of the tobacco-growing industry in Australia. This disease
does not occur in North America, in Europe, nor in most tobacco-growing
countries. It is perhaps most destructive and of greatest economic
importance when the plants are in the seedling stage. Under certain
weather conditions favorable to the rapid development and spread of
the causal organism, beds of seedlings may be entirely destroyed in a few
days. Sometimes apparently healthy plants from the beds lghtly
attacked may be transplanted in the field, but more often than not they
develop the disease and die within a week or two. This loss of seedlings
and transplants necessitates the growing of successive seed-beds and
several replantings—a series of operations expensive of time, patience,
effort, and money. Should weather and other conditions be such that
young tobacco plants infected with blue mould are able to survive the
initial attack of the parasite, they may for a time fail to show any of
the usual leaf symptoms of the disease, and indeed may appear to develop
almost normally. Should, however, cross-sections be made of the older
parts of the stems and petioles of such “recovered” plants there will
be seen a brownish discoloration mvolving the parenchyma on both
sides of the vascular rmg. The amount of discoloured tissue decreases
towards the upper portions of the stem. In both naturally and artifici-
ally-infected plants, discoloration of the tissue has been observed even
in the peduncles and pedicels. Plants which are badly attacked appear
to drop their fruit rather readily. Given certain conditions of temperature
and humidity, the fungus may grow more rapidly than before and produce
numerous and extensive lesions in the leaves. On such lesions, conidio-
phores and conidia are produced in abundance. Following these observa-
tions made with the naked eye, portions of tissue from the roots to the
pedicels of naturally and artificially infected plants were fixed, dehydrated,
embedded, stained and examined under the microscope. The intercellular
mycelium of the fungus was found in sections of the root, stem, petiole,
and lamina of the leaf as well as the peduncle and pedicel of the inflores-
cence. It has not yet been found in the fruit and seed.
Seed a Probable Source of Primary Injection —The nature of the blue
mould disease of tobacco very soon indicated the impracticability of
control by spraying or dusting. Attempts by other workers have yielded
21
indefinite results. Our investigations were therefore directed towards
the discovery of the origin of primary infection. How did the first
diseased plant in a seed-bed contract blue mould? Did the fungus live
from one season to another in the soil, or in diseased over-wintering
plants, or in wild hosts and preduce crops of spores that infected the
seedlings inthe spring? Each of these factors appeared to be responsible
to some degree for the perpetuation of the parasite, and indeed they may
be very important on farms on which seedlings are grown in the same
fields as mature plants. On visiting seme of the tobacco-growing districts,
however, it was learnt that some farmers grew their seedlings cn new
land in some cases hundreds of miles away from tobacco fields, wild
tobacco, or other plants that may have had the disease. This information
indicated that the source of infection was to be sought in another direction.
It seemed fairly obvious that in such cases where seed was the only
material transferred from the diseased tobacco fields to the distant seed-
beds the disease was likely to be seed-borne.
Collections of seed from various Australian and North American
sources was a time-consuming process, and it was some two months
before Dr. Angell was able to secure a sample of seed frcm a lot that was
definitely known to have produced blue mould plants first during the
previous seascn. In two successive series of experiments conducted in
a glasshouse in which samples of the North American and Australian
seed were sown in flats laid side by side, the seedlings from the latter
on both occasicns developed the disease seventeen days after sowing,
whereas the North American seedlings were perfectly healthy and
remained so until they were deliberately exposed to infection from the
others. A detailed account of this work is to appear in the August (1929)
issue of the Journal of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.
One flat of treated Australian seed produced healthy seedlings, but the
treatment given was not practicable for ccmmercial application. It is
to be regretted that as only a very limited amount of seed was available,
no more experiments in seed treatment could be tried. Although these
and other experiments leave little, if any, room for doubt that the disease
is seed-borne and may prove to be amenable to control by seed treatment,
the work must necessarily be repeated several times before making any
definite recommendations. In the meantime, the results obtained
should be taken as indicative. Other sources of infection are also being
investigated.
Farmers are therefore advised that in order to prevent outbreaks of
blue mould in their seed-beds—prevention is certainly better than cure
in this case—they should be extremely careful in choosing their source
of supply of seed. Only that obtained from healthy plants from disease-
free fields in farms in which no blue mould was present during the past
season, and preferably from districts in which blue mould does not occur,
should be used for sowing. Until more is known regarding the disease,
they are further advised to make their seed-beds on new land or at least
on soil on which tobacco was not grown during the past season. Further-
more, the example of the farmers in the Myrtleford district, Victoria,
should be followed if possible. Their seed-beds are removed by many
22
miles from their fields and from possible wild hosts. Before transplanting
in the fields, all tobacco plants in the neighbourhood which have survived
the winter should be eradicated. In addition, farmers should seriously
consider the advisability of selecting healthy seedlmgs of good type
from disease-free seed-beds and transplantmg them in an isolated field
especially for the purpose of production of healthy seed.
(2) Basal Stem Rot.
Among the many diseases that have been observed during the season,
a basal stem rot in the Tobacco Investigations Committee’s experimental
plot at Mareeba, Queensland, appears to be one that may be serious im
wet seasons. Two organisms—Phoma and Colletotrichum—appeared
to be generally associated with the trouble. Pure cultures of these
organisms have been isolated and their pathogenicity will be tested as
soon as field or greenhouse space and suitable temperature conditions
are available.
(3) Virus Diseases.
Two well-known virus diseases, mosaic and ring spot, appear to be
increasing in economic importance in the Myrtleford district of Victoria.
In view of the great amount of loss caused by mosaic in the United States,
it appears that growers would be well advised to take measures aimmg
at its control. Another disease, apparently hitherto undescribed and
provisionally referred to as “‘ bunchy-top ”’ of tobacco, also appears to be
due to a virus. Dwarfing of plants is quite common in certain fields. Its
cause will be investigated as soon as time and opportunity permit.
6. Pineapple Diseases.
(1) Water Blister of Pineapple.—At the request of the Government
of Queensland, Dr. Dickson was asked to look mto a problem known
generally as ‘“‘ water blister” of pimeapples which had caused heavy
losses. It is a trouble occurring in summer months, and not until January,
1929, were diseased pineapples available. It was then recognized as
being the Thielaviopsis soft rot, fruit rot or black rot of pmeapples, caused
by Thielaviopsis paradoxa. The organism has been isolated in pure
culture some fifty times, and inoculation studies abundantly confirmed
the diagnosis. A questionnaire sent to pineapple dealers in Sydney and
Melbourne brought to light the fact that the disease had been known
up to 25 years, the average among the wholesalers being 15 years.
Estimates of annual loss varied from 4 per cent. to 20 per cent., although
in some individual consignments up to 90 per cent. loss occurred. The
estimate of loss made by the Queensland Committee of Direction of Fruit
Marketing is £7,500 per annum.
Mr. W. V. Ludbrook made twenty visits to Sydney markets and
personally examined 1,148 rejected fruit of which 1,093, or 95.2 per cent.
were soft-rotted, 42 or 3.7 per cent. were yeasty, 4 or 0.3 per cent. were
both soft-rotted and yeasty, while 9 or 0.8 per cent. were bruised but not
actually then diseased. Of the imfections examined, 75.5 per cent.
originated at or neax the base of the fruit, 22.3 per cent. on the side, and
2.2 per cent. near the crown. Within 24 hours (under warm conditions)
23
to several days after inoculation, a soft area develops which easily yields
on slight pressure and from which juice oozes. This rapidly extends,
and the internal tissues break down, releasing quantities of juice which
runs or drips from the fruit, hence the market name of “ water blister.”’
The whole fruit may be involved in four to seven days, when it is reduced
to a wet soft mass which is completely disintegrated and invaded by
secondary bacteria and yeasts. The broken-down tissues carry the
mycelium of the fungus and its spores, and by reason of the presence of
the spores the pulp may be olive-green in colour. Upon exposure to
air, a rapid development of hyaline microconidia occurs, giving the
surface a glistening frosty appearance, followed by a darkening due to the
development of masses of dark olive-green macroconidia.
The development of Thielaviopsis is checked by both low and high
temperatures. Experiments showed that it would not grow in pineapple
fruit at 37.5° C., nor at 10 to 12°C., but that it grows readily at 23-29° C.
By arrangement with the Committee of Direction of Fruit Marketing,
consignments of fruit experimentally treated were shipped to us from
Queensland. They were treated and packed by Mr. J. H. Simmonds,
Plant Pathologist of the Department of Agriculture. Spore germination
tests had shown that no growth occurred after treatment with } per cent.
formalin for three minutes. Consignments of fruit treated with formalin
were received from Queensland. These were free from water blister, but
unfortunately the fruit surface was severely bronzed. On examination
it was found that a discoloration and necrosis of tissues cccurred to a
depth of half an inch below the surface. Experimental tests showed
that 4 per cent. formalin bronzed the greenish unripe tissues, but had
little effect on the maturer yellow areas.
Other disinfectants such as sulphur, Bordeaux mixture, and Bordeaux
plus formalin were tried at the same time without successful results.
Care im cutting, handling, and packing of the pines definitely showed
that by such means the losses could be materially reduced. Spore germi-
imation tests were then made with boracic and salicylic acids. With
the boracic 1 in 400 prevented germination and with salicylic | in 7,200.
Tests on fruit indicated that no discoloration occurs as a result of using
these disinfectants. The shortness of the season available this year for
experimental consignments—end of February to mid-April—allowed
but little opportunity to test these disinfectants adequately on a commer-
cial scale. It is planned to continue the consignmerts next season in
the hope of finalizing control measures.
In the meantime, it is reiterated that care in cutting, handling, and
packing will materially reduce losses. It has been stated in Hawaii that
the organism can enter uninjured tissues. We have not demonstrated
this, but it can certainly enter bruised tissues however small the hruise
may be. Finally the organism is a soil-habitor. Pines dropped upon
infested soil are probably inoculated by that method of handling, as
is evidenced by the number of cases of basal rot occurring.
A technical account of the organism and the disease is in course of
preparation.
24
(2) Yeasty Pineapples.—Out of the 1,148 pineapples examined by
Mr. Ludbrook, 42 were found to differ in that no Thielaviopsis was present. —
They leaked juice as did the soft-rotted pineapples, but differed in other
respects. On an affected area, a scum of yeast with bacteria may form
and groups of frothy bubbles appear. On pressure the surface tissues
sink and gas is evolved in large bubbles, or actually in quantity with a
hissing sound. When the pressure is released the surface tissues return
to their normal contour. When completely affected, all the.juice disap-
pears, chiefly as a result of fermentation, and only the skin and vascular
tissues remain. A pineapple weighing three pounds is thus reduced
to a weight of a few ounces. The fermentation gives rise to a definite
acetic odour, and the acidity of the tissues effectually prevents other
infection. Thus, if it happens that both fermentative and soft-rot
organisms occur in the same pimeapple they are sharply delimited one
from another, for the Thielaviopsis will not grow into the fermenting area
or zone.
Isolations to the number of 40 gave yeast cultures with, in a few
cases, accompanying bacteria. Sixteen attempts to reproduce the
disease were successful in only three cases, but further efforts may give
more uniform results. Owing to the relatively minor importance of this
trouble less attention has been paid to it than to the Theelaviopsis soft-
rot.
7. Plant Disease Survey!
Plant diseases do not conform in their geographic distribution to
political boundaries. Some are cosmopolitan and others local, or local
for a time, and later becoming widespread. When one considers the
number of men available for looking after human ailments, or of veteri-
narians for animal diseases, it is readily understandable that a tremendous
task faces the few pathclogists who are investigating the diseases of all
the crops grown in Australia. It behoves scientists concerned with
plant health to have available a maximum of information on the occur-
rence, conditions, severity and control measures of plant diseases not
only in a State but in the Commonwealth and outside the Commonwealth.
At a meeting of plant pathologists held in Melbourne in September,
1927, it was resolved :—
1. That Plant Pathologists of the different States be instructed
as to the occurrence of any new or serious disease that
may be diagnosed in their respective States.
2. That it is desirable to exchange between the pathological
branches in the different States the monthly, quarterly,
or other reports on plant diseases prepared for the Inter-
national Institute of Agriculture at Rome. .
3. That the Plant Pathologists of all the States agree to prepare
for publication, as soon as possible, a plant disease census
indicating the occurrence, distribution, and severity of
plant diseases in their respective States.
25
It is the aim of the Plant Disease Survey of the Division of Economic
Botany to organize this information on a Commonwealth basis and to
maintain records available to all workers. It is hoped that State officers
will collaborate in the organization and maintenance of the Survey as is
the case elsewhere.
A commencement has been made by Mr. C. C. Brittlebank, who is
working up the records from Victoria made available by the courtesy
of Dr. S. S. Cameron, Director of the- Victorian Department of
Agriculture.
8. Mycological Investigations in Prickly Pear Control.
During July, 1928, at the request of the Commonwealth Prickly
Pear Board, I visited the prickly pear area in order to look into
the question of the possibility of fungi and /or bacteria playing a part in
control measures. By the kindness of Mr. F. D. Power, of the Prickly
Pear Lands Commission of Queensland, and Mr. Alan P. Dodd, Officer
in Charge of prickly pear work for the Board, I was able to see a consider-
able area in the Chinchilla district. The work of the Board and its officers
is the outstanding example of what is possible by concentrated long-
continued scientific effort in the attempt at control of a widespread intro-
duced pest. The direct and indirect results of prickly pear invasion by
the caterpillar Cactoblastis cactorum are astonishingly interesting, and
the effectiveness of the attack leads one to build strong hopes of ultimate
control provided no unforeseen setback occurs.
Mycologically, however, it was found that following the attack of
C. cactorum, a soft rot set in which sometimes spread to other parts
than the cladode (segment) originally invaded. In all probability, it
was a bacterial rot spread by the caterpillars, but technical laboratory
study is needed to determine just what causes the rot. A Gloeosporium
spot was commonly found in the area, and “ sun-scald”’ was abundant
in one district. | Wherever the prickly pear was down as a result of
C. cactorum attack it was literally black with fungal bodies, many probably
those of saprophytes, which, however, were evidently completing the
work of destruction.
The Board recalled its officer from North America and a programme
of mycological investigations has been arranged. That officer (Mr. H. K.
Lewcock, M.Sc.) brought with him some 250 cultures of organisms isolated
from diseased prickly pear in various parts of North America and in
Bermuda.
The Division has arranged to maintain these in pure culture. Should
any be considered of possible use in prickly pear control, the necessary
tests for pathogenicity on economic plants will be carried out by the
Division on behalf of the Board.
9. Pure Cultures.
It is frequently necessary to study pathcgenic organisms at times
when the disease is not present and to be able to produce the disease
under controlled conditions. It is also necessary to determine whether
26
or not physiological specialization occurs in any given case, especially
when preparing to breed for disease resistance, as is the case with stem
rust of wheat. Finally, it may be necessary to compare an organism
occurring in Australia with one from abroad. All of these requirements
necessitate the maintenance of as complete a collection as possible of
the fungi and bacteria causing disease in plants in Australia. The
Division has already some 300 organisms in culture as a basis for this
work.
10. Plant Breeding.
A commencement has been made on the accumulation of a collection
of material for studying the genetics of inheritance of morphological and
physiological characters of cereals. Most attention will be devoted to
wheats as to yield, disease resistance, drought tolerance, &c. Investi-
gations concerning yield factors have already been initiated.
Arrangements have been made to carry on the maize improvement
work at Gatton College, Queensland, under the direction of Mr. McMillan,
Senior Plant Geneticist. It is planned that studies on disease resistance
with this crop will begin in the near future. Plans are under consideration
concerning investigations into experimental plot technique under
Australian conditions.
11. Noxious Weeds.
(1) Noogoora Burr (Xanthium sp.).—A serious menace to wool
production in parts of Queensland is the spread of the clotburs or cockle-
burs generally known as Noogoora and Bathurst burrs. Loss occurs
not only by depreciation of land but by the cost of removal of burr from
wool. Noogocra burr apparently cccurred first near Brisbane, at the
Noogoora Station, whence it has spread alarmingly. It is quite cosmo-
politan and probably originated in Asia Miner. Technically it is a
Xanthium, and has been botanically known as Xanthium strumarium.
There is some doubt as to its actual classification, and we find that Dr.
Widder considers it to be X. pungens. Specimens haye been sent to
the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, and to Washington, for identiii-
cation and comparison. The group is peculiar in that each burr possesses
two seeds, one of which may germinate in spring, and the other in the
following spring, or during the next suitable rainfall period. This
aggravates the difficulty of control. They may produce but two burrs on
small plants, or many on large plants, and a count on a bush plant 2 feet
6 inches high made by Dr. Dickson gave 1,437 burrs.
As no officer of the Division was available for a survey of the problem,
Dr. Jean White-Haney was seconded from C.S.1.R. Headquarters for
six months, as from Ist March, to investigate the weed in the field. A
map is being prepared jointly with the Queensland Lands Department
to show the present geographic distribution of the burr. A question-
naire has been sent out to pastoralists in order to ascertain facts regarding
the first occurrence of burr, its spread, relation to weather, water-courses,
stock routes, &c., whether stock eat it, and whether any insect or fungal
enemies have been observed on it.
27
Peak Downs, Springsure, Longreach, Muttaburra, Hughenden,
Richmond, Nelia, Julia Creek, Cloncurry, and Charters Towers have
been visited. The infestation of burr occurs mainly in the watercourses,
rivers, creeks, and bore draims, but in parts of some localities in which
the rainfall is not particularly low, burr plants are thriving and fruiting
at long distances from water. The most densely-infested districts noted
so far are :—
Emerald to Clermont.
Flinders River, the river passing through the Richmond,
Nelia and Julia Creek districts.
Muttaburra districts.
In these districts, during the months frem December to April, as a
tule, a fresh crop germinates with each heavy fall of ram. Those plants
which germinate early usually grow to heights from 3 to 9 feet before
flowering, and are easily seen, and so relatively easily destroyed. The
plants from seedlings which develop late in the season are usually much
abbreviated, and mature seed when from | to 8 or 9 inches high. If
growing among grass, it.is almost impossible to find these miniature
plants, and it is these which form the most difficult phase of the problem.
Methods of Destruction Used by Graziers.—
1. Hand Pulling—Wholly successful if thoroughly done, but it
is almost impossible to obtain labourers who do the work
thoroughly.
2. Cutting below the surface of the soil—Not so satisfactory, as if
any plants are cut off just above the surface of the soil,
as is usually the case with some, burr-producing sprouts
grow from the axils of the cotyledons, which are usually
+ to 3 inch above the ground.
3. Burning off with grass —Burr plants are difficult to burn, and
require a very large proportion of dry grass, &c., to cause
them to be destroyed. It is doubtful whether the burrs,
unless burnt to a cinder, are sufficiently injured by the
heat to destroy the contained seed. Such burrs have been
collected and are to be subjected to germination tests.
4. Poisoning—Crowded plants are sprayed by means of hoses
connected with specially-constructed sprayers, or by means
of hand atomisers. according to the amount and density of
the infestation. Ninety-five per cent. of poison used is
arsenic pentoxide solution (1 lb. to 1 gallon of water, or
two-thirds 6f 1 lb. to 1 gallon of water). In each case
seen or heard of, 100 per cent. destruction has been
recorded,
Complete destruction was also caused in the case of the only station
in which arsenite of soda was the liquid sprayed, but on another station
the majority of the plants which had been sprayed with 8.0.8. eradicator,
28
though dry and dead-looking, were putting out fresh green sprouts from
the nodes. Samples of burrs from arsenic-killed plants have been
collected for germination tests.
Natural Methods oj Destruction—Plants completely submerged by
overflow water for a few days are usually completely killed. Plants
which have sprung up away from watercourses, in soil made boggy by
rain, will usually die before the burrs reach maturity if later falls of
rain do not occur.
Mice and white ants are reputed to eat the seeds in times of stress.
Cockatoos eat the seed from the burrs, but it is almost universally reported
that in this case many of the birds die quickly, being picked up round
about the area infested with burr. The vestigation is being continued.
(11) Control of Bracken—Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) is cosmo-
politan in distribution and is a pest wherever it occurs. To eradicate
it by cutting requires from three to seven years, and consequently cost
is an almost prohibitive factor on large areas. Any means of natural
control is therefore worth investigating. During the last two or three
years, a curious dying back of bracken has been noticed in’ Ayrshire, _
Scotland, particularly near Maybole. In the summer of 1928, the same
condition was observed on the slopes of the Logan Valley, and during
the summer it was reported from many separated areas distributed
practically over the south of Scotland. Fronds looked as though touched
by frost, but young protected fronds developed black blotches containing
fungal growth. The evidence so far is circumstantial, but it looks as
though a fungus is affecting the bracken and gradually killing it out.
Dr. E. J. Butler, Director of the Imperial Bureau of Mycology, was
communicated with, and he arranged with Mrs. N. J. Alcock, Pathologist
of the Department of Agriculture for Scotland, that cultures should be
made available to the Division of Economic Botany. Such have been
received and are being studied under controlled conditions in the hope
that they may be of value where bracken is a pest, as in Tasmania and
New Zealand. The organism suspected as the cause of the disease is
Rhopographus pieridis.
12. The Koonamore Vegetation Reserve.
Large areas of the inland parts of Australia are arid, having an average
annual rainfall of 10 inches or less. The natural vegetation in the more
favoured parts is an open scrub woodland with undergrowth of half-
shrubby Chenopodiaceous perennials, chiefly species of Atriplex and
Kochia. In less tavoured portions the latter are the dominants over
great areas. These areas are exploited for pastoral purposes, largely
merino wool, whenever sufficient water can be conserved by dams, wells
or bores (artesian and sub-artesian). The fodder plants are a mixture of
grasses and herbage which appear following suitable rains. At other
times the perennial Chenopods provide the bulk of the browse.
The influence of stocking on the perennials is seen in a pruning effect,
in reduced seed production, and in damage through trampling. This
last in severe cases leads to complete destruction of the low-growing
29
perennial vegetation and inhibition of reproduction of trees and shrubs.
Problems of erosion and drift result in varying degrees of severity, culmi-
nating in a condition of artificial desert. The influence of rabbits in
preventing regeneration is very severe.
For several years, Professor T. G. B. Osborn, then of the University
of Adelaide, had worked on the ecology of arid areas in South Australia.
In 1926, the proprietors of Koonamore Station gave to the University
of Adelaide an area of about 1,200 acres of eaten-out country for experi-
mental purposes, enclosed it with a rabbit-proof fence, and built a small
field laboratory adjacent. In 1928, when Professor Osborn was appointed
to Sydney, the University of Adelaide asked him to continue the oversight
of the experiments for a time. The Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research made a grant for capital improvements and an annual appro-
priation for running costs as well as the salary of a resident field officer.
The programme of experiments at Koonamore was primarily planned
to study the natural regeneration of the vegetation under total protection
by means of quarterly observations on quadrats of various sizes. Since
the co-operation of C.S.I.R., it has been extended to include observations
on stocking effect around watering places on the surrounding pastorally
occupied country. The work has obvious relations to agrostology and
plant introduction. The size of pastoral holdings in arid areas is such
as to preclude any direct methods of improvement other than by casual
seeding, but the importance of indirect improvement by conservation
of seed areas is being studied,
The facilities at Koonamore consist of a three-roomed field laboratory
adjacent to the reservation. A resident field officer (Mr. T. B. Paltridge,
B.Se.) is stationed there. He works under the direction of Professor
Osborn, who makes periodic visits assisted from time to time by members
of the Adelaide University Botany Department. Koonamore is located
40 miles north of Yunta, on the Broken Hill-Peterborough Railway,
at an altitude of about 1,500 feet within the 8-in. isohyet.
The investigation is obviously a long-dated one. At present, three
years’ records from the quadrats are available. A body of data is accumu-
lating on the effect of total protection checked by the effect of commercial
grazing im the surrounding area. Experiments on artificial regeneration
of mulga (Acacia aneura) after fire, have given promising results. Line
transects have been run from numerous wells in the surrounding district
for distances up to three miles from the water, and observations made
on the number and state of the perennial fodder plants. It is expected
that results from these will be ready for publication within the next
year.
Experiments in the experimental sowing of native and introduced
fodder plants are being made, but this and other work has been hampered
by drought conditions, which have preveiled during the past three years
throughout the north-east of South Australia.
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PAMPHLET No. 15
Be WORK OF THE.
2 OF ECONOMIC
ue THE YEAR 1928.29
By
g J. ‘TILLYARD, M. A. BGs D., D, San oe RS.
| Chief of the Divina
2 1a ee
}
ae iwi Peter Abs Foe
Pr a a) 4
‘MELBOURNE, 1929
r) he : .
pene Haan) el ; ide ‘4
i 3 “By Aushoaiey ;
H. 5: Geom, Goversment Printer, Melbourne
7
MEMBERS
Executive:
Sir George Julius, Kt., B.Sc., B.E. Speen rs 2
(Chairman), SSeS as
A. C. D. Rivett, Esq., M.A., D.Sc. serves
(Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer), =
Professor A. E. V. Richardson, M.A., D.Sc.
Chairmen of State Commnitiees :
Professor Ri D. Watt, M.A., B.Sc.
(New South Wales),
Sir David O. Masson, K.B.E., F.R.S., &c. Maas fa
(Victoria), Wd
Professor H. C. Richards, D.Sc. im
(Queensland),
W. J. Young, Esq., C.B.E.
(South Australia),
B. Perry, Esq.
(Western Australia),
P. E. Keam, Esq.
(Tasmania).
Co-opted Members :
Professor E. J. Goddard, B.A., D.Sc.,
A. E. Leighton, Esgq., F.1.C.,
Professor H. A. Woodruff, M.R.C.V.S., &c.
PAMPHLET No. 15
Counci! for Scientific and Industrial Research
THE WORK OF THE
DIVISION OF ECONOMIC
ENTOMOLOGY
FOR THE YEAR 1928-29
By
Beem. |. LILLYARD, M.A., Sc.D., D.Sc., F.R.S.
Chief of the Division
MELBOURNE, 1929
tee
é ois cf ees emer ne ee apenas RB iplankss ad He A One Rop my os +e) ee
: ‘
‘ ‘ ‘
CONTENTS.
,
ON oF THE Division: PERSONNEL .. ee ae ate 5
ae on ae a a 10
ae oe ere ae Be Il
nporary Blowfly Unit
‘TIGATIONS IN PROGRESS—
Pesos Wesds Reséatch zs oD 8 4 - ae il
oa
p Blowtly Problem Ve = ne FP as 13
=
alo-fly Problem .. es ae wa ap Be ae! :
a
7 a
C2TUAEVOO
‘ AP a y, prevoegad . zor avr Wo eons
“i peer, fh ¢ ere
the Ms Ses kOe i. eeltatogend oaitneren® ode
tig tl} yfteolt ats
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dese ebed (Pare: x0 :
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at e : e ea ot ted tT ‘Bag f :
ar tet tant, hos qr
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f
—
Work of the Division of Economic
Entomology for the year 1928-29."
By R. J. Tillyard, M.A., Sc.D., D.Sc., F.R.S., Chief of the Division.
I. CREATION OF THE DIVISION—PERSONNEL.
The creation of a Division may be said to date from two events ;
firstly, the acceptance by the Executive of a definite scheme or plan of
research for the Division, and secondly, the appointment of a Chief to
carry it into effect. Creation, however, is not a single act, but a long
evolutionary effort, and so it may be said that the creation of a Division
still continues as long as the research staff provided for in the original
pan remains incomplete.
From this point of view, the creation of the Division of Economic
Entomology began in October, 1927, with the adoption of the scheme
suggested by Dr. Tillyard, and was advanced a step farther with the
appointment of the latter as Chief of the Division as from Ist March,
1928, while Mr. G. F. Hill, already on the Council’s staff, became
Assistant Chief and Senior Entomologist for Field Pests Research.
The original scheme supplied by Dr. Tillyard was published in an
abbreviated form in the Journal of the Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research, Vol. I., No. 4, May, 1928. in a foreword to this Report, the
Editor of the Journal made the following remark :—
“Tt will not be possible for the Council to give immediate effect
to ali Dr. Tillyard’s recommendations, as the present shortage of
trained entomologists, apart altogether from financial considerations,
constitutes a serious difficulty.”
The difficulty mentioned in this passage has proved to be fully as
real as was expected. Three senior positions were advertised in Nature
and the leading papers of Australia and New Zealand early in 1928,
and most of the applicants were interviewed by Dr. Tillyard while in
England and America. A high standard of ability and experience was
essential m those selected to occupy such posts. None of the applicants
reaching that standard, no appointments were made. Australia and New
Zealand, however, have since supplied men of the standard required,
though, at the present time, one senior position is still vacant, no suitable
man having so far been found. Three seniors and one entomologist-in-
charge have been secured from Australia and one senior from New
Zealand.
The progress of the Division, as measured by the filling of posts
recommended in the original scheme, may best be gauged by a statement
of the classified personnel as at the end of the period covered by this
Report (50th June, 1929) :—
1. Noxious Weeds Research.
Mr. G. A. Currie was appointed Entomologist-in-charge of this
Section in March, 1929. Mr. 8. Garthside was appointed Junior
— * Typescript received 26th July, 1929.
6
Entomologist as from July, 1928. There being no Senior Entomologist
in this Section at present, the Chief Entomologist is personally directing
the research.
2. Blowfly and Buffaio-fly Researches.
The original scheme envisaged separate Senior appointments for
blowfly and buffalo-fly researches. The two limes of research are,
however, closely allied, and a single Senior Entomologist, Dr. I. M.
Mackerras, has been appointed to take charge of both of them from
October, 1928. Dr. F. G. Holdaway was appoimted Junior Entomologist
in blowfly research as from July, 1928, and Miss M. Fuller, Assistant
Entomologist in blowfly research from March, 1929.
In buffalo-fly research, Mr. T. G. Campbell, originally appointed as
Assistant to the Curator in January, 1929, was seconded for work in
Northern Australia as.from 7th March, 1929, and Mr. G. L. Windred was
appointed Assistant Entomologist to proceed to Java in April, 1929.
3. Orchard and Fruit Pests Research.
No senior Entomologist has yet been appointed for this section.
The only officer at present is Mr. J. W. Evans, appointed Junior
Entomologist in charge of codlin-moth research as from July, 1929.
4, Field-crop and Pasture Pests Research.
Mr. G. F. Hill, is Senior Entomologist in charge of this section. He
took up his residence in Canberra at the end of January, 1929. Mr. H. J.
Willings was appointed his Field Assistant in April, 1929.
5. Forest Insects Research.
This section has not yet been organized, but arrangements are well
forward for starting 1t during the ensuing year.
6. Museum and Library.
' Dr. G. A. Waterhouse was appointed Curator of the museum in
October, 1928, and has also had charge of the library. Pending the
completion of the new laboratory buildings at Black Mountain, temporary
offices were secured at No. 12 Melbourne Buildings, Civic Centre, Canberra,
where the upper story is divided into four rooms to serve as offices for
the Chief, the Assistant Chief, the Entomologist in charge of Noxious
Weeds and the typiste. The ground floor, shared with the Division of
Economic Botany, is being used to house the collections and library,
and is in charge of Mrs. Willings, appointed in April, 1929, as Entomo-
logical Assistant to the Curator.
During the period of his appointment, Dr. Waterhouse had his office
in Sydney, firstly at the Zoological School, University of Sydney, and
more recently at No. 10 Bull’s Chambers, Martin Place. From Feb-
ruary, 1929, he was also appointed Executive Officer for the Division.
He resigned his position as Curator and Executive Officer in April,
1929, but very wap agreed to continue his work pending the Be cai
ment of his successor.
7
Mr. A. L. Tonnoir has been appointed Senior Ecologist as from
Ast September, 1929, and will have charge of the expert technical side
of the researches, including the cool-store, constant-temperature
chambers, artist’s and photographic section, microscopes, and apparatus.
7. Typistes.
Mrs. Benham, appointed temporary Entomological Assistant in
February, 1929, has been doing chiefly typing work in Dr. Waterhouse’s
office in Sydney. Miss G. Shaw, assistant typiste, was appointed in
February also, and is working at Canberra.
Thus it will be seen that the entire staff consists at present of a Chief,
an Assistant Chief, three other officers of senior standing (including the
Curator and Senior Ecologist), one Entomologist-in-charge, three Junior
Entomologists, four Assistant Entomologists, one Field Assistant and
two Typistes—a total of sixteen, including the Ecologist. Of these,
twelve are men and four women.
In addition to the above, two graduates are being trained in London
for positions as Assistants in the museum, viz., Miss W. Kent Hughes
(Coleopterist) and Miss L. Graham (Hymenopterist). These will join
the staff at Canberra during the coming year.
Ii. GENERAL POLICY.
The general policy of the Division may be briefly stated as follows :—
(1) Except within the bounds of the Federal Capital Territory itself,
where a certain amount of advisory work has to be done under the
arrangement whereby the Chief of the Division is also Consulting
Entomologist to the Federal Capital Commission, the work of the
Division will be entirely research work.
(2) The lines of research to be undertaken are delimited broadly
by the term “methods of biological control.” These include two
important subdivisions, as follows :—
(a) Control of noxious weeds by their natural insect enemies, and
(b) Control of insect pests by beneficial parasites or predators.
Other methods of control are not ruled out in laying down this general
tule, especially where a difficult problem, like that of blowfly, calls for
intensive research in all possible directions.
(3) The original scheme, having in view more particularly the
marked shortage of trained entomologists, also stressed the necessity
for trainmg. While this ideal will not be lost sight of, it is evident that,
in the initial stages of development, it will not be possible to do very
much along the lines suggested.
(4) The policy of the Division is not to trench on the activities of
the State organizations, but to work in co-operation with them where
desirable. This ideal is steadily being put into practice. At the present
time, the Division is co-operating with the Department of Agriculture
8
and Stock in Queensland on the buffalo-fly problem, and with the
Department of Agriculture in New South Wales on certain aspects of
the blowfly problem. The National Museum, Melbourne, and the
Australian Museum, Sydney, have both given us valuable help in
systematic work. Negotiations are also in progress with the Waite
Institute, South Australia, with a view to close co-operation on the
problem of lucerne flea, and with the Trustees of the South Australian
and the Queensland Museums on the subject of co-operation in systematic
entomology. Outside of Australia, a close connexion has been estab-
lished with the Imperial Bureau of Entomology through the new Farn-
ham House Laboratory at Farnham Royal, where three Junior Entomo-
logists have been working during the past year, and with the Department
of Entomology at the ‘Imperial College of Science and Technology,
London University, where two Assistant Entomologists have been
undergoing a course of training. We also have a student carrying out
a specific piece of noxious weeds research on our behalf at the Kansas
State Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kansas, U.S.A., and» have
received valuable help from entomologists in Java on the problem of
buffalo-fly.
(5) The work of the Division at Canberra brings us into close touch
in many ways with the Federal Capital Commission. It is a pleasure
to record the consistent interest, sympathy and help received from the
Chief Commissioner, Sir John Butters, his fellow Commissioners, and the
various branches of his staff during the course of the year’s work. As
Consulting Entomologist to the Commission, the Chief of this Division
furnishes a separate report annually.
lil. BUILDINGS.
1. General.
The Division of Economic Entomology has its centre at Canberra,
where the main Laboratory buildings are now being built on the Council’s
new site at Black Mountain, at the end of University Avenue.
The buildings consist of :—
(1) The Administrative Block to be shared with the Division
of Economic Botany.
(2) The Entomological Laboratory Block.
(3) The Quarantine Insectaries.
(
4) The Blowfly Unit.
Of these, Nos. (1) and (4) are not yet begun.
2. The Laboratory Block.
This building was begun in February last. The architects are the
Federal Capital Commission, the contractors Messrs. Simmie & Co.
The contract price for the building i is £17,990, and the estimated total
cost, inclusive of all services, is approximately £29 ,000.
9
The building is of brick, with cement facing. The design is extremely
simple, the aim being to give the finest laboratory service and conditions
for the money available. The block of buildings is rectangular, 134
feet in length by 48 feet wide, and two stories high, with a flat roof
suitable for experimental work when required. The building faces
approximately south-east. Hach floor is divided from end to end by a
main passage six feet wide, on either side of which the laboratories are
placed. These are designed in units of 5} feet width, thus allowing of
the partitioning of the available space into rooms either 11°0, 16°5,
220, 27°5 or 33°0 feet wide, as required Except for the rooms at the
south end, which are of fixed size and specially designed as a cool-store
on the ground floor and dark-rooms above, all the partitions are removable
and built of terra-cotta bricks. Thus the design lends .tself to ease of
alteration if further blocks are built later on. The windows are high
and open at the top, in a manner to obviate draughts for men working
at the benches. The window-reveal, externally, is carried up through
the two stories, thus greatly increasing the effectiveness of the design
architecturally.
Below the ground level, at the north end, is placed a large boiler-
house in which are the main buiiers for the heating service throughout
the building, the fuel used being crude oil. At the south end, below the
cool-store, is another large chamber divided into two unequal portions ;
these are to be fitted up as controlled-temperature chambers. Extending
from these beneath the main passage for some distance is a narrower
chamber to contain the fans which control the air circulation. These
underground chambers are reached by a stairway beneath, and parallel
to, the stairway leading from the ground-floor to the top story.
Gas-supply is of the greatest importance in a scientific laboratory.
As the city of Canberra has no coal-gas supply, the new building is to be
fitted with a complete petrol-gas supply of its own. Electric light and
power is also supplied to every room, and there is an efficient water
and sewerage service. Lavatory accommodation is provided for both
floors.
On the ground floor, facing south-east there will be, for the present,
Seven rooms, viz., the laboratories for the Chief Entomologist, Deputy
Chief, and four Senior Entomologists, together with a room for the
typistes. Across the main passage, facing north-west, there will be five
rooms, exclusive of the cool-store, viz., a large room to be used as tem-
porary museum and library, and four laboratories for Junior Entomo-
logists and Assistants; one of the smaller rooms will be used as a
temporary store-room.
The rooms on the top floor will be occupied temporarily by the
Division of Economic Botany, pending the completion of their own
laboratory block near by. The Entomological Building is intended
to form the southern wing only of a more complete structure, in which
the similar northern wing will form the Botanical Laboratory Building,
while the central Administrative Block will connect the two wings and
will house the permanent museum, library, offices of the Chiefs and
Deputy Chiefs of the Divisions and of the clerical staff.
¢.12606.—2
10
3. The Quarantine Insectaries.
Behind the Entomological Laboratory Building, an area has been
levelled sufficient to allow for the erection of four large insectaries of
modern type. For the present year, only two will be put into commission.
These have just been completed. Hach insectary is a complete quar-
antine unit, consisting of baffle-chamber, quarantine store-room, and
enclosed large insect chamber or insectary proper. The design of each
insectary follows fairly closely the origmal design of the insectary of
the new Biological Laboratory of the Cawthron Institute, Nelson, N.Z.,
especially in the raised roof, giving good ventilation to the quarantine
chamber below. The latter is closed in partly with fine phosphor-bronze
gauze, 60 meshes to the inch, protected outside at a distance of 4 inches
by strong wire-netting of 4-in. mesh, and partly by panels of reinforced
glass. The number and arrangement of the glass panels in roof and
sides is different in the two insectaries, in order to test the hghting effects
over the various seasons of the year. The problem of designing a large
quarantine insectary which shall give suitable lighting for the natural
growth of plants and insects, without undue heating or increase of
humidity, and at the same time fulfil quarantine requirements in pre-
venting the ingress or egress of even the smallest insect, is one that is
not easy of solution ; but it is hoped that this new design comes close to
fulfilling all requirements.
Two roof-lights and two power-points are provided in the quarantine
insectary, together with an extra power-point above the roofing gauze,
for cleaning purposes. Each insectary, measuring approximately 40 feet
square, is divided up into sixteen smaller divisions, each of which has
its own special tap for water-supply. By means of wooden frames,
each of the four small divisions on north and south sides can be closed
off into a single unit, while the middle portions can be separated up into
two larger divisions.
The baffie-chamber is a dark chamber provided with one roof-light
which gives access both to the insectary proper and to the store-room.
The object of this chamber is to prevent insects being carried im or out
of the quarantine area on the clothes of the workers. An mgenious
mechanism gives interlocking conditions between the door leading into
the baffle-chamber and that leading from it ito the msectary proper, so
that, as soon as one door is opened, the other is automatically locked.
The latter door also has, on its imsectary side, a wooden cage enclosed
with gauze, the entry into which is by means of a large glass funnel
pointing inwards from the baffle-chamber. As the latter is painted dark
green inside, any insect that accidentally finds itself in the baffle-chamber
will return to the light through the funnel into this cage.
The store-room is fitted with a small bench and shelves, and its door
is provided with locks and bolts. The window is of fine gauze protected
externally with wire-netting as in the insectary proper. The store-
room and insectary are painted creamy white inside.
No. 1 Inseetary (to the south) will be devoted to noxious weeds
researches, principally St. John’s wort, and will be under the charge of
Mr. G. A. Currie.
11
No. 2 Insectary (to the north) will be principally used for experiments
on the control of grass-grubs, and will be under the charge of Mr. G. F.
Hill.
These two insectar.es are in process of being planted with St. John’s
wort and various grasses respectively.
4, Temporary Blowfly Unit.
Pending the designing and erection of the permanent blowfly unit,
at Black Mountain, behind the insectary site, a temporary blowfly
unit, consisting of a small quarantine insectary and a workman’s cubicle
fitted up as a small laboratory, has been erected at Red Hill, at the
back of Dr. Tillyard’s property. These are under the charge of Miss
M. Fuller, and are being used for the rearing of Alysia manducator and
for other experiments on blowflies. The experience gained in these
quarters wil! prove of considerable value in ae Oe the design of the
permanent blowfly unit.
IV. INVESTIGATIONS IN PROGRESS.
1. Noxious Weeds Research.
The work on noxious weeds research is being undertaken by the
Chief Entomologist, Dr. R. J. Tillyard, and Mr. G. A. Currie, Entomo-
logist-in-charge, at Canberra, while Mr. 8. Garthside is also at work on
the same problem at Farnham Royal, and Mr. 8. Kelly at Manhattan,
Kansas.
The work at Canberra is centred in Quarantine Insectary No 1,
which has just been completed and put into commission, and is now in
process of being planted out with St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum).,
ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) and Bathurst and Noogoora burrs (Xanthium
spp-). The plots of these weeds should be in good condition by the
coming spring, when the first consignments of insects fr om abroad may,
be expected.
(a) St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum)—To date, work in
Australia has been of a preliminary or investigatory nature only.
Previous to his appointment, Dr. Tillyard had visited the Ovens Valley
in Victoria and convinced himself of the seriousness of the St. John’s
wort infestation in that district. Since that time, a more general survey
of the infested areas has been made, and a preliminary report has been
drawn up which will later on be attached as an introduction to the first
entomological report on the control of this weed. In April, Dr. Tillyard
visited the extensive area of infestation in Gippsland, and also studied
the infestation by an allied weed, tutsan (Hypericum androsaemum),
around Apollo Bay, Victoria. In May, Dr. Tillyard and Mr. Currie
studied the infestation at Mannus, near Tumbarumba, New South Wales,
and in June, Mr. Currie visited Mudgee, New South Wales, where there is
another fairly extensive infestation of the same weed. Dr. Tillyard
aiso collected information concerning the spread of this weed in South
Australia during his recent visit to Adelaide. These investigations have
12
yielded valuable results concerning the type of country infested, the
absence of control by insects or fungi, the imability of the weed to grow
without a good rainfall, the marked changes in the habit of growth as
compared with its habit in England, the ability of the weed to overcome
all other native and introduced vegetation except bushes and trees, its
methods of propagation and spread, and its effect on various kinds of
animals. The most compact and complete infestation noted anywhere
in Australia is that at Mannus, near Tumbarumba, which therefore
offers the most ideal conditions as a centre for experiments in biological
control by insect enemies.
At Farnham Royal, Mr. Garthside has been studying the life-histories
of various groups of insects known to be confined to the genus Hypericum
as food-plant. The chief of these are a group of closely allied species
of beetles of the genus Chrysomela, a group of gall-midges (Cecidomyiidae),
a Buprestid beetle (Agrilus hyperici) which bores into the stem, two
species of Geometroid moths of the genus Anaitis, and a Tortricid moth,
Lathronympha hypericana, whose larvae attack the young shoots. All
these appear promising. The greatest progress has so far been made
with the study of the species of Chrysomela. In the case of Chrysomela
hyperici, tests made with (a) young larvae, (6) fourth instar larvae, and
(c) adult beetles, on 40 different varieties of economic plants have so
far yielded entirely negative results. During the present European
summer, Mr. Garthside intends to conduct as many tests as possible on
the above insects, and also to collect supplies preparatory to shipment
to Australia. The first shipments should be those of the genus
Chrysomela, which it is hoped will be available for testing at Canberra
by the coming Australian spring.
The present position regarding this weed may be regarded as highly
promising and may be summarized as follows :—
(1) Although, at the present time. St. John’s wort covers an
immense area (estimated at from 250,000 to 400,000 acres
in Victoria, and has also closely-infested smaller areas
in New South Wales and South Australia), there is not a
single insect* or fungus attacking it anywhere; in other
words, it is not controlled at all by natural enemies.
(2) Investigations in Europe show that the plant is attacked
at many stages (stem, shoot, growing-tip, leaves and
buds), by a considerable fauna of highly specialized insects,
all of which, so far as at present known, are confined to
the genus Hypericum.
(3) Though all these insects are in their turn checked to a large
extent by their natural parasites. the amount of damage
done to the weed is very considerable.
(4) Hence the amount of control likely to be attained by these
same insects, introduced into Australia and liberated after
elimination of all their parasites, is bound to be very great,
and should, in time, lead to complete control of the weed
in all heavily-infested areas.
* Except for an occasional individual of a species of Spittle-insect (Cercopidae).
13
It needs only to be added that the work of elimination of parasites
and of thoroughly testing the insects in all stages, to make sure that
they can feed only on Hypericum, will be carried out entirely in the
Quarantine Insectaries at Canberra.
(b) Bathurst and Noogoora Burrs (Xanthium spp.).—Arrangements
have been made with Professor G. Dean, Department of Entomology,
State Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kansas, for research to be carried
out on the native North American insects that attack species of the
genus Xanthiwm. This work is bemg undertaken by Mr. Samuel Kelly
during the present summer. Mr. Kelly will make special efforts to find
an effective seed-destroyer, since these bad weeds are spread by means
of the seed.
(ec) Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea),—In view of the importance of con-
trolling this weed im Victoria and Tasmania, arrangements are being
made with the Cawthron Institute, Nelson, for a supply of pupae of the
Cinnabar Moth, Tyria jacobaea, which was introduced into New Zealand
by Dr. Tillyard in 1925 for the purpose of attempting to control this
weed. An exhaustive series of tests since carried out in Nelson has
shown that this insect causes very great destruction to ragwort and is
harmless to all other economic plants. It is at present being liberated
in ragwort-infested areas in New Zealand, and should certainly be tried
out in Australia also.
(d) Other Noxious Weeds.—During a recent visit to Cowra, Bathurst
and Mudgee, Mr. Currie carried out some preliminary work on skeleton
weed (Chondrilla juncea) and safiron thistle (Kentrophyllum lanatum),
both of which are serious weeds over large areas of Australia.
2. Sheep Bilowfly Preblem.
This work is under the charge of Dr. Ian Mackerras as Senior
Entomologist of this Section. Owing to the more immediate importance
of the buffalo-fly problem, and Dr. Mackerras’s consequent absence
in Java and Northern Australia, the work on the blowfly problem has
for the present been confined to two separate lines of research, as follows :—
(a) Introduction and acclimatization of the parasite Alysia manducator
at Canberra.—Pending the completion, later on, of a special blowfly
unit behind the new laboratories at Black Mountain, this work has
been carried on in the small temporary blowfly insectary and laboratory
swuated in the grounds of Dr. Tillyard’s residence at Red Hill. Miss
M. Fuller has charge of the work, under Dr. Tillyard’s direction. Three -
consignments of Alysia have been introduced during the past year, two ~
from New Zealand and one from the Department of Agriculture in
Sydney. The first New Zealand consignment was accidental y destroyed
in a storm. The Sydney consignment yielded but few individuals and
died out in the second generation. The second New Zealand consignment
proved to be heavily infested with the hyper-parasite Mormoniella
brevicornis ; but Miss Fuller succeeded in entirely eliminating this in
the second generation, and has also succeeded in rearing a large third
brood, a portion of which emerged during April and May, while many
14
more parasitized puparia are being carried through the winter. It thus
appears as if Alysia has been successfully acclimatized to Canberra
conditions. In the coming spring, the experiment will be continued
along the lines of establishing successful colonies of the parasite out in
the open around the city of Canberra.
Other accessory lines of work carried out by Miss Fuller consist of
studies of the succession of blowfly species attacking exposed carcasses
and the changes in this succession through the different seasons of the
year, a study of the conditions of control of blowflies at the abattoirs
and elsewhere, and a study of the insects that feed in cow-manure.
Dr. Tillyard, working in collaboration with Dr. Butler, Medical Officer
of Health to the Federal Capital Commission, has worked out a scheme
of blowfly control for the city area by means of a ring of specially con-
structed traps which will be baited and emptied twice a week during the
summer months. This scheme has been adopted by the Commission.
The aim of the above work is to test how far, by the use of parasites,
traps, or other methods, actual control of blowflies can be secured in the
Federal Capital City area.
(6) Work at Farnham Royal as Centre —Dr. Holdaway was appointed
to the post of Junior Entomologist for blowfly research, and started
this work at Farnham Royal in October, 1928. His work is at present
along two distinct lines. In collaboration with workers at Leeds Univer-
sity, he is studying the factors which cause “ blowing” in wool. He is
also making a search of Southern Europe for new parasites of blowflies,
and has taken up his quarters for the present European summer at the
University of Toulouse, France.
During the winter, Dr. Holdaway carried out some useful systematic
work on the Calliphoridae, and has more especially examined the
systematics of Chrysomyia rufifacies Macquart and Ch. albiceps Wied.,
his conclusions being that both the larvae and adult flies afford good
characters enabling them to be distinguished as valid species.
3. Buffalo-fly Problem.
This work is under the direct charge of Dr. Ian Mackerras as Senior
Entomologist for blowfly and buffalo-fly researches. Assisting him are
Mr. T. G. Campbell in Northern Australia and Mr. Windred in Java.
Reports received early in 1929 that buffalo-fly had crossed the border
between Northern Australia and Queensland, led to the recognition of
this problem as one of extreme urgency, and to a decision to co-operate
with the State of Queensland in studying the problem. At the end of
February Mr. T. G. Campbell was sent to Darwin to make a special
study of the fiy in Northern Australia, to work out details of its life-
history, to try to discover how far it might breed in the dung of native
animals, and to follow the herds of cattle travelling towards the Queens-
land border with a view to discovering how far any proclaimed buffer
area might be effective in stopping the entry of the fly into Queensland.
Two preliminary reports received from Mr. Campbell indicate that he
15
has already collected together a great deal of valuable information about
the fly, and also establish the important fact that the two more southern
stock routes into Queensland are still free from the fly.
In April, Dr. Mackerras and a newly appointed Assistant Entomologist,
Mr. G. L. Windred, left for Java, where they attended the Pan-Pacific
‘Congress and began the study of the buffalo-fly in that region. While
Mr. Windred is remaining in Java to carry on work in connexion with
parasites of the fly, Dr. Mackerras has visited Timor and the intervening
islands, and has collected much valuable information on the prevalence
of buffalo-fly, house-fly and blowflies in the Dutch East Indies. He has
been struck by the remarkable fact that, with a range of climate varying
from intense tropical rainfall to dry conditions closely resembling those
found in Australia, with’ both native and introduced cattle present, with
a teeming popu'ation of mixed races and an abundant supply of domestic
animals—conditions which one would naturally conclude were ideal for
flies of all kinds—neither buffalo-fly nor blowflies, nor even the ubiquitous
house-fly, is at all a pest. Factors must therefore operate to control
all these pests, and the problem is to determine what these factors are
and whether they can be applied in Australia. As the buffalo-fly has
no parasites attacking it in Australia, but is known to be parasitized in
Java, parasites must be one of the factors in control there ; the problem
is to decide whether it is the most important factor, and, if so, what
type of parasite is the most effective.
While in Timor, Dr. Mackerras discovered there a new parasite of the
genus Musca (house-fly) which he considers important. A supply of
this is being sent to Australia for study under quarantine conditions.
Dr. Mackerras is due to arrive back in Darwin about the middle of
July, 1929, and will be met there by Mr. Campbell. He intends to
travel by the overland route to Wyndham, Western Australia, whence
he will take boat for Fremantle. A conference will probably be arranged
in August or September between Mr. Sutton, Director of Agriculture for
Western Australia and Drs. Tillyard and Mackerras to discuss the
position as it affects Western Australia. Mr. Windred is remaining in
Java for the present, and Mr. Campbell still has a great deal of work to
do in Northern Australia
4, Orchard and Fruit Pests.
This section is not yet fully organized, as it has not been possible
so far to secure a suitable Semor Entomologist to take charge of it.
The post is one of the most important in the whole Division, and the
selection of a very highly-trained entomologist to fill it is essential.
Efforts are at present being made to find a man of the type needed for
this post.
(i) Work at Farnham Royal.—In the meantime, work in th’'s section
has been carried on at Farnham Royal, where Mr. J. W. Evans, Junior
Entomologist in fruit pests research, has been carrying on his studies of
the control of codlin moth by means of the parasite T'richogramma
minutum. The principle here involved, as developed by Flanders in
16
California and by Jones in Massachusetts, is the same that gave successful
control of mealy-bug by Cryptolaemus in California. Various species of
Trichogramma are already of world-wide distribution as egg-parasites ;
but, in the case of codlin-moth, they do not attain to a high degree of
control of their hosts, owing to their late emergence in the spring
compared with their host’s first brood. If, however, the parasites can
be raised in large numbers on an alternative host in a warm insectary
in the late winter or early spring, and then placed out in sufficient numbers
in the orchards affected with codlin-moth, control of this pest might be
obtained ata much lower cost than by using arsenical sprays. A further
advantage that makes this method attractive is that it should elimmate
the possibilities of a recurrence of the “arsenic scare,’ which has
seriously damaged the prospects of the sales of Australian and New
Zealand apples on the English market more than once.
Mr. Evans has made such good progress with his studies of the races
of Trichogramma, the utilization of alternative hosts, and new methods of
improving the technique of the problem, that he is now on his way baek
to Australia with a good supply of three distinct races of the parasite,
which will be tested under Australian conditions during the coming year.
(ui) Dried Fruit Pests.—As the result of a visit to Merbein, when he
conferred with Mr. A. V. Lyon, Mr. G. F. Hill has presented a report on
the present position regarding the dried fruit grub (Plodia interpunctella)
stressing the importance of enforcing the regulations already in force
concerning this pest.
5. Field-Crop and Pasture Pests.
Mr. G. F. Hill, is Senior Entomologist in charge of this Section, but
a Junior Entomologist has not yet been appointed. During the year,
Mr. Hill’s completed preliminary investigation of the problem of the
Tasmanian grass-grub, Oncopera intricata, has been published as a
Pamphlet of the Council. In it, the conclusion is reached that, except
on highly-valuable land where expensive chemical treatment might be
justified, the only hope of control lies in the discovery of a natural
parasite.
The only known parasites of Hepialid larvae of the type of Oncopera
in Europe are the Ichneumonids of the genus Allomyia, but very little
is known about them. An investigation along these lines is needed,
but the work is clearly very difficult and a well-trained and capable
researcher is required for it. Quarantine Insectary No. 2 is at present
being planted with plots of various English grasses with a view to rearing
Oncopera larvae preparatory to testing out possible parasites.
The programme of research in this section includes also a study of
the lucerne flea (Sminthurus viridis) which is an exceptionally bad
pest in South Australia. It s hoped to make arrangements whereby a
Junior Entomologist appointed by the Council may be enabled to work
on this problem under Dr. Davidson, Entomologist to the Waite Institute,
Adelaide.
17
During the summer, a study of the problems of control of ants was
made by Dr Tillyard and Mr. Hill, the result being that a calcium
eyan ‘de fumigant, properly used, was found to be a highly effective control
under the dry climatic conditions of Canberra.
6. Forestry Problems.
During the year just ended, no Forest Insects Section was formed.
The Division, however, possesses the nucleus of such a Section in so far
as Mr. G. F. Hill is a recognized authority on termites, and Mr. Garthside
has been specially trained in forest entomology and is continuing his
studies in that direction while working at noxious weeds research. It
is hoped, during the coming year, to effect a re-arrangement whereby
those officers who possess special knowledge of forest insects may be
brought together to work on them. The huge annual losses suffered by
Australia through white ants alone would justify the appointment of a
full-time worker on this group.
V. SPECIAL SERVICES.
1, The Museum.
~The collections which form the nucleus of the entomological museum
are at present housed on the ground door of No. 12 Melbourne Buildings,
Civic Centre. Canberra. They consist of the following distinct units :—
(1) The Froggatt Collection—The collection of insects made by
Mr. W. W. Froggatt, for many years Government Entomo-
logist of New South Wales, was purchased by the Depart-
ment of Home Affairs and handed over to the Council
shortly after the formation of this Division. Prior to its
transference to Canberra in January last, it was under the
care of Mr. G. F. Hill in Melbourne. It consists of 61 store
boxes containing specimens of all orders of insects, together
with a number of jars of spirit specimens. Most of the
specimens are named, and many of them by well-known
specialists in various groups. There are also a large number
of types and paratypes in the collection.
(2) The Ferguson Beetle Collection.—This collection was purchased
by the Council early in 1928 and was stored in Sydney
until its transfer to Canberra in April last. It contains the
whole of the beetle collection made by the late Dr. E. W.
Ferguson, with the important exception of the group of
Phalidurine or Amycterine weevils, on which Dr. Ferguson
was the recognized expert; these he presented to the
Macleay Museum. The collection consists of 30 store-boxes
of named beetles, including a number of paratypes.
(3) General Collection made by Officers of the Division.—The most
important parts of this collection are the insects gathered
together by Mr. Hill since he first joined the Council, as an
entomologist, and the recent collections made by Mr. T. G.
18
Campbell in Northern Austraha. In addition, the other:
members of the staff have added many insects collected
from time to time.
(4) Donations —Small but valuable collections have been given
during the year by Messrs. W. B. Barnard (moths),
E. J. Dumigan (Neuropteroids) and G. H. Hardy (flies).-
Summarizing the above, it may be said that the collections now
contain the nucleus of representatives of most of the families of insects
except in the order Lepidoptera, which is at present very poorly repre-
sented.
Dr. G. A. Waterhouse was appointed Curator of the Museum in
October last, and resigned his position in April. Since that time he has
continued to act in that capacity pending the appointment of a successor.
Mrs. Willings was appointed Entomological Assistant to the Curator
in April last, and since that time has been in personal charge of the
collections at Canberra. She has thoroughly overhauled all the collec-
tions and freed all the boxes from pests.
2. The Library.
Up to the present time, no librarian has been appointed for the
Division. Dr. G. A. Waterhouse, Curator of the museum, has had charge
of the library work to date. Until accommodation was available in the
Temporary Offices at No. 12 Melbourne Buildings, Canberra, nu attempt
could be made to gather any books together. This work was begun in
January last, and the Library at present consists of the following parts :—
(1) The Froggatt Library.—The entomological library of Mr. W. W.
Froggatt was purchased in April of this year. Its trans-
ference shortly afterwards to Canberra may be said to mark
the real beginning of the Divisional Library. This library
contains a number of valuable books and also most of the
papers that have been written on Australian economic
entomology.
(2) Portion of the Late Mr. C. Hedley’s Library.—A donation by
Mrs. Hedley from her late husband’s library includes a
number of sets of Proceedings of Scientific Societies.
(3) Books on Loan from the Library of the Council’s Head-quarters ™m
Melbourne.—Most of the entomological volumes in the
Head-quarters Library have been forwarded to Canberra on
loan.
(4) Smaller Donations.—A number of useful separates have been
received from the duplicates of the Australian Museum
Library, from the Linnean Society of New South Wales
and from Dr. Tillyard’s library.
The present policy is to build up the library steadily—(a) by the
purehase of libraries, text-books and periodicals, (b) by a wide list of
exchanges between the leading entomological workers all over the world
and the research staff of the Division, and (c) by the exchange of publi-
cations with other official organizations which embrace entomology.
mme Library at Canberra is co-operating with this
a by expensive scientific publications and making
» available to us for scientific use. The first of such publications
ined is the Genera Insectorum, parts 1-182 complete. We have
: Mr. Binns, Commonwealth Librarian, for much kindly assistance
y matters.
-
ve | sr appointment in April last, Mrs. Willings has arranged the
e 0. tthe present library on the steel shelving provided, so that its
on and cataloguing can proceed without interruption as soon
ratories are completed.
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PAMPHLET No. 16
Council for Scientific and Industrial Reseaich
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“BRAILSFORD ROBERTSON, Ph.D., D.Sc.
“<5 Chief of the Division
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MELBOURNE, 1929 |
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MEMBERS
Cxecatioes Sa Sas
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~ Sir George Julius, Kt, B. Bes BE. ae: s *
(Chimes), Pa |
ge Cc: D. Rivett, Esq., M.A,, D.Sc. nai Daan x
(Deputy Chairman and Chief Heseuaiee Oper),
*
Professor A. E. Vv. Richardson, M. A., D.Se.
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Chairmen of State Committees:
ea oren ee R. D. Watt, M. AS B.Sc. -
“(New South Wales),
Sir David 0. Masson, K.B.E., F.R. Si, &c.
. (Vite),
dra cnt H. c. » Richards, DSc, 2 aan
. (Queensland), ore eg
ow. J. Young, Esq., C:B.E, Aen daM aes tO
(South Auta cat
B. Perry, Esq. — et at
(Western Australi),
P. E. Keam, Esq. Le & :
5 ME ee! 4) ie ying
Coopted Members:
git nt Professor £. e Goddard, B. Aes
A. E. Leighton, Esq., FALC shes hae
Professor H. A. Weattat, M. c
PAMPHLET No. 16
rr Ae
COMMONWEALTH RE TS.
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
THE WORK OF THE
DIVISION OF ANIMAL
NUTRITION
FOR THE YEAR 1928-29
By
Professor T. BRAILSFORD ROBERTSON, Ph.D., D.Sc.
Chief of the Division
MELBOURNE, 1929
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UAL INVESTIGATIONS—
the Laboratories of the Division ae
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Sherin, ” now “ Niawanda,” near Beaufort, Victoria
ta n,’? Moree, New South Wales... bg a
Downs,” Springsure, Central Queensland we
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The Work of the Division of Animal
Nutrition for the Year 1928-29."
By Professor T. Brailsford Robertson, Ph.D., D.Sc., Chief of the
Division.
1. GENERAL.
The Division of Animal Nutrition was created in February, 1927, by
the appointment of a Chief of the Division and certain members of the
staff. Since investigations on problems relating to animal nutrition,
and particularly on the utilization of phosphoric acid by animals, had
been in progress in the Department of Biochemistry of the University
of Adelaide for some years previously, a small staff was available of people
already experienced in this type of work. It seemed advisable, therefore,
to inaugurate the Division by extending the nucleus of work and personnel
thus available, and the Division was accordingly centred at Adelaide.
The Council of the University of Adelaide very generously agreed to
render available to the Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industria]
Research sufficient land upon their own property to accommodate the
laboratories of the Division, while the Commonwealth Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research on its side undertook to render space and materials
available for the expansion and continuation of the work of the Animal
Products Research Foundation, under which the researches on nutrition
then in progress at the University of Adelaide had been conducted.
The University and the Director of the Waite Institute furthermore
made available to the Council sufficient land at the Waite Institute
for the erection of yards for sheep and a room to accommodate the
respiration calorimeter.
So far as that portion of the work of the Division which is done at
Adelaide is concerned, therefore, it represents a collaborative enterprise
on the part of the Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research and the University of Adelaide. The laboratory work of the
Division is carried out in a building erected by the Commonwealth Council
upon the University grounds, and in this building, besides the staff of
the Division, there is accommodated the chemist appointed by the Animal
Products Research Foundation of the University of Adelaide for the
continuation of researches on animal nutrition under the terms of the
Foundation. The work carried out under the Foundation is correlated
with the work of the Division in such a way as to supplement it. Experi-
mental work upon sheep is being conducted at the Waite Institute by
members of the staff of the Division.
On the other hand, the work upon sheep which is being conducted
at Adelaide represents only a small proportion of the experimental work
which is actually being carried out. At the Waite Institute, it is proposed
to carry out experiments of such a nature that it is not feasible to
undertake or control them properly upon the properties of sheep owners.
These are experiments of a tentative character designed to acquire
information to direct our experiments of a more immediate practical
~
* Typescript received 14th August, 1929.
6
character. These latter are being carried out at field-stations which it
is proposed ultimately to establish in most of the leading pastoral areas
in Australia. The field-stations which have been established to date are
situated at ‘‘ Niawanda,” near Beaufort, Western Victoria (opened
February, 1928), ‘“‘ Kolendo,’ west of Port Augusta, South Australia
(opened July, 1928), “ Keytah,” near Moree, in Northern New South
Wales (opened July, 1928), ‘‘ Meteor Downs,” near Springsure, Central
Queensland (opened December, 1928), and at “Dismal Swamp,” near .
Mount Gambier, in the south-eastern district of South Australia {opened
July, 1929).
These field-stations are made the centres for an extensive survey of
the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the surroundings
in which the sheep live. The general arrangement is that the owner
sets aside a certain number of ewes in lamb, from the lambs of which
we select the number that we require for observation or experiment.
The growth of these lambs is followed week by week during the first
seven months after birth, and fortnightly thereafter, the lambs being
weighed upon weighing machines provided by the Division. From each
field-station specimens are collected for examination at the laboratories
of the Division or for submission to other authorities for examination
by them. Thyroid glands, bones, and fodder plants are sent to the
laboratories of the Division for chemical examination, samples of soils
are forwarded to the Soils Division of the Waite Institute, and are collected
under the direction of Professor J. A. Prescott. It is hoped that we
will be in a position later on to similarly make botanical collections for
submission to the Division of Economic Botany.
The principal investigations which we have undertaken relate, im the
main, to the utilization and availability of those two components of the
diet which our present experience leads us to suppose may most generally
be deficient or unsatisfactory in many pastoral areas in Australia. Those
are phosphoric acid on the one hand and protein on the other. The
soils of very large areas of Australia are notoriously deficient in phosphoric
acid, and these areas embrace many of the most important pastoral
districts. In addition to these, in many important pastoral districts the
quality or value of the feed available to animals undergoes remarkable
fluctuation at different seasons of the year, and for this reason the
carrying capacity of the land is often far less than would be possible at
the best season of the year. The consequence is that the pasture fails
to improve with stocking to the extent that it should do so. During the
season of abundance grasses and weeds grow virtually unchecked, and
their nutritive value is therefore largely lost, and, moreover, the nutritive
value of the feed deteriorates as it ripens. The losses are therefore
twofold. A large amount of feed is never utilized, and the feed that is
consumed is of lower nutritive value than it would be if it were kept
closely cropped. Finally, the seeds, burrs, and so forth produced by the
ripened plants constitute a serious handicap to the welfare of the sheep
and deteriorate the quality of the wool.
It appears very probable that in the majority of cases the chief
deficiency in the season of least abundance is protein, and in connexion
7
with this we are concerned not only with the quantity of protein available,
but its quality. It is well-known to biological cliemists that equal
quantities of different proteins are not of equal value in supporting the
growth and nutrition of animals, and this becomes particularly the case
when the proteins are needed to produce tissues or products of an
exceptional composition, such as wool. Our investigations upon proteins
of fodder plants, therefore, have taken the direction, primarily, of
investigating the quality of the protein available and of endeavouring
to correct the deficiency during the season of hardship, by administering
protein concentrates which, from a chemical point of view, should be of
high nutritional value for the production of wool.
The laboratories of the Division were completed in October, 1928,
and officially opened by the Prime Minister on 22nd October. An
account of the building and the uses to which the various laboratories
are put was contained in the Journal of the Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research, November, 1928.
2. INDIVIDUAL INVESTIGATIONS.
(1) At the Laboratories of the Division.
(a) Analysis of Grasses and other Fodder Plants—The initial work
of the Division during 1927-28 had shown that wool fibre, which is a
protein, is of very unusual composition, containing as it does a very high
proportion of the sulphur-contaming amino acid, cystine. As a result,
the production of wool must impose a very especial demand upon the
nutrition of sheep, for, since wool contains 13 per cent. of cystine, while
fodder protein and flesh protein contain on the average only a little over
1 per cent., it must be necessary, in order to produce | lb. of wool fibre,
for the sheep to consume not less than 12 Ib. of fodder protein. The
production of an average fleece would therefore entail a consumption of
72 Ib. of fodder protein during the year before any was available for the
building of the carcase. No animal can synthesize cystine. It-must be
obtained preformed from the proteins in the fodder. Furthermore, no
animal, excepting those producing very large quantities of hair or wool,
experiences anything like this need for cystine. It appeared very
probable, therefore, that cystine might become in certain districts a
limiting factor in the production of wool. For this reason, it appeared
to be essential to ascertain the cystine content and, generally speaking,
the amino acid composition of the proteins contained in the fodder plants
most commonly used in Australia.
Bulk samples of these fodder plants have been collected, through the
kind assistance of the owners of our various field-stations and others who
have generously given us facilities for collecting these specimens, and the
preparation of these samples for analysis is at present under way. The
process is very tedious and lengthy, because it is necessary not only to
subject these proteins to chemical examination, but also to test their
value for supporting growth upon animals. As protein is never a very
abundant constituent of plants, the samples required to isolate the
amount of protein needed are very large. In general, over 2 cwt. of
each plant is required. It is difficult to find any plant growing in the
*
o
field in sufficient purity to enable the collector to obtain this amount
without contamination with other species, and in each case there has
been the preliminary difficulty of ascertaining a situation which facilitated
the collection. The collection itself has frequently proved to be a tedious
matter. For example, our sample of Danthonia was cut by hand with
shears by our field officer at “‘ Niawanda.” The next difficulty with
which we are faced is that it has hitherto been considered impossible to
isolate the proteins quantitatively from plants, and we have had to
devise a method not hitherto employed elsewhere to meet this difficulty.
The method itself is not simple to carry out, and the great pressure of
other work which has fallen upon the Division has prevented us from
making such rapid progress in this part of our investigations as we had
hoped. The work is proceeding slowly, however, and the first opportunity
will be taken to relieve members of the staff of other work so as to enable
t hem to concentrate upon this problem.
(b) Investigation of Protein Concentrates suitable for the Promotion
of the Growth of Wool—In view of our knowledge of the peculiar require-
ments imposed upon the nutrition of sheep by the production of wool,
we have sought in many directions for proteins which are available, or
might become available on the market, which would relieve the sheep
of some of the strain of wool production by conveying to them an excep-
tionally high proportion of cystine. Unfortunately, protems of this
character are very rare. The protein, fibrin, which forms the solid
portion of clotted blood, is unusually rich in cystine, contaming 3.7 per
cent.; consequently all food preparations rich in blood are also rich in
- cystine. Blood meal, however, is not in every respect an ideal food for
the purpose. In the first place, the protein present does not consist
exclusively of fibrin, and, consequently, the percentage of cystine contamed
in dried blocd meal does not contain the value found in fibrin. It is
usually, however, in the neighbourhood of 3 per cent., and blood meal is
therefore equivalent to three times its weight of the average type of
fodder protein. Blood meal is, however, somewhat expensive, especially
if prepared with due care to avoid contamination such as might render
it liable to putrefaction when stored, or might cause irritation of the
mucous membrane of the alimentary tract. A better source of cystine
might be yeast, which we have found to contain 4 per cent. of cystine.
Unfortunately, the yeast at present available in Australia is brewer's
yeast, in which a high proportion of the bitter principles of hops render
the material distasteful to sheep. We have, however, got into touch
with the Australian National Power Alcohol Company, whose distilleries
are situated at Sarina in Northern Queensland, and they are contem-
plating installing driers for the preparation of dried yeast at their distil-
leries. The yeast thus prepared should be highly palatable, and when
this becomes available we will be in a position to make an extended trial
of its value.
Wool and hair and the related substances, horns and hoofs, are of
course particularly high in cystine, and considerable wastage of these
materials is available at slaughter-houses. Unfortunately, they are
indigestible, and therefore unassimilable by animals. We have ascer-
tained, however, that if they are subjected to partial hydrolysis by
g
ev
hydrochloric acid at high temperatures, these materials can be reduced
to liquid form, and our experiments at the Waite Institute, to which
reference will be made later, have established the fact that the cystine
in such preparations is assimilable and utilizable for the production of
wool. It may be of interest to note in passing that in the reduction
of these materials to a soluble form, care should be taken to avoid
racemization of the cystine. We find that a maximum proportion of
unaltered cystine can be obtained provided the concentration of acid
is kept at a minimum and hydrolysis accelerated rather by raising the
temperature than by increasing the acid concentration. We are
employing 10 per cent. hydrochloric acid (33 per cent. by volume of
concentrated hydrochloric acid) in the proportion of 1 part of hair refuse
to 4 parts of the diluted acid, at the temperature produced by pressure
steam of 20 lb. to the square inch, for 1 hour. A slaughter-house product
containing a proportion of materials derived in this way from hair, horn,
and hoof refuse has indeed been rendered available, and its value as an
addendum to the diet of sheep is being tested at our suggestion by Mr.
E. D. Ogilvie, at “ Ilparran,”’ near Glen Innes, in northern New South |
Wales, and by Mr. D. E. Donkin, at “‘ Meteor Downs,” near Springsure,
in Queensland. The preparation available upon the market is guaranteed
to contain not less than 3 per cent. of cystine. It is thus equal to blood
meal in value, and it appears probable that it can be prepared more
cheaply and in a more palatable and digestible form than blood meal.
The discovery of these facts, however, has not ended our search, for
protein concentrates may prove of value from the point of view of cystine
content. We have ascertained that the juices of plants of the Ficus group
contain an extraordinarily high proportion of cystine. Unfortunately,
it is not very easy to see at the present moment how these could be
rendered available commercially upon an economic scale. The percentage
of cystine is, however, so very high, often exceeding that present in
wool itself, that it becomes of great importance to seek among related
plants for one which might become an economic source of cystine. In
this connexion it occured to us that all of the Ficus group are rubber-
producing plants, and that the presence of the high proportion of cystine
might be associated with, and indeed a necessary adjunct for, the
production of rubber. There are definite chemical reasons for enter-
taining this supposition. Cystine readily forms compounds which in
living tissues act as powerful reducing agents. The production of rubber,
presumably from ansoriginally carbohydrate source, would involve very
extensive reduction, and this may be rendered possible by cystine
compounds of the character of those to which | have alluded.
It accordingly appeared of importance to investigate the serum left
after the removal of rubber from the latex of commercial rubber-producing
plants, and, consequently, during the recent visit of Sir Eric Geddes to
Australia, he was approached with a view to enlisting the co-operation
of the Dunlop Plantations in this investigation. Sir Eric Geddes took
a very kindly interest in our problem, and was also good enough to suggest
to us that the seeds of the rubber plants might also prove worthy of our
attention as a possible food material of value from our point of view.
Through the kind assistance of Sir Eric Geddes, we have already obtained
10
from Malacca a shipment of 50 gallons of rubber latex from which the
rubber has been removed in the usual manner by coagulation with acetic
acid. We have also been promised samples of latex from which the
rubber has been removed by the new centrifugal method, and also bulk
samples of rubber seeds. Our examination of the latex has not yet
proceeded sufficiently far to enable us to gain any idea whether a utilizable
product can be obtained from it, but we have definitely found that the
cystine content of this material is, like that of the latices of the Fieus
species, extremely high.
It would be difficult to over-estimate the importance of a thorough
survey of all the various botanical groups with a view to obtaining a
clearer view of the distribution of cystine-rich materials in nature. With
our other work we cannot contemplate such a survey at the present time,
but when opportunities present themselves we will from time to time
make observations of this character, which, with the co-operation of the
Division of Economic Botany, might ultimately yield a prelimimary
outline of the extensive information which we desire.
In this connexion, attention should be called to the fact that protein
concentrates high in biological value for the production of wool, that is
containing the requisite amino acids in more nearly the correct proportions
for producing wool, may be utilized for the apparently paradoxical purpose
of reducing the protein intake of the animals. It has increasingly been
observed, following upon the enrichment of pasture land by top-dressing
and planting with clover, that numerous troubles make their appearance
among the sheep which are apparently attributable to dietary too high
in proteins, particularly the condition known as “pulpy kidney,” and
I am informed also by those qualified to express an opinion upon the
subject that the braxy-like disease occurring in Western Australia may
possibly be associated with a protein-rich dietary. A diet high in protem
has this advantage for the sheep that it renders available a sufficient
supply of cystine to furnish the needs of production of wool and carease
as well, but incidentally it must also furnish a tremendous excess of
other amino acids. If part of the protein in the diet could be replaced
by a protein richer in cystine, the same total intake of cystine might be
achieved upon a lower nitrogen plane. What seems at first sight
anomalous may, nevertheless, prove true, that it may be possible to
diminish the protein intake of sheep by administering to them a suitable
protein concentrate. In this direction, much research might be done,
especially in those parts of Australia where sheep are run in connexion
with farming, and consequently receive a higher proportion of concen-
trated foodstuffs than sheep that are run upon uncultivated pasture.
There appears to be a particular opportunity for studying this aspect
of our problem in the south-western district of Western Australia.
(c) Estimation of Wool Yield—As stated in my reports to the Council
under date of 13th December, 1928, and 22nd March, 1929, work has been
carried out upon a method of estimating wool yield by chemical methods.
Samples have been taken and prepared for analysis, but the analyses
have not yet been carried out. Members of our staff have been too
fully engaged with other problems to complete this work. We are
il
confident, however, that the method, although perhaps of no great
practical utility from the standpoint of graziers or manufacturers, will
prove of definite value in accurately controlled investigations upon the
relationship of diet to wool production.
(d) Estimation of Phosphoric Acid in Tissue-—The phosphoric acid
in animal tissues is present in the form of various compounds which
find their counterpart in plant tissues. Part of the phosphoric acid is
present as soluble phosphates, that is combined with sodium or potassium,
or insoluble phosphate when combined with calcium and deposited as
tricalcic phosphate in bones. Another portion of the phosphoric acid is
present in combination with fats forming the class of fats known as
phospholipins. A third portion of the phosphoric acid, and one which
is very important in the growth of animals, is present in a very complex
compound known as nucleic acid, because the greater part of it is situated
im the nuclei of the cells.
Tn seeking to obtain a comprehensive knowledge of the factors involved
in the utilization of phosphoric acid, it would obviously be pre-requisite
to account accurately for all the phosphoric acid assimilated. That is,
one should be in a position to say that such and such a proportion of the
phosphoric acid had been utilized by the animal in one direction, another
proportion in another direction, and so forth. This form of dietetic
accountancy has hitherto been impossible for phosphoric acid because
no method has been available for the quantitative estimation of nucleic
acid, and a proportion of the phosphoric acid must therefore inevitably
escape our addition, and a successful balance would not be struck between
intake and retention beyond the mere assumption that that which had
been taken in and had not been eliminated must be in the body somewhere.
During the past two years, work has been going on in the laboratories
of the Division and in the Biochemistry Department of the University of
Adelaide, aiming at the quantitative estimation of nucleic acid, and the
work has so far proceeded that we are now in a position to estimate
nucleic acid with a very close approximation to accuracy. Methods of
estimating inorganic phosphates and phospholipins are well known and
standardized, so that with a method in our hands enabling us to estimate
nucleic acid we ought to be able to balance the phosphoric acid account
im imyestigations upon the assimilation of this substance by animals.
Tnitial experiments of this character are already in process of being
carried out, and we are engaged in comparing the distribution of phosphoric
acid in the various tissues of lambs at birth obtained from our sheep
at the Waite Institute with the distribution of phosphoric acid in the
various tissues of the ewes from which these lambs were obtained. These
animals have been fed upon a diet which should be abundant in phosphorie
acid, since the pasture upon which they have been fed has generally been
top-dressed, and they have obtained supplementary food which is also
rich in phosphoric acid. We are carrying out these analyses for the
following purposes :—
(i) To obtain experience in the practical conduct of such analyses
upon whole animals.
12
(ii) To ascertain what may probably be regarded as the normal
distribution of phosphoric acid in the bodies of well-fed
animals.
(iii) To ascertain the effects of age upon phosphoric acid distribution.
We next intend to apply these methods to the investigation of
the efficacy of various licks for supplying phosphoric acid deficiency
encountered in the pasture. For this purpose we will utilize animals
obtained from our newly-established field-station at “‘ Dismal Swamp,”
near Mount Gambier. At this field-station, as will be more fully detailed
below, we are planning to administer to the animals various licks rich in
different types of phosphoric acid compounds. At about six months
of age, a lamb from each group will be brought up to the laboratory,
slaughtered there, its tissues perfused through the large blood vessels
with saline solution to remove the blood from all the tissues, and the
tissues thus freed from blood will be subjected to analysis.
The net outcome of all of these experiments, if carried out according
to programme, will be a record of not less than 2,000 analytical estimations,
from which we should be able to deduce much regarding the distribution
of phosphoric acid in the animal body under conditions of relative
abundance and deficiency, and we should also obtain an accurate idea
of the value of various licks in assisting the animal to approximate to
the condition of normal animals in receipt of nourishment containing
abundance of this requisite.
(e) Analysis of Bones——From our various field-stations, and also as a
result of tours undertaken by myself and members of my stafi, a very
comprehensive collecticn of bones has been obtained from a variety of
pastoral areas in Australia. Our practice has always been to take the
same bones, namely four rib bones, beginning with the fourth rib bone
counting from the last floating rib. The rib bones are disarticulated
at both ends so that the entire bone is obtained, and the proportion of
marrow to bone should be the same in each if the bones are alike in
development. It must be emphasized that in almost all of our work,
analytical methods are not yet completely tested or accurately standard-
ized. The beginning of every investigation of a biochemical character
generally entails a fresh attempt to attain greater accuracy in analyses.
This was also the case in the present process, and much time was spent
by Mr. Thomas in reviewing existing methods of analysis, checking and
adapting them, and attaining greater accuracy. The analytical methods
employed in this problem are particularly important, because the
differences in the composition of bones of sheep fed upon satisfactory
and deficient pasture are quite small, although undoubtedly of the very
greatest significance provided they can be definitely established. The
attempt of the tissues is always to lay down tricalcic phosphate in bones,
and the attempt is generally successful. A failure amounting to only a
few per cent. of the total probably indicates the very greatest difficulties
experienced by the tissues in acquiring the necessary materials to
manufacture normal bones. We have therefore to deal with, and attach
a significance to, differences which generally amount to only a few per
cent. of the total quantities estimated, and analytical methods must be
15
sufficiently accurate to reveal these small differences with certainty.
Such methods have been found and a most extensive series of analyses
undertaken by Mr. Thomas. Analysis of the first 100 samples is approach-
ing completion, and from them we should obtain a preliminary idea of
the correlation between bone composition and the geology and soils of the
districts from which they were obtained, and the physical characteristics
of the bones themselves.
(f) Lodine in Thyroid Glands—The survey of the iodine content in
the thyroid glands of sheep in different parts of Australia falls into two
parts. The one consists of the analysis of glands obtained from widely
scattered areas, only one or a few glands being analysed from each
locality. This should serve to reveal any districts which should chance
to be notably deficient in iodine. The other consists of the analysis of
large numbers of glands from a few districts in which our field-stations
are situated. These analyses should enable us to estimate the variability
of iodine content in the glands of individual sheep, and thus to estimate the
degree of significance to be attached to individual or few analyses from
other districts, and it should also enable us to correlate the variations
in iodine content with variations in the condition of the sheep and the
quality of the wool. Latterly, all our thyroid gland specimens have
been collected, together with a staple of wool from the shoulder of the
sheep, with the object of ultimately sending these to the laboratories of
the British Research Association for the Woollen and Worsted Industries,
with a view to obtaining a report from them, if this can be arranged, on
the physical qualities of the wool. With a simultaneous knowledge of
the accurately measurable physical qualities of the wool and the iodine
content of the thyroid glands, any correlation between the two should
stand out clearly. There is reason to suspect that such correlation may
occur, because in other animals the thyroid gland is known to exercise
considerable influence upon the growth of hair.
The first series of analyses at a single field-station, near Beaufort,
Western District, Victoria, has been completed. These analyses were
carried out by Miss M. C. Dawbarn, the chemist appointed by the Animal
Products Research Foundation of the University of Adelaide, who has
been provided with space and materials for her work in the laboratories
of the Division. The results confirm the observation which has been
made in America that the iodine content of thyroid glands is subject to
seasonal fluctuation. Those collected in the late spring and early summer
months, September, October, and November, contain considerably less
iodine than those which were collected in the preceding six months.
The confirmation of this observation in Australia is of special interest,
because, in the first place, our seasons in Australia are reversed, and the
observation of a decrease in iodine content in early summer in the
Southern as well as the Northern hemisphere definitely correlates the
seasonal change with the climate or the pasture, and, in the second place,
the iodine content of the thyroid glands of the sheep in western Victoria
is very much higher than the iodine content of the thyroid glands investi-
gated from this point of view in America. A very large proportion of
the United States is deficient in iodine ; Australia seems to have escaped
this deficiency and to be singularly well endowed with iodine in its
14
pastures. Yet, although iodine is abundant in the pastures in western
Victoria, the same seasonal variation is shown by these sheep in receipt
of abundance as is shown by sheep in America subject to deprivation.
This almost suggests that the fall of iodine in sprmg may be due not so
much to the inability of the sheep to obtain iodine from the pasture as
to some change in the animals themselves which diminishes their power
of retaining iodine in the thyroid gland.
It will be especially interesting to compare these results with those
which we will subsequently obtain from thyroid glands collected at
‘‘ Meteor Downs,” near Springsure, Central Queensland, for this is a region
of summer rainfall, and if a seasonal variation is found there we will be
able to ascertain whether it is correlated with rainfall and the period
of most intense growth of the pasture, or, rather, with the temperature
of the surroundings.
The methods for the estimation of iodine in thyroid glands are well
known and standardized. We have repeated the checking and standard-
ization of the most frequently used method ourselves, and have satisfied
ourselves of its accuracy. From this point, the work became of an
exceedingly routine character, simply involving the repetition of stereo-
typed analyses.
In recent years, much publicity has been given all over the world
to results obtained in America and in some parts of Europe from the
administration of iodine to animals. Particularly striking are the results
obtained in the middle west of America where iodine is extraordinarily
deficient. In Australian newspapers and pastoral journals as well,
these results are frequently quoted as if they applied with equal signifi-
cance to all parts of Australia, and the impression has grown up among
many pastoralists that iodine is universally necessary to add to the diet,
and that the effects to be expected from its inclusion in a lick are little
short of miraculous. Our results do not in the least encourage this
view. On the contrary, it appears that the greater part of the pastoral
areas of Australia are abundantly supplied with iodine. In the south-
eastern part of South Australia, for example, where the use of iodized
licks has recently been very strongly urged by firms having a commercial
interest in their distribution, we have found that animals in receipt of
no licks have thyroids contaming the highest proportion of iodine yet
reported from any portion of the world. Obviously, the propaganda to
induce pastoralists in that district to add iodine to their licks is useless
and mischievous. We have, in fact, only found two spots upon the
mainland and one in Tasmania where any degree of iodine deficiency
meriting attention may be suspected to occur, and even there the lowest
results we have obtained are three times as high as the lowest results
obtained in America. In order to combat the general propaganda
designed to induce pastoralists to incorporate this expensive substance
in their licks, I thought it advisable to publish a brief statement in The
Pastoral Review, dated 16th May, 1929, and it is to be hoped that this
may have some effect in discouraging the indiscriminate use of potassium
iodide. It should nevertheless be admitted that our survey is as yet far
from complete, and areas may yet be found in Australia where serious
iodine deficiency must be combated.
15
(2) Work at the Waite Institute.
(a) The Maximal Growth of Merino Sheep.—The first problem which
we undertook at the Waite Institute, and also the simplest, was to ascertain
the maximum growth attainable by the merino sheep under optimal
conditions. There is no direct economic value in such a determination,
but we desired to undertake it with a view to providing ourselves with a
standard measure from which we could estimate the degree of shortcoming
displayed by sheep under different natural conditions. Through the
generosity of Mr. Walter Hawker, of ““Anama” Station, near Clare, in
South Australia, we obtained a number of sheep of the ““ Anama ”’ blood,
from which we have bred lambs which we have brought up under luxurious
conditions of nutrition. They have been fed upon top-dressed pasture,
and every day their diet has been further supplemented by the addition
of linseed meal and oats. They bave, in addition, been in receipt of a
salt lick containing all those minerals which are found, upon analysis,
to be present in the tissues of sheep, so that no lack of any sort should
have been experienced by these animals. Extraordinary growth was
obtained, greatly exceeding that obtained at any of our field-stations.
Nevertheless, it was of interest to note that, despite the artificial feeding
designed to supplement the pasture, the animals have shown seasonal
fluctuation in growth, reflecting that displayed by animals pastured
under natural conditions and in receipt of no addenda. This may be
due to two reasons. In the first place, cold weather in itself imposes an
extra strain upon the nutrition of any animal, since nourishment is
required to replace the heat lost from the body, but we have the impression
that the slackening of growth in the early part of the winter was greater
- than could be accounted for in this way, and it suggests that materials
are available from fresh pasture which cannot be supplied by artificial
feeding or the addition of mineral supplements to the diet. It must be
emphasized, however, that this remains merely an impression, and that
we have no quantitative proof of its accuracy.
(6) The Growth of Wool on a Diet Deficient in Cystine, and on the Same
Diet Supplemented by Wool Hydrolysate—In the previous season, 1927-28,
we endeavoured to ascertain whether the production of wool by sheep
could be stimulated by the administration of cystine derived from the
hydrolysis of waste wool. This experiment was undertaken, not so much
from the point of view that it might be directly applied to practical
conditions, as that it might form evidence of the correctness or otherwise
of the general supposition upon which we were proceeding that cystine
might be the limiting factor in the production of wool under natural
conditions. The results were negative, as no definite difference could
be established between the fleeces of those animals which had received
addition of cystine to their diet and the fleeces of those animals which
had not received such addition. At the time, we were inclined to
attribute this failure to changes induced in the cystine by the process
of hydrolysis and separation, and, indeed, part of the failure may have
been attributable to this cause, since we know that nearly half the cystine
is transformed during isolation into a form which cannot be utilized by
animals and is excreted unchanged in the urine. Nevertheless, our
later investigations carried out during the current season have shown
16
that there was another cause for failure in our experiments, namely, that
the pasture upon which the animals were fed was itself too rich in cystine
to permit our relatively small addendum to make any perceptible difference.
In other words, the cystine that we added to the diet was but a small
proportion to the whole of the cystine they were obtaining, and the
efiects, if any, would necessarily be correspondingly small. The
differences for which we were seeking were swamped in the magnitude of
the whole supply.
With the current season, we started in a different way. In the first
place, instead of aiming to supply the animals with pure cystine, we
sought to furnish it to them in such a form as to be still combined with
other amino acids, not in such complex combination as in wool itself,
but in products obtained from the incomplete digestion of wool by acid.
In this way, we minimized the chances of destroying the utilizability
of the cystine by changes incurred during the process of hydrolysis. In
the second place we took care, upon this occasion, to ensure that the diet
was as low in cystine as we could reasonably secure without injury to
the animals, and our results have shown that care is necessary in
controlling the basic diet and insuring its definite deficiency in cystine
in order to obtain the most striking results. We may say, however,
as a result of our experiments during this year, that the effects of
administering the partially-hydrolyzed wool have far exceeded our
anticipations, and we now anticipate that at shearimg the difference
between the fleeces from the animals deprived of cystine and those to
whom cystine has been administered in this form will prove to be of a
most striking character.
These experiments appear to us to substantiate beyond doubt the
view that the quality of the protein, that is, the proportions of various
amino acids administered to the animals, is of the utmost importance
in determining the yield and quality of wool. The bearing of this
experiment upon our search for suitable concentrates to supplement
the diet of sheep during those seasons of the year when the pasture is
deficient in nourishment will be obvious, and we are encouraged to
continue the search for concentrates rich in those amino acids which are
exceptionally abundant in wool.
(c) The Production and Prevextion of “* Break” in Wool.—In our
experiments we have sought to imitate those conditions of the natural
pasture which occasionally result in the production of a definite “‘ break ”’
in wool. By “break” is meant a sudden change in the diameter of
the wool fibre, usually resulting from the thinning down of the fibre due
to drought conditions, followed by a sudden thickening due to the springing
up of a quantity of fresh herbage following upon rain. The disadvantage
of ‘‘ break” from the standpoint of the manufacturer is that the two
parts of the wool staple are not suitable for employment upon the same
machine, and if the staple be divided at the point of “‘ break” the portions
remaining are too short to produce the best fabrics on the machines
employed in spinning and weaving. Wool which exhibits a “ break”
is therefore of very low value in the market.
17
Much of the damage to the value of wool due to * break” might
be obviated if the change in fibre diameter could be rendered more gradual,
and this might conceivably be done if the pastoralist could foresee the
probability of ‘‘ break” occurring at a certain season in his sheep and
forestall the occurrence by supplying them with a supplement excep-
tionally rich in cystine, permitting them to increase the diameter of the
wool fibre gradually until the flush season found them prepared to continue
this growth.
By feeding sheep on a diet of chaff, imitating the feed available under
drought conditions, and then, after a couple of months, transferring
‘them to rich feed, supplemented by lucerne, definite “‘ break” is readily
obtained. We have sought to prevent this by spraying wool hydrolysate
upon the chaff, and have succeeded so far that in many instances there
is no longer a “ break ”’ in the wool, although the wool remains somewhat
tender. We have thought that by this means sheep accustomed to
take licks could be treated to prevent the appearance of “ break” in the
wool following upon drought conditions. In many areas the pastoralist
would be aware that “ break ” was likely to occur after a period of scarcity
at a definite season of the year, and for a couple of months previously,
he could incorporate wool hydrolysate in the lick. This is quite feasible
economically, because the whole growth for the twelve months will be
rendered more valuable by the addition of the supplement for a period
possibly not exceeding two months, and the supplement itself, wool
hydrolysate, can be prepared from the poorer qualities of wool. Should
we ever succeed in obtaining concentrates as high in cystine content as
wool itself, then, of course, these can be substituted for the hydrolysate.
We had hoped to be able to utilize the prevailing drought conditions
in the upper north of South Australia as a means of an extended practical
test of this method, but I have not yet been able to ascertain a favorable
assemblage of conditions for a trial. In the first place, pastoralists in
the upper north of South Australia are not accustomed to administer
licks to their sheep, since no known mineral deficiency occurs in this
district. Sheep are, therefore, not accustomed to seek for licks, and
could not readily be educated to do so. It might be possible to overcome
this by adding hydrolysate to their water. During the present winter
light falls of rain have occurred at Kolendo, where our field-station is -
situated, which have freshened up the feed and brought forward a small
growth largely checked by the cold weather and insufficiency of further
rain, but still sufficient to maintain the diameter of the wool fibre, so that
if rain falls in the spring no definite “ break” is likely to occur. We
will seize the first opportunity which presents itself in any State for
giving this method of preventing “break” a thorough trial.
(d) Calorimeter Studies—In the erection of the respiration calorimeter -
at the Waite Institute, we were generously assisted by the advice and
experience of Dr. F. G. Benedict, who is the Director of the Nutrition
Laboratory of the Carnegie Institute in Boston, U.S.A. With the
assistance of an experienced mechanic, we designed and assembled the
calorimeter to conform as closely as possible to the model employed
by Dr. Benedict. The principle of the instrument is to measure the
18
total output of carbon dioxide by an animal during the specified period
of time when it is in a fasting condition and at rest. Simultaneously,
the consumption of oxygen is measured. The ratio of the two yields
important information as to the type of foodstuffs mainly undergoing
metabolism in the body, while the total carbon dioxide output yields a
measure of the total materials burnt in the body. From these figures
obtained under fasting conditions, one obtains a measure of the minimal
requirement of food for the maintenance of the animal. It is obvious
that sufficient food must be supplied to furnish an equal amount of carbon
dioxide when burnt to that which is given out by the animal at rest and
under starvation conditions. If growth is to be attained, or the animal
undergoes exertion, the allowance must of course be increased, but in this
way we get a measure of the basic minimal requirement.
Such a measure is of exceedingly great importance as a guide in the
making up of recipes for hand-feeding in drought. I am aware that in
some parts of Australia it is considered that hand-feeding during drought
is a ruinous practice, while it is regarded as equally certain in other parts
of Australia that it can be carried out, if not at a profit, at any rate at a
minimum of loss, which is preferable to losing the animals themselves.
From my observations, I would say that this difference of opinion is
attributable to difference of practice. The practice of hand-feeding in
drought has been so improved in Queensland that its value may be
regarded as having been established, but the foodstuffs available at one
time and place may not be the same as those available at another time
and place, and if we have to make a substitution in the recipes recently
employed in Queensland, the question is what principle shall we use to
guide us in choosing the substitute most likely to yield a mixture of
equally nutritive value? To do this we must know what amount of
nutrition has to be administered, and then from standard figures already
available in many publications we can readily calculate to a sufficient
degree of accuracy what amount would be required of each type of fodder
substance to supply the energy needed by the animal.
Figures of this kind have already been obtained in America and
Europe, but, unfortunately, we cannot apply them directly to Australian
conditions. In the first place, the breéd of sheep is different. Australian
pastoralists have been engaged for over 100 years in attempting to breed
drought-resistant animals from merino sheep, and there is every reason
to anticipate that our sheep will turn out to have exceptional powers of
utilizing food with economy and resisting the influences of starvation.
Then again our climate is different, and sheep which must be shedded
during the winter in Europe and Northern America are here kept out on
pasture. Finally, the diet of our sheep is different, and the diet of which
the sheep has previously been in receipt influences, to some extent, the
- energy output during subsequent starvation. That is to say, the basal
requirement of an animal depends to some extent upon the way this
requirement is met. In general, the richer the food in protein, the greater
will be the basal requirement. Animals fed upon concentrates and
leguminous plants rich in protein will be relatively wasteful, while animals
fed under hard conditions upon diets poor in protein will be relatively
economical in the consumption of energy.
19
Our preliminary results indicate that, as anticipated, the energy
requirements of the Australian merino are lower than those of Kuropean
sheep, and correspond approximately with the energy content of the
maintenance rations ascertained by the feeding experiments of pastoralists
in Queensland, among which I may especially mention those of Mr. T.
L. Armstrong, of ‘‘ Corona.”
The next step will be to ascertain the requirement for a given amount
of growth so that this addendum may be added to the diet of growing
lambs, and from a chart which, when we are in possession of the data,
will not be at all difficult to construct, it will be possible for a pastoralist
to read off at any age of his sheep the amount of food that will be necessary.
Although we have obtained the most essential figure with a sufficient
degree of accuracy for application to practical conditions, we are not yet
satisfied that the figure is sufficiently accurate from a scientific point of
view. We have discovered certain defects in portions of the apparatus
that we have employed which we are seeking to remedy by apparatus
of a different design. Before publishing our results, we would prefer to
be confident that they represent the utmost attainable accuracy in such
an investigation, and we are consequently waiting until the newly-
designed portions of the apparatus have been procured to repeat our
experiments over again and confirm them.
After obtaining these fundamental figures, there will be many problems
in calorimetry which it will be of importance to undertake, and there
is no doubt that the calorimeter at the Waite Institute will be in pretty
constant use for many years to come, beginning with the most fundamental
and generally applicable determinations, and passing on to more complex
and detailed problems, all of which will ultimately be found to be of
economic importance. With this lengthy programme ahead of us, it
would be wise to have the services of workers specially trained in this
field, and we have suggested to the Trustees of the Science and Industry
Endowment Fund that a travelling studentship should be offered to
enable some recent graduate of an Australian University to study at Dr.
Benedict’s laboratory at Boston, and also at Cambridge. I would suggest
that such a student should spend a preliminary couple of months here
so as to become familiar with the problems which we met with in the
practical technique of the work, so that when he goes abroad he will be
iN a position to seek just that information which we most urgently need.
3. FIELD-STATIONS.
(1) General Policy.
The general policy at our field-stations is to institute a co-operative
investigation with the owner. The steps leading up to the establishment
of a field-station have generally been somewhat as follows :—
In the first place, information has been sought from individual
pastoralists, or more often from pastoralists or graziers associations,
as to the nature of the problems met with in the State and the most
suitable localities for investigating them. The result of such inquiries
is usually to indicate certain areas as suitable centres for investigation.
The next step is to find an owner in those areas who would be willing
20
to collaborate in research. The procedure in finding such an owner
has varied in different places. In Victoria, Mr. R. G. Beggs, upon whose
property our field-station is situated, was indicated by the Executive
Committee of the Graziers’ Association; in South Australia, the owner
of the field-station at “‘ Kolendo”’ was approached through pastoralists
with whom the Chief of the Division happened to be acquainted ; in the
south-eastern district of South Australia, Mr. Sutton’s property was
indicated by the Stockowners’ Association of South Australia; im New
South Wales, Mr. E. D. Ogilvie, owner of “ Keytah” station, was
indicated by the Graziers’ Association; im Queensland, the owner of
“Meteor Downs,” Mr. D. E. Donkin, was introduced to us by Mr. A.
J. N. Gillespie, who has had exceptional experience of pastoral conditions
in various$parts of Central Queensland.
A suitable owner having been found, he is then consulted as to the
problems in his district and his advice is sought as to the most suitable
problem to investigate and the best way of undertaking the experiment.
In every case, it has been found that the experience of the owner has been
of the utmost value in indicating the plan of the experiment, and the
purpose at which it should aim. The owner is then asked to set aside
a certain number of ewes in lamb from which we select a sufficient number
of lambs to yield a growth curve, and also any additional number that
may be necessary to perform any experiments undertaken at that
station. A field officer is then appointed, but it is especially provided
in our agreement with the owner that the field officer’s salary shall be
mainly paid through the hands of the owner, with the exception of a
small retaining fee which is paid to the field officer direct, in order that
he may feel that we have a direct claim upon his services. The greater
part of the field officer’s salary is paid through the owner in order that
he may view himself as an employee of the owner and subject to the
discipline of the station. The owner is even at liberty, if he thinks fit,
to dismiss the field officer provided he undertakes to see that our work
will be carried on until we have had reasonable time to replace him.
The responsibility for the carrying out of the work is therefore placed
ultimately upon the shoulders of the owner, but the Council provides the
extra help to carry out the work efficiently. The field officers are chosen,
in the first place, on the recommendation of pastoralists, who have been
acquainted with them, for their conscientious character and ability in
handling sheep. They are given a preliminary training of brief duration,
either at the Waite Institute or at a previous field-station, and carry out
the measurements, observations, and collection of specimens precisely as
instructed by the members of the staff of the Division. Occasional
visits are paid to each field-station, either by the Chief or the travelling
field officer, Mr. Lines, in order to ensure that all directions are bemg
carried out and, at the same time, that they are being executed in a
standardized manner so that the results from one field-station may be
comparable with those obtained from another. One visit is paid to each
field-station by our geological chemist, Mr. R. G. Thomas, who draws
up a full report on the geology of the district and at the same time collects
samples of soil which are forwarded to the Waite Institute for examination
and report.
21
It is hoped that it will be possible in the future to obtain the services
of an agrostologist attached to the Division of Economic Botany, to carry
out in a similar way surveys of the botanical characteristics of the districts
in which our field-stations are situated. It is hoped, also, that our
field-stations may become, to an increasing degree, centres upon which
the energies of other Divisions besides that of Nutrition may be focused.
At every field-station we have, for example, encountered veterinary
problems which we could not overlook, although in most cases these
have turned out to be not so much matters requiring research as the
dissemination of information. Nevertheless, we have already found it
advisable to plan experiments at certain field-stations to demonstrate tc
the owner the value of treatments recommended by appropriate authori-
ties. The nutritional and veterinary aspects cannot in fact be separated,
for if we consider the situation in any area in which the value of the
pasture undergoes great fluctuation during the year, so that much of
the pasture remains unutilized and is never closely cropped, anything
which under such conditions would increase the stocking capacity, should
also improve the quality and nutritive value of the pasture. Whether
this be accomplished by eradicating worms or blow-fly, or by providing
a protein supplement of mineral licks, is of little consequence, the major
objective being to secure denser stocking and consequent progressive
improvement of the pasture. Improvement of nutrition may, therefore,
be brought about, in the long run, through the eradication of parasites
just as, conversely, improvement of nutrition may lead to a greater
resistance to parasites on the part of the animals.
Frequently, the field-stations will prove to be in situations of interest
to other Divisions, for the same reason that they are of interest
to the Division of Animal Nutrition, namely, that they are situated in
places which are representative of large areas of pastoral country. The
problems that affect our field-stations will therefore be problems as a
rule widely dispersed over important pastoral areas. They may,
therefore, prove to be convenient centres for the investigation of veteri-
nary, entomological, and economic botanical problems. While it is
advisable that all such investigations should be carried out under the
direct control of the Divisions concerned, it will be necessary that, in
each case, the approach of the owner for permission to carry out the
work, or for an officer to visit the station, should be made through the
Chief of the Division of Animal Nutrition in order that the owner may
feel that he knows from whom to expect requests and to whom to complain
in case anything happens which meets with his disapproval. The field-
stations should, therefore, be regarded, in the first place, as being primarily
instituted for the investigation of animal nutrition ; in the second place,
as foci for some of the work of other Divisions; and the channel of
communication between the owner and all Divisions should be the Chief
of the Division of Animal Nutrition. The same principle would apply
In case similar stations were established by other Divisions and the
courtesy extended of permitting the Division of Animal Nutrition to
engage in researches upon them. In that case, whatever Division had
established the station would remain the channel of communication
with the owner.
22
In recent months, many inquiries have been received in regard to
the possibility of establishing additional field-stations. It has been
suggested that field-stations should be established m the Kimberley and
south-western districts of Western Australia, in Tasmania, and at other
points in New South Wales besides Moree. It is indeed quite clear that
one field-station in the whole of New South Wales is an inadequate
allowance. New South Wales contains half the sheep in Australia,
spread over a very great area representing a great diversity of climatic
and geological features. Authority has been asked for the establishment
of two more field-stations in New South Wales in the current financial
year, and two more in the year following, and arrangements have been
made for the Chief of the Division to consult with the recently appointed
Scientific Advisory Committee of the Graziers’ Association of New South
Wales early in September, with a view to settling upon appropriate
localities for the establishment of these four field-stations. It is hoped
that in the financial year 1930-31 it may also be possible to establish
field-stations in Western Australia and Tasmania.
The field-stations and the laboratories at Adelaide are to be regarded
as mutually dependent aspects of our work. From the laboratory, ideas
go out to be tested in the field, from the field problems come in, together
with specimens which illustrate them. This give and take; assisted in
each case by the co-operation of the most experienced pastoralists, should
lead us to obtain results of value to the pastoral community.
It may, furthermore, be pointed out that the field-stations, besides
affording valuable centres of research, are also valuable centres for the
dissemination of any information we may obtain. Experience shows,
I think, that pastoralists in general are reluctant to accept procedures
which are recommended by scientific experts who have not had to carry
them out under practical conditions, and especially under the rigorous
necessity of securing a financial return for their outlay. Pastoralists feel
that such advice may possibly be scientific but unpractical. But when they
see experiments carried out upon the property of a neighbouring pastoralist
of high reputation in his profession, favorably regarded by him, and the
results possibly adopted by him, they are eager to seek the same informa-
tion and to apply it if it has been found successful on the original property.
We have shown this to be the case at Springsure, and also in northern
New South Wales, and I think we shall experience no difficulty in the
future, if we should obtain results of considerable value to the pastoralists,
in persuading them of their value and disseminating the information
through the medium of our field-stations,
(2) “Kolendo,” via Port Augusta, South Australia.
This station, as stated in my reports of 13th December, 1928, and
92nd March, 1929, has been temporarily closed on account of drought
prevailing in this district. The drought has partially broken and lambing
is expected in August, but it is anticipated that the lambs will be scattered
over a wide period of time, and unless satisfactory rains fall in the spring,
little more success is to be hoped for than we had last year. To re-open
the field-station at this juncture, therefore, would be to risk having to
23
close it down again after the expenditure of money uselessly. We have
thought it best to await yet another year in the hope that the seasons
may once more become average in character.
(3) “ Buln Gherin, ” now “ Niawanda, ” near Beaufort, Victoria.
The work at this field-station continues to proceed very satisfactorily.
To date, our activities here have been mainly devoted to observation
and collection of materials. We are satisfied that there is an important
problem in the Western District of Victoria, and from analyses collected
from the available literature by Mr. Thomas, we strongly suspect that
one of the difficulties of this district consists in the deficiency of sulphur
in the soils. The question arises as to the best method of attempting
to remedy this. At this field-station and upon other properties in the
Western District we would like, if we obtain the permission of the owners,
to undertake experiments upon top-dressing the soil with sulphur, the
point of view being not so much that the percentage of cystine in the
proteins in the existing fodder plants will be thereby increased, but that
the character of the fodder plants, that is the relative proportions of
different kinds of plants, will be altered in such a fashion as to remove
the existing handicap from those plants which produce proteins containing
the highest proportion of cystine. What we would anticipate would be
a progressive change in the character of the herbage comparable with that
which is observed after top-dressing with superphosphate, but of a
different character. On land which is deficient in phosphorus, all plants
which are greedy consumers of phosphorus, that is which produce tissues
exceptionally rich in phosphorus, are handicapped in comparison with
other plants. When phosphoric acid fertilizers are applied, this handicap
is removed, and hence we find that clovers, &c., begin to gain headway
upon the grasses. In the same way, if by adding sulphur to the soil, we
can remove the handicap imposed upon plants yielding cystine-rich
proteins, these may be expected to make headway, but we do not yet
know what plants these are, and we therefore cannot assist the process
by sowing them or broadcasting seed as is commonly done for the clovers
in connexion with top-dressing.
I have hitherto been rather reluctant to recommend owners to try
any experiments upon top-dressing with sulphur, because I feared that
an over application might have a very deleterious temporary effect upon
the pasture plants. I have, however, been in consultation with Professor
Prescott on this question, and it is his opinion that top-dressing with
sulphur might safely be attempted, and it is my intention in the near
future to approach several owners in the Western District to ask them
to try this practice upon a small and tentative scale.
(4) “‘Keytah, ” Moree, New South Wales.
Work is proceeding satisfactorily at this field-station. The object
of this station, besides procuring information concerning the black soil
plains in this district, is to compare the growth of lambs in receipt of a
lick containing iodine with the growth of lambs in receipt of a lick free
from iodine. This district is relatively iodine-deficient. We have
24
obtained thyroids in the neighbourhood of Moree contaming as low as
0.1 per cent. of iodine, the average in other parts of Australia being as
a rule from 0.5 to 0.7 per cent. The thyroids obtained in this district
were also found to be considerably enlarged, indicating that the glands
were responding to the deficiency, but although this degree of deficiency
has been found, it by no means follows that it is injuring the welfare of
the animals to such an extent as to make it economically important to
supplement their diet with potassium iodide, and it is m order to obtain
information upon this point that we have inaugurated this experiment.
It may be stated that the owner of the station, Mr. E. D. Ogilvie, upon
receiving my reports concerning thyroid glands collected in that district,
was sufficiently satisfied with the importance of the matter to administer
to his animals a lick containing added potassium iodide, and in doing this
he is upon the safe side, but we felt that it was important to ascertain
whether the results achieved were demonstrable in the improvement of
the condition of the animals or the yield, condition, or quality of wool.
In seeking to attack this problem, we were handicapped by the fact that
this district is also deficient in phosphates, and probably in salt, and
that it is the custom at “ Keytah” to administer a lick containing
these materials to all the sheep. To make our iodine-free animals com-
parable with those receiving iodine, therefore, it was necessary to supply
them with a lick containing the same materials as the lick supplied to
the other animals, with the sole exception of iodine. This was very
difficult to guarantee, because iodine is present as a contamination in
very many substances, and it was some considerable time before we
could satisfy ourselves that we could compound a lick substantially
equivalent to that already given by Mr. Ogilvie, which would certainly
not contain appreciable amounts of iodine. In the meanwhile, the ewes
from which we expected to derive the lambs to receive the iodine-free
lick were pregnant, and we could deprive them of iodine only by depriving
them of lick altogether. This procedure was adopted, but by the time
the lambs were dropped we had succeeded in compounding a lick virtually _
free from iodine, and from birth the ewes and lambs were placed upon
this lick. There are, therefore, two factors involved in this particular
experiment, the one the period of pre-natal deprivation of licks of any
kind, the other deprivation of iodine since birth together with the
provision of the other mineral requisites. It may prove difficult to
distinguish between the effects of these two differences, but we anticipate
that the pre-natal efiect will shortly be overcome unless deficiency of
iodine continues to handicap the animals and thus perpetuate the pre-natal
effect. At any rate for whatever cause, the animals at birth produced
by the ewes in receipt of no lick, were definitely lighter in weight than
those produced by ewes in receipt of the lick employed by Mr. Ogilvie.
As stated in my report of the 22nd March, 1929, the owner of this
station, Mr. Ogilvie, is also conducting, under our direction, extensive
tests on supplementary feeding with protein concentrates, both at
* Keytah” and at “Tparran,” near Glen Innes, New England. At
‘* Keytah ” the attempt is being made to utilize flood grass areas where
it is known that, without supplements, sheep cannot subsist for long
without material loss of condition. By the employment of a protein
25
supplement rich in cystine, it is hoped to enable the sheep to utilize
these inferior grasses without loss of condition. In New England, the
attempt has been made, with the assistance of a protein concentrate,
to raise lambs upon a portion of the property on which this has hitherto
been considered impossible. I understand that so far Mr. Ogilvie has
been very well pleased with the results he has obtained from employing
this concentrate.
(5) “ Meteor Downs, ” Springsure, Central Queensland.
The work at this station is proceeding very satisfactorily. We are
here experimenting with blood meal containing 3 per cent. of cystine as
a supplementary foodstuff. This blood meal has been especially prepared
for us, according to our directions, by the Metropolitan Abattoirs at
Adelaide.
At this station, we have 200 lambs, of which 100 are in receipt of the
supplement and phosphate lick, the other 100 receiving the lick but no
supplement. Both lots of lambs are reported to be doing excellently,
but the lambs receiving blood meal are reported to be doing better than
the controls. The paddocks upon which these animals are pastured are
altered every two or three months so as to ensure even conditions of the
two lots in the long run. For the past two or three months, the control
lambs have had what has turned out to be the better pasture. Never-
theless, the blood meal lambs are doing at least as well as the controls.
Should the administration of blood meal the whole year round lead to
an increase of only 20 per cent. in the carrying capacity of the land, it
would pay for itself, but the administration of blood meal during the
flush season would be economically absurd. We are doing it in the
experiment simply because we do not wish to confuse the issue by making
any arbitrary choice of the season at which the supplement is adminis-
tered, but in practice the administration of the supplement might probably
be confined to four months of the year, and if a 20 per cent. increase of
carrying capacity would pay for the administration of the supplement
the whole year round, it will be understood that if the same effect can
be obtained in four months, the procedure will be distinctly profitable.
At other field-stations, it is hoped to try out other supplements one
by one as they become available. In each case the expense will be
slight ; it will merely be necessary to provide two paddocks, or possibly
a third as a relief paddock, of sufficient size to accommodate 100 lambs
each, and to purchase the supplement and compound it with a lick suitable
to supplement the mineral deficiencies of the district in so far as these
are known.
(6) “ Dismal Swamp,” near Mount Gambier, South Australia.
Throughout a large proportion of Central and Northern Queensland,
in considerable areas of New South Wales and Victoria, in the south-
eastern district of South Australia, and over a large proportion of the
pastoral areas in Western Australia, phosphoric acid deficiency is known
to exist, and in some cases is of a very drastic character. It will be
understood, of course, that we view top-dressing with superphosphate
26
as the ideal method of combating phosphoric acid deficiency in the soil,
but over a large proportion of the pastoral areas in which such deficiency
prevails, the anticipated economic returns are not sufficient to justify
the outlay, and in such cases resort must be had to licks. It may be
pointed out, however, that in some border-line cases, where the carrymg
capacity is at present insufficient to justify top-dressing, it is possible
that it may be so increased by the employment of licks and the pasture
so improved by heavier stocking, that top-dressing may eventually
become an economic proposition. In such instances, the employment of
licks may be regarded as constituting a transition period in the progressive
improvement of the pasture. Over a considerable area of Australia,
however, it appears improbable that top-dressing will ever be economically
feasible. In Queensland, thanks to the work of Mr. J. C. Brunnich, of the
Queensland Department of Agriculture, the practice has become prac-
tically universal in the central districts of administermg licks to sheep
compounded of salt and ground rock phosphate. The benefit accruing
from these licks is undoubted. It is, I think, a fair estimate to say that
the carrying capacity of certain districts has been increased 50 per cent.
by this procedure. The bones of the sheep which used formerly to
break when the sheep were sheared or otherwise handled, now resist
fracture under reasonable conditions of handling. A striking result of
the use of the lick is indicated by the observation of Mr. A. J. N. Gillespie,
of “ Orion Downs,” who reports that on stations employing the phosphate
lick, Oesophogostomiasis, which is a worm infection of the wall of the
intestine, is absent, while neighbouring stations not administering this
lick to.their sheep are heavily infested. Apparently, the phosphate
administration enables the sheep to resist invasion by this parasite, or
else the phosphate itself renders the intestine uninhabitable by it.
It still remains to be ascertained, however, whether the lick thus
administered is the most satisfactory that can be devised, Examination
of the bones, of which we have a numerous collection, shows that they
are not yet normal, and indeed the amount of phosphate consumed by the
sheep is not sufficient to supply more than a fraction of their total needs.
Either on the grounds of lack of palatability, or on the grounds of deficient
assimilation, the lick as at present compounded does not remedy in full
the prevailing deficiency.
We have, therefore, thought it advisable to undertake experiments
upon licks containing a greater variety of phosphoric acid compounds.
For example, besides phosphate rock, bone meal, dicalcic phosphate,
which has recently become available upon the Australian market,
neutralized super, which is dicalcic phosphate contaminated with gypsum,
are preparations at present available, the relative efficacy of which m licks
is not yet known. In addition to these it appears desirable, from what
we now know of the physical chemistry of bone formation, to investigate
the value of certain organic compounds of phosphoric acid. The one
which suggests itself first as likely to be of use is calcium glycerophosphate.
This salt has the enormous advantage over tricalcic and dicalcic phosphates
that it is soluble in the intestinal contents at an alkaline reaction, whereas
tricaleic and dicalcic phosphates are precipitated, and, therefore, to a
considerable extent, are eliminated unabsorbed.
a
24
Calcium glycerophosphate has been employed in America for dairy
cattle and pigs, and results have been obtained which indicate that it
has superior qualities for promoting bone formation. Nevertheless, the
experiments are not yet conclusive, because they have never been carried
out in the presence of an excess of lime, which always renders assimilation
of phosphoric acid more difficult. If iron should also be present, the
assimilation of phosphoric acid will be rendered still more difficult, and
it may be said that no more deleterious conditions could be encountered
from the point of view of bone formation than the presence in the soil
of a deficient amount of phosphoric acid together with an excess of lime
and iron.
This is the condition which prevails in the area set aside for us at
* Dismal Swamp,” and this locality, therefore, presents a favorable set
of conditions for testing the comparative value of licks under the most
trying circumstances, but in deciding upon the situation upon which
these experiments should be carried out, we were influenced by more
important considerations still, namely, that as we would wish to analyse
the sheep from time to time, and the analyses would necessitate their
being slaughtered at the laboratory, the field-station for the testing of
the comparative value of these licks could not be situated more than
twelve hours’ distance from the laboratory by rail. This pointed to the
south-eastern district of South Australia, but it will be understood that
these experiments are being carried out, not so much in the hope of
benefiting the south-east of South Australia where the greater part of the
land is so valuable that it pays handsomely to top-dress it, but in the
interests of a much greater area of Australia in which phosphoric acid
deficiency prevails in soil which, under present conditions, could not
possibly be treated with top-dressing. There are areas in the south-east
of South Australia, however, which fall into this category, and they,
im common with Central Queensland and the other areas mentioned above,
will benefit from any facts which we may ascertain at “‘ Dismal Swamp.”
The owner, Mr. A. F. Sutton, has already top-dressed the greater part
of his property, but he naturally applied the superphosphate, in the
first instance, to his best land, proceeding to land of less value from
year to year. He had 1,200 acres left upon his property to which no
treatment had been applied, and it is this land which he has so generously
placed at our disposal.
It represents an area of apparently severe phosphoric acid deficiency,
intersected with outcrops of limestone and ferruginous rocks. It is
our intention upon this property to follow the growth, general welfare,
and wool production of eight batches of 25 ewe lambs each, subjected
to the following conditions :—
(1) Pastured upon unimproved pasture, the only lick supplied
being crude ocean salt.
According to Mr. Sutton, these lambs will thrive very
poorly. We will, of course, not permit them to die, but
when it is clear to us that their condition is seriously
declining we will return them to the owner.
28
(2) Upon heavily top-dressed land. We are utilizing a portion
of Mr. Sutton’s property adjacent to the 1,200 acres which
he has placed at our disposal. It was top-dressed two
years ago with 1 cwt. super to the acre. We have supple-
mented this original top-dressmg by an additional top-
dressing of 2 ewt. of super to the acre.
taminated with gypsum.
(7) Calctum glycerophosphate.
(8) Calaum glycerophosphate with an equivalent amount of
carbonate of lime, sufficient to render the proportion of lime
to phosphoric acid that which is present in dicalcie phos-
phate.
All of these licks are so compounded with salt as to bring them to a
common level of phosphoric acid content, with the exception of two
(neutralized super. and calcium glycerophosphate plus carbonate of lime)
which are diluted to a lower value of phosphoric acid content, equal,
however, to each other. The whole experiment is so designed that we
can compare equal phosphoric acid intakes from different sources of
phosphoric acid, or, on the other hand, can eliminate the factor of
unequal salt intake by comparing the efficacy of the two licks containing
equal quantities of salt and unequal quantities of phosphoric acid.
The available area has been cut up into twelve paddocks, of which
eight will be occupied at any given time, and four will always be resting.
A system of rotation has been devised such that each group in its turn
will have periodical access to fresh pasture. The carrying capacity to
the acre is so low, however (half a sheep to the acre), that. the area of the
paddocks is considerable, and much ingenuity also was necessary in
devising fences to avoid swamp areas and so forth which would have
been a source of danger to the sheep, while keeping the paddocks of
uniform quality and size. All this has involved considerable expense,
and this field-station, with its eight separate groups of animals to
compare, represents the maximum expenditure which I think we need
anticipate upon any field-station. It will also represent a maximum
amount of work ‘for the field officer in charge. As we intend to make
the investigation as extensive as possible, following not only the growth
and welfare of the animals, but also the composition of their tissues, the
distribution of phosphoric acid in them, the total amount of phosphoric
acid assimilated, the phosphoric acid concentration in the blood, the
hydrogen ion concentration in the stomach, the eruption and develop-
ment of the teeth, and the composition and breaking strength of bones,
we think that when the information is assembled it will be well worth
the expense. It may turn out, of course, that ground rock phosphate is
as good a source of phosphoric acid as any of those which we will
investigate, but if a better source of phosphoric acid should be found,
99
~e
our results would undoubtedly be applicable to other phosphoric acid
deficient areas, and should indeed prove of great value to Queensland,
New South Wales, Western Australia, and Tasmania.
The chief drawback in the past to the use of glycerophosphates for
nutrition has been their expense. Some fifteen years ago, however,
I was engaged in work upon glycerophosphates, and came to the con-
clusion at that time that if there was sufficient demand for these compounds
they could be synthesized comparatively cheaply. With this in mind,
I placed my old notes at the disposal of Mr. Marston, and asked him
to investigate the possibility that glycerophosphoric acid might be
prepared directly from phosphate rock by treating it with the ordinary
process employed for preparing super with sulphuric acid, using, however,
50 per cent. more sulphuric acid to set the phosphoric acid completely
free and acting upon the phosphate rock in the presence of sufficient
glycerine to transfer the whole of the phosphoric acid into glycero-
phosphoric acid. The experiment was attended with a gratifying
measure of success, and we found that under these conditions, over 70
per cent. of glycerophosphate of lime is readily precipitated from the
mixture by neutralization with carbonate of lime. The discovery of
this process brings the commerical manufacture of glycerophosphoric
acid within the economic range. In consultation with the Executive,
we have decided that it would be best to patent this process, assigning
the patent to the Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research, so that there will be no opportunity for any manufacturer
to anticipate us in patenting it before we have had the chance of pub-
lishing the process.
We have thought it important in connexior with these experiments
to make careful observations of the eruption and development of teeth
in each group of lambs. The front teeth of sheep are commonly observed
by pastoralists, being used as an indication of the age of the animal,
but in the opinion of dental authorities the eruption and cusp formation
of the molar teeth afford a truer picture of arrested or abnormal develop-
ments of the teeth. We have been fortunate to secure the co-operation
of Dr. Arthur Chapman, D.D.S., who has spent a considerable amount
of time experimenting upon means of securing casts of the teeth of our lambs
at the Waite Insitiute. Dr. Chapman and Mr. Lines have succeeded in
devising a suitable technique for this purpose, and our field officer at
“Dismal Swamp” has been instructed in its employment. It is our
intention to take casts every fortnight of the teeth of four or five lambs
in each of the eight groups of animals comprising the experiment. A
comparison of the series of casts obtained from each group should, in
the opinion of Dr. Chapman, afford a very striking picture of the progress
of dentition in these animals. Dr. Chapman will himself probably visit
the station once or twice to undertake additional observations of a
technical dental character. The object of this investigation is not so
much to ascertain whether defective phosphoric acid assimilation has
a deleterious effect upon teeth, although that is the point of view from
which Dr. Chapman naturally looks at the problem. From the point
of view of the pastoralists, we are primarily interested in the question
whether the development of teeth may be utilized as a means of diagnosis
30
of phosphoric acid deficiency in the diet. It would, obviously, be more
convenient to be able to tell at a glance or after taking a cast of the teeth
that the animals are suffering lack of phosphoric acid than to resort to
lengthy chemical examinations of the soil or herbage, or even deter-
minations of phosphoric acid in the blood or tissues of the animals
themselves. It is conceivable that with the information thus collected
one might be able to decide in a very few minutes, in a district new to
us and unknown as to the composition of its soils, that phosphoric acid
was, or was not, deficient in the diet of the animals. The aid afforded
by such a diagnostic sign, both to experimental investigation and practical
husbandry of the sheep, would obviously be very considerable.
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BY AUTHORITY :
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ERAL CONTENT ||
OF PASTURES |
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eiecsane. fvpadesions | a the Be é
OH. J. Green, Gov
Co-opted Members: aS
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SS eer Julius, Kt., B. oe 8. E 3
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A. ce D. Rivett, Fon! M.As, D.Sc.
Chaiemen ot State Committees ce a - 2
Professor R. D. Watt, Wa Bee
(New South Wales), —
Sir David 0. Masson, K.B.E., F.RS. &¢.
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Peter H. C. Richards, D.Sc. ae
- (Queensland),
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B. Perry, Esq. Ae ee
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. Pp E. Keam, Esq.
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Professor E. J. Goddard, ae Disc
mes E. Leighton, Esq. p Fl. Ce: ee
PAMPHLET No. 17
COMMONWEALTH aA iitlesisa®. OF AUSTRALIA
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
a HE
MINERAL CONTENT
OF PASTURES
Procress REPORT
on
Co-operative Investigations at the
Waite Agricultural Research Institute
MELBOURNE, 1930
0.15937.
fale adodson +00
CONPENTS.
(1.) Ixrropuction
II.) Ortery or INVeEstiGatTions
(I1I.) Score or INveEstiGations ..
(1V.) Isvestications IN PRoGREsS
(1) Laboratory and Poi Culture Investigations—
(i) Factors affecting the mineral content of pastures—
(a) Effect of the stage of growth
(6) Effect of phosphates
(c) Influence of soil type
(d) Influence of rate of growth ae 7 te
(e) Effect of soil moisture content
(ii) Survey of composition of pasture plants from mineral deficient
areas : — ee
(2) Field Investigations—
(1) Effect of varying intensities of grazing on yield, and botanical
and chemical composition of indigenous pastures
(2) Effect of soluble phosphates on natural pastures, and value of
phosphatic licks fed to sheep on unmanured pasture
(3) Effect of various phosphatic fertilizers on productivity and
grazing value of indigenous pastures ae She
(4) Effect of soluble phosphates and lime applied to indigenous
pasture on productivity and composition of pasture, live
weight increase in sheep, yield and quality of weol in a
region deficient in phosphates and lime (Kybybolite)
(5) Effect of rotational grazing and intensive manuring in grass
land region of heavy rainfall (Mt. Barker)
(6) Problems of field technique—
(a) Determination of experimental error in indigenous
grassland tests ‘
(b) Determination of hokenual composition of pa
by mesh analysis
(c) Seasonal and total productivity of saga rotationally
grazed with sheep : : a
(d) Palatability of species under grazing conditions
(7) The pure species problem in relation to the mineral content of
pastures Sc
(V.) ILLusrRaTIons
16
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4
~The Mineral Content of Pastures.
Progress Report on Co operative Investigations at the
Waite Agriculiural Research Institute.*
I. INTRODUCTION.
IMPORTANCE OF MINERAL DEFICIENCY WorRK ON PASTURES.
The majority of the sheep and cattle of the Empire are maintained
entirely on natural pastures. Any improvement in the stock-carrying
capacity, either of the natural or cultivated pastures of the Home
country, or of the Dominions, would affect the material wealth of the
Empire. The problems associated with pasture improvement are,
however, of special importance to Australia, South Africa, and New
Zealand.
Comparatively little work has been done on the nutritive value and
composition of natural or seeded pastures, but facts of great importance
im connexion with the influence of mineral constituents in grass lands
have recently been brought to light. Over widespread areas within the
Empire the occurrence of malnutrition of stock is common. In some
eases, the pathological conditions are of a specific type and occur in
well-defined regions. Thus Theiler and his associates (Journal of the
Department of Agriculture, South Africa, 1924, p. 460), im South Africa,
have shown that styfsiekte in cattle is caused by a phosphorus deficiency
in the soil and in the vegetation. They have also found that the veld
soils on which this phenomenon occurs aré very low in phosphorus, and
that on consequence the level of phosphorus in the vegetation is below
the physiological optimum requirements of the cattle.
Bush sickness, a condition characterized by anaemia and emaciation,
is found in the North Island of New Zealand, and the cause of the
malnutrition is stated by Aston (Transactions of the New Zealand
Institute, 55, p. 720) to be due to deficiency of iron. Davis (Journal of
Agriculture, India, 22, p. 77) has drawn attention to the very low milk
yield of cattle in the Bihar district of India, and has correlated it with
a low percentage of phosphorus in the crops and soils of the State.
Munro (Report on Falkland Islands, 1924) has drawn attention to the
high mortality amongst sheep in the Falkland Islands, and Godden
(Journal of Agricultural Science, 16, 1926) has shown that the
pastures of the Falkland Islands are very low in both lime and phosphorus
as compared with the average cultivated pastures of England.
Similar cases of malnutrition have been recorded in the south of
Scotland by McGowan (Scottish Journal of Agriculture, 5, 1922, p. 274),
and in Australia by Henry (New South Wales Department of Agri-
culture, Science Bulletin 12).
—————
* Manuscript received 31st August, 1929.
3)
The general symptoms reported as occurring in parts of the
Dominions and Colonies are the slow rate of growth, high mortality,
low milk yield in cows, and low birth-rate. In most of the eases the
animals suffer from an abnormal craving for certain imorganic sub-
stances. A number of causes contribute to these various nutritional
troubles. In many cases, however, it seems certain that the chief cause
of malnutrition is a deficiency of essential mineral elements in the
pasture. Chemical analyses show that the soils and pastures in the
areas where malnutrition occurs have an abnormally low content of one
or more of these elements, and that by supplying these deficient minerals
in the diet, a marked improvement in the rate of growth of the animals
has resulted.
Important investigations have been conducted atthe Rowett
Institute, Aberdeen, and these have shown that, while there is no
striking difference in the energy value between good and poor pastures,
there are wide variations in the proportions in which the mineral con-
stituents are present in rich and poor pastures.
It has also been shown that the differences in the mineral content
of pastures correspond closely with the value of the pasture, a high
mineral content being associated with a high nutritive value. The
demonstration that the mineral constituents of the pasture is of an
importance at least equal to the energy-yielding constituents, opens up
possibilities of a very far-reaching kind, both economic and scientific.
The problem of pasture improvement is of special importance to
Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand, not only because of the
almost absolute dependence of the animal industries on the pasturage of
the country, but also because over large areas of each Dominion the
soils are actually deficient in various mineral nutrients, particularly
soluble phosphates. These deficiencies are reflected in the composition
of the pasture, and markedly influence the health of the animals grazing
on the mineral deficient pasture.
II. ORIGIN OF INVESTIGATIONS.
It was suggested by Professor A. E. V. Richardson, after a visit to
the Rowett Institute in 1926, that the general question of mineral
deficiency in the soils and pastures was a phenomenon of Empire
interest, affecting the welfare of the live-stock of both Great Britam
and the Dominions, and that the study of these mineral deficiencies on
the composition and grazing value of the pasture and on the nutrition
of the animal might well be made the subject of co-operative investiga-
tion in various parts of the Empire.
In 1927 the Empire Marketing Board agreed to undertake, in co-
operation with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and
the University of Adelaide, an investigation into the mineral content
of pastures in Australia. The Board agreed to provide £3,000 towards
the cost of erection of a laboratory and an annual maintenance grant
of £1,875 for five years.
7
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research agreed to provide
a sum of £3,000 towards the cost of a laboratory for the investigation
of the mineral content of pastures and the soils problems associated with
the Murray settlements, and a sum of £937 10s. for five years towards
the maintenance cost of the mineral deficiency investigations. The
University also undertook to provide a sum of £3,000 towards the cost
of the laboratory, and £937 10s. per annum for five years towards the
cost of the investigation.
Through the generosity of Sir John Melrose, of Ulooloo, who in 1927
gave £10,000 to the University for the building of laboratories at the
Waite Institute, the first block of permanent laboratories was built.
The foundation stone of the new building was laid on 26th January,
1928, and the building officially opened by His Excellency the Governor
of South Australia on 22nd April, 1929. The total cost of these
laboratories, exclusive of apparatus and scientific equipment and road-
ways, was £19,300.
The cost of the mineral deficiency investigations is borne by the
three contracting parties, and appropriations are paid into a ‘ Mineral
Deficiency of Pastures Fund,’ administered by the University of
Adelaide. Audited financial statements are submitted at half-yearly
intervals to the three parties concerned.
At the outset of the investigation, the Empire Marketing Board
suggested that it would be an advantage to the investigation if certain
of the workers (e.g., the chemist, the agronomist, and the field-worker,
&c.) from Australia should spend a preliminary period at Institutions
in Great Britain which are co-operating in this investigation.
In view of the shortage of trained men in Australia, it was considered
that the principle involved in the Empire Marketing Board suggestion
might be carried out by appointing a biochemist (Mr. A. H. Sim, BSc.,
B.Ag.Sc.), specially trained in pasture work, from the Rowett Institute
at Aberdeen, and a trained agrostologist (Dr. J. G. Davies) from the
Welsh Plant Breeding Station. At the same time, the agronomist of
the Waite Institute (Mr. H. C. Trumble, M.Agr.Sc.) spent a period of
twelve months abroad, mainly at the Rowett Institute and the Welsh
Plant Breeding Station, in securing experience at these Institutes.
The investigations were commenced in July, 1927, but owing to lack
of laboratory facilities in the earlier stages it was not possible to appoint
the full staff contemplated under the agreement until early in 1929,
when the permanent laboratories became available. The full-time staff
engaged in this investigation now consists of three chemists, two
agrostologists, one agronomist. and two botanical assistants.
Ill. SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATIONS.
The object of the work, in general terms, is to investigate the mineral
content of pastures with a view to determining the grassland areas in
which deficiencies exist, and the most economic methods of correcting
such deficiencies.
8
The natural grassland associations found in any locality or on any
given area are a reflex of the environment—expressed in terms of climate,
soil composition, and pasture management—under which the pasture
type is grown. These grassland associations in any given climatic region
may be profoundly altered in botanical and chemical composition and in
nutrient value, by the use of fertilizers, by the introduction of new
pasture plants into the sward, and by varying the character of the
pasture management. Hence an important phase of the study of the
mineral content of pastures is the classification of the more important
grassland associations, and the demonstration of the relationship between
the composition of the pasture and the soil on which it is found. Indeed,
the classification of grasslands according to the natural pasture associa-
tions is fundamental to work bearing on grassland improvement.
Moreover, the individual species constituting the principal pasture
types must be known thoroughly from the physiological and chemical
aspects, and the biological phenomena causing change or succes-
sional development in grassland associations must be thoroughly under-
stood if grassland improvement is to rest on a scientific basis.
Not less important in connexion with the special problem of the
mineral composition of pastures is the investigation, under controlled
conditions, of the precise influence of (i) species; (ti) stage of
growth; (ili) rate of growth; (iv) soil type; (v) soil fertilization ;
and (vi) soil moisture content, on the mineral content of typical
pastures.
By reason of the special significance of rainfall to pasture production
in the semi-arid regions of the Empire, the intake of mineral nutrients
in relationship to transpiration needs investigation.
In view of the principles enunciated above, it was felt that the problem
of mineral content of pastures must be investigated from a much broader
viewpoint than was originally contemplated ; hence the ecological and
agrostological aspects of the problem have been emphasized as well as
the purely chemical aspect.
As very little scientific work has hitherto been carried out on the
indigenous pastures of Australia, much attention has been given to the
working out of a technique adapted to the investigation of indigenous
grasslands. Satisfactory methods have been developed to measure the
productivity, grazing value, botanical composition, and ecological suc-
cession of indigenous pastures,
IV. INVESTIGATIONS IN PROGRESS.
(1) Laboratory and Pot-Culture Investigations.
(i) Factors AFFECTING THE MINERAL CONTENT OF PASTURES.
Much attention has been devoted in the early stages of the investi-
gation to the determination of the precise effect of various factors which
may influence the mineral composition of plants. Such a study was
regarded as fundamental to any extensive work in the field.
9
The investigation took the form of determining the effect on mineral
composition of typical pasture plants of the following factors—(i) stage
of growth ; (ii) soluble phosphates ; (ii) soil type; (iv) moisture con-
tent of the soil; (v) rate of growth as affected by soil temperature.
As rainfall is a limiting factor to pasture production over a large
portion of Australia, the relationship of the absorption of mineral nutri-
ents to transpiration was determined in all cases. In these investigations,
the pasture plants were grown under controlled conditions in glazed
earthenware pots of 20-litre capacity, and records of transpiration were
obtained at weekly intervals throughout the investigation.
(a) Effect of the Stage of Growth.
Considerable attention has been devoted to the study of the effect
of the stage of growth on the mineral nutrient content of pasture plants,
because virtually the whole object of efficient pasture management rests
upon the maintenance of herbage in that condition of growth in which
the mineral content is a maximum.
Five varieties of plants have been critically examined with regard
to the influence of growth stage on mineral composition. Barley has
been chosen as a typical gramineous annual, 7'rifoliwm subterraneum as a
typical clover, Danthonia penicillata as a representative permanent indige-
nous grass, Hrodiwm botrys as a common herbaceous constituent in semi-
arid pastures, and Loliwm subulatum as a typical exotic grass.
The stage of growth of the plant determines the protein and mineral
composition of the herbage. Thus a Lolium subulatum pasture at the
tillering stage contained 5.2 per cent. of nitrogen, equivalent to over
31 per cent. of crude protein, whilst in mature herbage the percentage
fell to 1.04 per cent. of nitrogen or 6.5 per cent. of crude protein. Simi-
larly, the phosphate content (P,O;) of the herbage fell from 1.44 per cent.
at the tillering stage to 0.36 per cent. at maturity.
With each of the five groups of plants examined the absorption of
mineral matter and nitrogen was extraordinarily rapid in relation to
the amount of water transpired and dry matter synthesised from tillering
to flowering. Thus with gramineous plants 86 per cent. of the total
nitrogen, 82 per cent. of the potash, and 60 per cent. of the phosphoric
acid had been absorbed before 40 per cent. of the total dry matter had
been synthesised, and before 34 per cent. of the total water used had
been transpired.
It was found that the transpiration ratio of pasture plants varied
considerably with the stage of growth. Grasses and clovers, for example,
produced dry matter at a relativley low water cost during the early
stages, but in the final stages, the cost of dry matter produced was rela-
tively high. This result, taken in conjunction with the high protein
and mineral content of young grass, is of great economic significance in
pasture management in semi-arid regions—where rainfall is a controlling
factor in pasture productivity.
10
(b) Effect of Phosphates.
The importance of phosphorus as a factor limiting the production
of grass and live-stock in Australia, and the large area of phosphate
deficient soil justify close consideration of the influence of soluble phos-
phates on the mineral composition of the pasture.
The effect of soluble phosphates on the transpiration ratio of pasture
plants has also been investigated. The results show that the applica-
tion of soluble phosphate produced a substantial increase in the phos-
phorus content of pasture plants and led to a marked reduction in the
transpiration ratio. The most pronounced effects were observed during
the early stages of the plant’s growth, where increases in the phosphorus
content of from 50 per cent. to 80 per cent. were frequently obtained.
But even at maturity it was found that the phosphorus content of all
pasture plants except Danthonia, a native perennial species, was increased
from 33 per cent. to 40 per cent. by applying soluble phosphate to the
soil. Species of Danthonia, an indigenous grass with widespread distri-
bution in Australia, were found to be less responsive to soluble phosphates
than other pasture plants examined. Im all cases, however, the applica-
tion of soluble phosphates produced a marked reduction in the trans-
piration ratio, particularly in the early stages. With Danthoma this
reduction varied from 9.4 per cent. to 16 per cent., according to the
stage of growth. With Loliwm the range was from 12 per cent. to 18
per cent. reduction ; whilst with Hrodiwm botrys, an introduced annual,
the lowering in transpiration ratio by the use of phosphates exceeded
30 per cent. These results are of economic significance for pasture pro-
duction in regions of light rainfall.
(c) Influence of Soil Type.
The chemical composition of the soil has an important influence on
the composition of the plant. To obtain precise information on the
effect of soil type on the mineral content of pasture plants, a range of
soils of known agricultural capacity were selected and brought in bulk to
the Waite Institute. The types selected ranged from soils known to
be markedly deficient in phosphate, and to types unresponsive to applica-
tions of phosphate. Trifolium subterraneum and Lolium subulatum
were grown in each soil type, without fertilizer and with a liberal appli-
cation of soluble phosphate, to determine the variations in composition
of each species grown on the different soil types, and the extent to which
phosphatic fertilizers can affect the phosphate content of pure species
on phosphate rich and phosphate deficient soils. This investigation
has not yet been completed.
(d) The Influence of Rate of Growth.
There are two widely dissimilar grassland regions in Australia—the
Northern tropical area, where young herbage growth is rapid because
of the high soil and air temperatures during the growing season, and the
Southern winter grassland region, in which early pasture growth is slow
because the rainy season synchronises with low temperatures. It is
possible that the rate of absorption of mineral nutrients may be greatly
1]
influenced by soil and air temperatures which affect the growth rate as
measured by the rate of production of dry matter. Preliminary investi-
gations have been commenced to determine the influence of the soil
temperature factor on the mineral absorption and growth rate. Barley
has been taken as a plant typical of the annual grasses. Six water tanks,
each of a capacity sufficient to maintain eight pots, have been used for
the purposes of this investigation, and these have been maintained
throughout the present growing season (1929) at temperatures of 10°,
15°, 20°, 25°, 30°, and 35°C. The plants will be harvested at a uniform
growth stage, e.g., appearance of first flowering stall, and determined for
relative mineral absorption, dry matter increase, and transpiration per
unit of mineral matter and dry matter produced.
(e) Effect of Soil Moisture Content.
In view of the extensive areas of land in the Empire with low rainfall,
the effect of drought on the chemical composition of the pastures needs
investigation. From comparisons of the composition of cereals grown
in wet and dry seasons it would appear that mineral absorption, partic-
ularly phosphate intake, is lowered during periods of drought. To
obtain definite information on this point a series of 120 pots of 20-litre
capacity were planted with Loliwm subulatum in May, 1929. Half of
these were fertilized with soluble phosphates and half were unmanured.
The pots were maintained at a moisture content of 50 per cent. water
holding capacity until tillermg was active. A harvest was taken at
this stage from 27 of the pots. The remainder were then divided
into three groups,—({a) one series maintained at 30 per cent. water-
holding capacity, (b) one series maintained at 55 per cent. saturation,
(c) one series maintained at 80 per cent. saturation. These pots will be
harvested at flowering and at maturity, and the material analysed for
phosphate and mineral content at each stage of growth.
(ii) Survey oF THE ComposiITION oF PAsTURE PLANTS FROM MINERAL
DerFicIENT AREAS FOR DETAILED MINERAL ANALYSIS.
‘Pasture material is being collected as opportunity offers from various
parts of Australia where mineral deficiencies are alleged to exist. In
course of time, these analyses will show the range of variation in the
mineral composition of given species of pasture plants grown under
widely dissimilar climatic and soil regions throughout Australia. To
interpret such analyses properly, however, it is very necessary to know
the composition of a wide range of pasture species grown in a known or
controlled environment. It is also essential to compare the pasture
plants at fixed stages in their vegetative growth, because of the known
variability in mineral! and protein composition as growth advances to
maturity. The extent to which the norma! composition of a plant can
be modified by rainfall (as expressed in terms of average moisture content
of the soil), fertilizers, &c., must be known.
A large number of species commonly used in seeded and natural
pastures have been grown under uniform conditions at the Waite
12
Institute, and harvested at a fixed growth stage, e.g., exsertion of
anthers, for detailed analyses. Pasture species have been collected from
mineral deficient areas on the Eyre Peninsula, Yorke’s Peninsula, and
the South-eastern District of South Australia, and analysed for mineral
content. The relationship of the composition of the pasture type to
the composition of the soil on whick it is grown will be investigated.
(2) Field Investigations.
(1) Toe Errect oF VaryincG INTENSITIES OF GRAZING ON THE YIELD,
BOTANICAL AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF INDIGENOUS PASTURES.
Depletion of the pasture resources of the Commonwealth has been
attributed to overstocking of the pasture by graziers. To ascertain the
effects of varying intensities of grazing on the indigenous pasture, an
investigation was commenced in 1927 and continued in 1928. The area
selected was a typical natural pasture in the Adelaide district (average
rainfall 23 inches). The pasture was top-dressed at the rate of 1 ewt. per
acre in 1925 and in 1926, but during the progress of this investigation no
fertilizers were used. Plots of 1 square metre in area were used, ten
replications of five treatments being arranged in two blocks of five
replications. The treatments within each block were randomly dis-
tributed on the Latin square system. The following five treatments
were employed :—
1. Pasture cut at fortnightly intervals during the growing season.
2. Pasture cut at intervals of four weeks. .
3. Pasture cut at intervals of seven weeks.
4. Pasture cut at intervals of ten weeks.
5. Pasture cut at the conclusion of the growing season.
No system of artificial cutting has precisely the same effects on the
pasture as the grazing animal. Sheep, for example, graze selectively.
The shears or mowing machine has also a selective action, but of a
different nature. Sheep graze species that are palatable, whereas the
shears cut more or less drastically those species that have an erect habit.
of growth, the prostrate and rosette species not being injured to the
same extent.
Each plot was harvested separately, the herbage botanically analysed,
dried to constant weight, and the yield of dried herbage obtained from
each series. For chemical analysis, the ten replications from each plot
were grouped and representative samples obtained. The results of this
investigation, extending over two seasons, will be available for publica-
tion shortly. Meantime, the general results may be briefly mentioned.
The greatest yield of dry matter per acre was obtained in Series 5—
in which the pastures were cut at completion of growth. The lowest
yield of herbage was given under Series 1—cutting fortnightly, which
corresponds with practically continuous grazing. The highest percentage
of protein and minerals in herbage was obtained under fortnightly
cuttings.
15
The most marked features of the botanical analysis were the reduction
in the proportion of leguminous herbage under intensive cutting, and of
the permanent grass in the association, Danthonia penicillata, and a
relatively large increase in species with rosette habit of growth, e.g.,
Erodium botrys.
On Series 3, however—corresponding to cutting at intervals of seven
weeks—the maximum yield of minerals and protein was obtained per
acre. The total yield of grass on this series of plots was actually 943 per
cent. of the weight obtained on plots where the grass was allowed to
grow to completion, but the herbage had a much higher protein and
mineral content and much less fibre than the plots on which the herbage
was cut at completion.
From the results of this investigation, it would appear that on
indigenous pastures grown under winter rainfall conditions, three cuttings
at intervals of seven weeks gives a higher yield of minerals and nutrient
matter per acre than any of the other forms of pasture cutting employed,
and at the same time a good balance between the leguminous and non-
leguminous components of the pasture is maintained.
(2) INVESTIGATION OF THE ErFEcT oF APPLYING SOLUBLE PHOSPHATE
To NATURAL PASTURES, AND OF THE VALUE OF PHospHaTic Licks
FrEp To SHEEP WHEN GRAZING ON UNMANURED PASTURE.
The importance of phosphorus as a factor limiting the production of
both grass and live-stock in Australia fully justifies an exhaustive
investigation of the mechanism by which soluble phosphate influences
the output of natural pastures.
For the purpose of such an investigation, 50 acres of natural pasture
at the Waite Institute have been subdivided into ten blocks of 5 acres.
The land is uniform in quality and has been grazed continuously with
stock for upwards of 40 years.
In 1928, the area was fenced and tested for uniformity in yield and
sheep-carrying capacity. Intensive investigations were made during the
running of this blank experiment in 1928 to evolve a technique for
obtaining reliable data on the yield, and the botanical and chemical
composition of the pasture. In May, 1929, four of the ten blocks of
5 acres were top-dressed with superphosphate at the rate of 2 ewt. per
acre. Four blocks remain untreated for purposes of control plots; two
blocks are used for grazing sheep which have access to an unlimited
quantity of phosphatic lick. Data will be obtained of the effect of each
treatment on—
(1) The growth, development, and yield of indigenous pasture.
(2) The mineral and nutrient composition of the pasture.
(3) The botanical composition and successional development of
the pasture.
(4) The growth, development, and live-weight increase of sheep,
and the yield and quality of the wool.
14
To obtain a uniform stock for the experiment, 300 merino wether
weaners were purchased from a line of 7,000 sheep from the Mutooroo
Pastoral Company, and of these, 62 sheep were selected for size, weight,
conformity to type, and uniformity in wool characters. It is proposed
to maintain each group of sheep on their respective blocks and _ treat-
ments for a period of three years.
The number of sheep carried has to be judged from previous experi-
mental knowledge and from the results of the “blank” trial in 1928.
The following numbers are at present used :—Top-dressed plots, 32
sheep; unmanured plots, 20 sheep; lick plots, 10 sheep. In order
that lack of herbage will not be a limiting factor to growth on any block,
the plots are being deliberately understocked during the first year.
Each lot of sheep is grazed in rotation on a pair of blocks, and the
individual sheep are weighed at the conclusion of each week’s grazing.
The quantity of lick consumed by the sheep cn the phosphate lick
blocks is measured at weekly intervals. At shearing the yield of wool
from each lot of sheep will be recorded, together with the grading of
its quality. :
For the purposes of estimating the yield of pasture, ten plots each
10 x 5 links in area are cut on each of the ten grazing blocks each
month during the growing season. These areas are protected from
grazing by wooden hurdles around each plot. In addition, ten plots
are cut on the grazed portion of the blocks. In this manner the amount
of herbage consumed by the sheep each month may be determined by
the difference in weight of oven-dried herbage between the protected
and non-protected blocks. These pasture cuts are made at monthly
intervals by a two-stand portable sheep-shearing machine, which has
been specially adapted for pasture cutting. The herbage from each plot
is botanically analysed into fractions which are weighed and analysed
for mineral nutrients, fibre, and proximate constituents. At three
periods each year a botanical analysis of the pasture im situ is made,
using the percentage estimation method. This method of analysis
yields information on the seasonal change in the character and com-
position, together with the effect of the three treatments on successional
change in the pasture. At the same time, data on the palatability of
the species constituting the pasture is obtained by the method of analysis
which has been developed.
The land on which the investigation is conducted is deficient in
soluble phosphate, and should provide detailed information, not only of
the precise effects of applying soluble phosphates, but also on the
comparative advantages of supplying phosphates directly to the animal
in the form of lick, and indirectly by applying it to the vegetation as
artificial fertilizer.
(3) Errect or Various PHospHatic FERTILIZERS ON THE PRODUCTIVITY
AND GRAZING VALUE OF INDIGENOUS PASTURE.
The first grassland experiments at the Waite Institute were com-
menced in 1925, when a series of five plots, each an acre in extent, were
laid down on typical indigenous natural pasture. The central plot
15
received no manure, and the remaining four plots were top-dressed each
year with equivalent amounts of phosphate (40 lb. P,O; per acre) as
(a) superphosphate, (b) superphosphate and nitrate of soda; (c) rock
phosphate ; (d) basic slag. The plots are separately fenced and have
been individually grazed by sheep during the last three seasons. Three
grazing periods of three to four weeks’ duration are employed, and the
sheep are weighed prior to, and at the conclusion of, each period. The
plots are maintained in a closely-cropped condition without being over-
grazed, and records of sheep days per plot are taken as an index to
carrying capacity.
The system of three separate grazings is in close agreement with a
system of three cuts which, from a series of cutting tests on natural
pasture, has been shown to yield the highest productivity. Since the
ineeption of the experiment, the nature of the pasture has considerably
‘improved as a result of management alone.
Yields of the herbage produced on each plot are obtained from within
a series of specially constructed quadrats consisting of frames of angle
iron and wire-netting. Hach covers 2} square metres of pasture, and
the frames are placed approximately at 1 chain intervals on each plot.
The enclosed areas of pasture are cut at the completion of each season’s
growth and the harvested material botanically and chemically analysed.
Over a period of four years, superphosphate and nitrate of soda have
produced the highest average yield of dry matter, this being 169 per
cent. of that from the control plot. Superphosphate alone produced
165 per cent., basic slag 156 per cent., and rock phosphate 112 per cent.
respectively of the yield obtained with no manure. Marked changes
were observed in the botanical composition of the pasture top-dressed
with superphosphate and with basic slag—first annual clovers, then
annual exotic grasses, and thirdly Hrodiwm botrys dominating the associa-
tion induced, whereas the dominant constituent of the unmanured plot
has been Danthonia penicillata during each year.
In terms of sheep days, the application of superphosphate and also
of superphosphate and nitrogen have more than doubled the stock-
carrying capacity of the pasture.
Chemical analyses have shown that the soluble ash content of the
pasture has approximately been doubled by top-dressing with super-
phosphate, increases being obtained in the percentages of lime, magnesia,
phosphoric acid, soda, and potash. In the case of phosphoric acid, the
percentage content was increased by 139 per cent.
Apart from the foregoing data, considerable experience of the pasture
type and development of technique have been obtained, and the experi-
ment also has indicated the importance of investigating, in detail, the
mechanism of the effect of superphosphate on the development of both
pasture and sheep, and this is beg provided for by the experiment
previously described (pp. 13-15). In addition, it has indicated that
nitrogenous fertilizers under certain conditions may exert an appreciable
influence on the productivity of indigenous pastures.
16
(4) Errect oF SOLUBLE PHOSPHATES AND LIME APPLIED TO NATURAL
PASTURE ON THE GROWTH OF PASTURE, LIVE-wEIGHT INCREASE
IN SHEEP, AND THE YIELD AND QuaLiry oF WooL In A REGION
DEFICIENT IN Lime AND PHOSPHATES (KYBYBOLITE).
In May, 1929, an investigation was commenced in co-operation with
the South Australian Department of Agriculture at the Kybybolite
Experimental Farm to determine the effect of top-dressing with phosphates
and lime on indigenous natural pasture deficient in these ingredients.
For the purpose of this investigation, the top-dressing experiments
on indigenous pasture which were inaugurated by the Department of
Agriculture in 1924 were used and, in addition, an area of 14 acres of
natural pasture was made available to study ab initio the successional
change in vegetation as a result of manuring. Ten 1-metre quadrats
are used on each of three blocks of pasture—
(1) Unmanured,
(2) Top-dressed with superphosphate,
(3) Top-dressed with superphosphate and lime.
The herbage from protected and non-protected quadrats is cut three
times during the growing season, botanically and chemically analysed,
and after each cutting the location of the quadrats is changed. The
live-weight increase of 40 Mutooroo weaner wethers, similar in age and
quality to those used in the Waite Institute experiments, is recorded at
monthly intervals.
Through the courtesy of the Department of Agriculture, 20 Mutooroo
sheep of similar age and quality to those used in the Waite Institute
and Kybybolite have been placed on natural pasture at the Booboorowie
Experimental Farm, which is located in one of the best sheep districts
in South Australia. Half of these are grazed on top-dressed pasture and
half on non-top-dressed indigenous pasture. A comparison will thus be
obtained of the growth of sheep of similar age, breed, and quality on
unmanured and on top-dressed natural pasture at three markedly
different grassland regions, namely, the rich grassland region of Booboo-
rowle (Lower North), the phosphate deficient region of Adelaide, and
the phosphate and lime deficient region of Kybybolite (South-east).
(5) Errect or RoraTioNaAL GRAZING AND INTENSIVE MANURING WITH
PHOSPHATES AND NITROGEN ON THE GROWTH OF PASTURE ON A
GRASSLAND REGION oF Heavy RAINFALL (Mount BarKER).
An experiment was startedin May, 1929, on behalf of Imperial
Chemical Industries on 25 acres of pasture land in the Mount Barker
district (30 inches rainfall) to determine the effect of liberal manuring
with phosphates and nitrogen on the milk yield of dairy cattle. Though
the experiment is mainly directed to the determination of the value of
nitrogenous and phosphatic fertilizers under intensive grazing conditions,
the data that is being obtained on the successional change in the grass-
land as a result of manuring and rotational grazing will bear directly
on the mineral deficiency investigation.
17
(6) Propiems or Frevp TecHniqus.
(a) Determination of Experimental Error in Indigenous Grassland
Tests.
From experience obtained in the conduct of experiments on the
yield of indigenous pasture, it was found that considerable error is
attached to the estimates of yield obtained by using a replicated system
of small plots. The extent of the error, however, was not known. In
1928 an experiment was designed to inquire into the magnitude of this
error, and to ascertain by statistical methods the most desirable size
of plot to use, together with the number of replications required to
reduce this error within definite limits. One 4 acre of typical indigenous
pasture was divided into 1,000 plots, each measuring 10 x 5 links, and
each plot was harvested separately, using a two-stand portable shearing
machine for cutting. The herbage was dried and weighed from each
individual plot, and representative samples from 125 of the plots were
hand separated, and the contribution of each species to the total yield
of herbage on the plots was ascertained.
The data thus obtained is now being analysed and will show the
size of the plot and number of replications necessary to reduce the error
within definite limits, and whether a replicated system of plots, satis-
factory from the stand-point of gross yield, will give an adequate
representation of the botanical composition of the pasture. The results
will be available later for publication.
(b) Determination of Botanical Composition of Pasture by Mesh Analysis. ,
For the determination of the factors that operate to produce change
in the composition of pasture sward, a rapid method of estimating with
reasonable accuracy the composition of a pasture sward is necessary.
The cutting of large numbers of samples of the pasture, and the hand
separation and weighing of the contributing species is a laborious pro-
cedure. A method of analysis has been worked out with a mesh of
4 square links for indigenous pasture which gives very rapidly and with
considerable accuracy the percentage of land covered with vegetation,
the species contributing to the pasture and the percentage contribution
of each species. The method is of great value in studying the succes-
sional development of indigenous pastures under varying conditions of
soil fertilization and pasture management, and in accurately classifying
pasture associations.
(c) Determination of Seasonal and Total Productivity of Indigenous Pasture
on Land Rotationally Grazed with Sheep.
Investigations are in progress to ascertain the best method of
determining (a) the seasonal and total productivity of indigenous
pasture under actual grazing conditions, and (6) the amount and
botanical composition of herbage consumed by the sheep. The former
is determined from the yields of herbage obtained from an adequate
number of protected quadrats. The latter is determined by the
difference in yield of herbage in closed quadrats as compared with
C.15937.—2
18
yields from adjacent unprotected quadrats. After each grazing period
the herbage from protected and non-protected quadrats is removed in
a uniform manner by means of a sheep-shearig machine adapted for
the close cutting of grass, and the botanical composition of herbage
determined in the laboratory, and compared with the results of mesh
analysis made on the pasture as a whole. After each cutting, the
quadrats are redistributed over the grazed area. The number and size
of quadrats required in relation to the area grazed is important, especially
in assessing the significance of the yields, seasonal productivity, and the
calculated amounts of herbage eaten by the sheep.
(d) Relative Palatability of Species under Grazing Conditions.
Some progress has been made in determining the comparative
palatability of species, both on sown pastures and with indigenous
pastures.
(7) THE PURE SPECIES PROBLEM IN RELATION TO THE MINERAL CONTENT
oF PASTURES.
For the adequate growth of stock on pastures and their maintenance
at a high level of production, certain necessary minerals and protein
must be provided in adequate quantities over the entire grazing season.
While the environment exerts an important influence on the mineral
content of each plant species, there is a limit to the ability of plants to
make use of available mineral nutrients, a limit imposed by the nature
of the species itself. It is now known that plants grown under similar
conditions do vary widely in mineral content. Clovers, for example,
are generally richer in minerals, and particularly in calcium, than are
grasses. Little, however, is known regarding the mineral content of
pasture plants other than grasses and legumes. but Stapledon states
(Ministry of Agriculture, Publication 60, pp. 57, 76) that both chicory
and rape rank with red clover in possessing a mineral content definitely
higher than that of grasses. Evans (Welsh Journal of Agriculture,
Vol. III. (1927), pp. 119-147) has shown that Molina, Nardus, and
the sedge-like plants that compose “bog hay” are characteristically
low in mineral content, and it is interesting to note that the Welsh
upland cattle, notably small in body frame, are raised largely on
Molinia pastures.
Kincaid (Proc. Roy. Soc. Victoria, Vol. XXIII., Pt. II. (191),
pp. 368-391) showed that the phosphate content of Australian native
plants was definitely lower than that of exotics grown in the same soil.
Results at the Waite Institute indicate that Danthonia penicillata—
the common perennial indigenous pasture grass of Southern: Australia—
is considerably lower in phosphate content and in minerals generally
than Mediterranean plants grown and harvested under the same con-
ditions. With this plant, moreover, liberal application of soluble
phosphorus has not materially increased the phosphorus absorption
with growth.
19
Investigations at the Waite Institute have also indicated that
Erodium botrys (Geraniaceae) which in certain years may comprise
50 per cent. of top-dressed pasture, and which is an important pasture
plant in many parts of Southern Australia, possesses a high capacity
to take up mineral matter, and contains a high percentage of lime (over
3 per cent.).
Differential ability to absorb mineral nutrients from non-water-
soluble sources in the soil is a further possibility among pasture plants.
This phase is being investigated and preliminary experiments have
been commenced in sand cultures with EHrodium botrys and Trifoliwm
subterraneum.
Pure species investigations in relation to the mineral deficiency
problem are important because of the possibility of establishing, by
proper management, a minerally balanced productive pasture. Some
200 pasture and fodder species have been established in a grass garden,
and the more promising types are being tested under field conditions to
determine their persistency, palatability, and general elapian ty to a
semi-arid environment.
A. E. V. RICHARDSON.
27th August, 1929.
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c Seen and the Nutritive
slue of “Natural’’ Pastures in
ua Waite Agricultural Research Institute
hg BY
J, Grirrivus Davies, BSc, Ph.D., Agrostologist,
ih wh Ri tin 5
PAMPHLET No. 16.
ee ee pn nt
4 Athen Strate ee
Executive: Ss ae
Bees Sir George dua, Kt Bese, Kes i
Diag ae
Chaicmen of State Committees: ee SS
on Profeasor R. D. Watt, 2 M.A. B.Sc. bie
3 . “< (New' South Wales),
Sir pa 0. Masson, K. B. E., ERS. &c.
5 cso
Professor H. Cc. Richards, D. Sc. aS
(Queensland), S
*
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Ww. aS Vouak: Esq.,. C.B:E. Reuse Su
(South Sah gear
B. Perry, Esq.
East Melbourne,
Victoria ;
PAMPHLET No. 18.
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
The Influence of Frequency of Cutting
on the Productivity, Botanical and
Chemical Composition, and the Nutritive
Value of “Natural” Pastures in
Southern Australia
on
Co-operative Investigations at the
‘Waite Agricultural Research Institute
Drv
5D
J. GRIFFITHS DAVIES, B.Sc., Ph.D., Agrostologist,
n
A. H. SIM, B.Sc., B.Ag.Sc., Chemist a
MELBOURNE, 1931
By Authority:
1. J. Green, Government Printer, Melbourne
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The Influence of Frequency of Cutting on the
Productivity, Botanical and Chemical Com-
position, and the Nutritive Value of ‘“‘ Natural”’
Pastures in Southern. Australia.*
1. Introduction.
Comparatively little attention has been hitherto devoted in Australia
to the study of pastures in relation to animal nutrition. From time to
time, the introduction of fodder species has been undertaken with a
view to pasture improvement, whilst the application of phosphatic
fertilizers has been demonstrated to effect much improvement both
in the productivity and carrying capacity of the pastures. Pasture
management has not hitherto been a subject of critical study, chiefly
because the grazing of stock has been conducted on an extensive, rather
than an intensive, scale. The change from extensive to intensive use
of pasture lands is, however, making some headway, especially in the
regions of higher rainfall. It is desirable, therefore, to investigate methods
of management likely to give increased returns, and to ascertain the
reaction of the pasture complex under more intensive grazing.
The pasture complex is the resultant of the interplay of climatic,
soil, and biotic factors: the latter including pasture management.
Pasture management is within the control of the grazier, and the soil
factors are subject to considerable modification at his hands. The
profound changes in pasture type that can be achieved by management
and controlled grazing are becoming increasingly realized. Hence an
understanding of the influence of the chief factors concerned on the
yield, botanical composition, and nutritive value of the pasture, becomes
an essential preliminary to the adoption of any modified system of
husbandry.
The present investigation is regarded by the authors as a preliminary
step in the elucidation of the problems of increasing the productivity
of “ natural” pastures by changes in management.
The term “natural” pasture is used to designate a pasture that
has developed under the combined influence of man and of the grazing
animal, but without the sowing down of herbage species. These pastures
are typical of the coastal belt of Southern Australia. In composition
they vary considerably, but are characterized by the presence of
substantial percentages of exotic herbaceous annuals, including the
small annual clovers and medics, in conjunction with endemic, slow
growing, perennial species of Danthonia and Stipa.
The climatic conditions for which the present results are signitivant
are essentially those of a long, dry summer period, characteristic of
the Southern temperate zone of Australia. This zone is that of winter
rainfall, growth being almost wholly confined to the six months from
* Typescript received for publication, Sth October, 1930.
6
mid-May to mid-November. For the remainder of the year, intense
climatic conditions resulting in high evaporation, combined with low
sporadic rainfall, prevail. Pastures are in a dry, matured state during
this period, and in such a condition form the available stock feed.
In the present investigation, information on the following specific
points was sought :—
(1) The total yield of dry matter from pasture subjected to
different frequencies of cutting, designed to represent
different intensities of grazing by stock.
(2) To what extent the yield of dry matter from such a system
of pasture cuts could be correlated with meteorological
conditions.
(3) The seasonal growth of the pasture.
{4) The botanical composition of the pasture under the different
frequencies of cutting.
(5) The variation in the mineral content of the pasture under the
different frequencies of cutting.
(6) The nutritive value of pasture at varying growth stage, and
the effect of the different systems of cutting on the total
yield of nutritive material.
2. Technique.
The experiment was laid down in April, 1927, and concluded in
November, 1928. The investigations extend over the two growing
seasons 1927 and 1928.
For the purpose of the experiment, an area of ‘“‘ natural” pasture
at the Waite Institute was selected. The pasture lies at the base of
the foothills of the Mount Lofty Range, the average annual rainfall
being 23 inches, approximately 17 inches of which are received during
the six winter months. The soil is a medium heavy, red clay loam,
with the following mechanical and chemical analyses :—
(The data given have been kindly provided by Mr. C. 8. Piper, M.Sc.,
who has conducted the chemical and mechanical analyses of the soil.)
Mechanical and Chemical Analyses of the Soil.
(1) Mechanical Analysis : 0-9 inches. Horizon A.
Coarse sand of af 1637 1B%
Fine sand at txt 319%
Silt... it <4 16,:6%
Fine silt yeh as
4 S.A ee eee
LBS. PER
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PRODUCTION
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SEASON 1928
UBS. (PER. AGRE
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PRODUCTION
SERIES |
AC oR OOO
By Authority: H. J. Green, Government Printer, Melbourne.
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MEMBERS
Executive |
Sir George Julius, Kt., B.Sc., B.E.
(Chairman),
A. C.D. Rivett, Esq., ‘WA D.Sc. : : :
(Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer),
ek apepest A. E. Y. gio bigeys MEAs D.Sc.
dghicck af of State ‘Coun Committees.
fade yoipat R. D. Watt, M.A., B.Sc.
~ < (New, South Wales).
Sir David 0. Masson, K. B.E., F.R.S., &e. -
‘Professor HL. Richards, D.Sc. | 5 ne
(Queensland), aoe
Ww. J. Young, Esq., C.B.E. IRL:
(South aera:
B. Perry, Esq. he ;
(Western Australia), SRR: Fee Sink ag eey aaah
P. E. Keam, Esq. ee rane as
' fi ‘asmania).
4
" Professor E. J. Goddard, Bian Bsc,
East Melbourne, eet
Sai
PAMPHLET No. 19.
COMMONWEALTH #& OF AUSTRALIA
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
BLACK DISEASE
A Short Description of its Nature and
Means of Prevention
By
A. W. TURNER, D.V.Sc.
MELBOURNE, 1931
By Authority:
H. J. Green, Government Printer, Melbourne
C.4549.
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CONTENTS.
. What is Black Disease ?
. When to Suspect the Disease in a Flock ,.
. When to Suspect the Disease in Dead Animals = oe ee
. Recent Research on Black Disease by the Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research ..
. How to Prevent Black Disease :—
1. Fluke Eradication
2. Vaccination of all Exposed eee during the Months of October
and November : > er se Ne
3. Disposal of Carcasses
. Conclusions
Illustrations.
PAGE
Black Disease.
A Short Description of its Nature and Means
of Prevention.
By Dr. A. W. Turner, Division of Animal Health, Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research.
1. What is Black Disease ?
By this term is meant a special disease of sheep*, with very definite
characters, which should not be applied as merely a convenient general
term to cover any cases of death among sheep. It is called scientifically,
as well as in the Victorian Stock Diseases Act, infectious necrotic
hepatitis.
The disease has been known in New South Wales for at least 60
years, in Victoria for a slightly less time, and in Tasmania for about
25 years; and there is no doubt that it has been and is still spreading.
An estimate made by responsible officers of the Department of Agri-
culture in New South Wales just before the fall in prices placed the
annual loss due to the ravages of Black Disease in that State alone at
£1,000,000, so that it is of very great economic significance to Australia.
Under the law of the State of Victoria, every owner suspecting that
losses occurring amongst his sheep are due to Black Disease is com-
pelled, for the protection of himself and others, to notify the Chief
Veterinary Officer immediately, failure to do so entailing a penalty of
not more than £100. It is, therefore, extremely important that owners
should know when to suspect the presence of the disease, and what steps
to take to confirm their suspicions.’ Such action becomes all the
more desirable when it is realized that Black Disease is a preventible
disease, and that means have been discovered by scientists which, if
thoroughly applied, should result in the total elimination of this serious
disease from Australia.
2. When to Suspect the Disease in a Flock.
Black Disease affects rams, ewes, and wethers alike, and all ages from
weaners onwards, so that it need not be confused with Pregnancy
Paralysis (Twin Lamb Disease), which, of course, affects only ewes in
lamb. It occurs mostly between the months of December and June,
being at its worst usually in February, March, and April; for this
reason, heavy losses during winter and spring are not likely to be due to
Black Disease. Affected animals are nearly always in prime condition,
at any rate, never in really poor condition; so that some other cause
must be looked for when large numbers of poorly-conditioned sheep, or
sheep that have been scouring, are lost, e.g., parasites or malnutrition.
Sheep affected with Black Disease die so suddenly and are noticeably
ill for such a short time that it is rare to pick them out before death;
the usual thing is to find fresh carcasses each day, while the rest of the
flock is apparently healthy and in good condition. When animals are
* It may be mentioned in passing that the same disease may occasionally affect cattle.
6
reported to have been seen standing or lying about ill for a day or two
before dying, Black Disease may be discarded as a possibility, even in
affected districts; in such cases acute fluke disease is to be suspected.
It is often possible to distinguish animals that are in the last stages
of the disease by moving the flock around by means of a good dog.
Under these conditions, a sheep in an advanced stage, but showing
no signs of the disease when resting quietly, and which would probably
have died quietly during the night, will be seen lagging behind the
rest of the flock, unable to keep up with them. On forcing it to move
it will soon lie down on its brisket, the legs tucked under and the head
outstretched, obviously out of breath. Within a short time, varying
from a few minutes to an hour, the animal will quietly die. There is
never any evidence of struggling before death.
3. When to Suspect the Disease in Dead Animals.
In diagnosing the disease in dead animals, everything depends upon
the freshness of the carcass. When carcasses are only a few hours old
it becomes extremely difficult, even for the scientist with his laboratory
facilities, to be sure of the presence or absence of Black Disease. For
this reason it is necessary to forward specimens to the laboratory,
if possible, only from sheep known to be dead less than an hour, or,
better still, from sheep seen to die and examined immediately.
From the owner’s point of view, there are several signs in carcasses
that may be taken as good evidence of the presence of Black Disease.
The animals are in good condition. There is often a little pale to
reddish jelly-like material under the skin, especially near the brisket.
When the belly cavity is opened up, a cupful or two of clear to blood-
stained fluid is found (colour of this and other fluids depending upon
the freshness of the carcass). The animal being in good condition, a
good supply of caul and kidney fat will be in evidence.
The liver will be found to be dark red and full of blood, the gall
bladder full of bright green bile.
Upon either surface and any of the lobes or divisions of the liver
one or more so-called “ necrotic areas’ are nearly always found. These
vary in size from an area the size of threepence to one as large as
half-a-crown; are often irregular in shape, with clear-cut edges; and
are a pale yellowish colour, contrasting sharply with the dark con-
gested liver surrounding them. If these yellowish patches are cut
into, they will be seen to extend into the substance of the liver for
some distance. Besides the yellowish patches, very dark reddish patches
may also be present.
If the chest cavity is now opened, either by cutting through the
ribs near the brisket, or by cutting through the diaphragm (the fleshy
partition between the belly and chest cavities), a certain amount of clear
to reddish fluid will be found. The most important chest sign, however,
is found in the heart. If one examines a normal sheep’s heart when
slaughtering, one will notice that it is contained in a thin transparent
bag that fits it tightly. In a sheep dead from Black Disease, however,
this bag (pericardium) is separated from the heart by a certain amount,
up to as much as half a cupful, of clear, often jelly-like, material.
7
It follows from the above that the presence of yellowish solid patches
in the liver, and fluid or jelly-like material round the heart of sheep
in good condition, dying suddenly without much in the way cof
symptoms, especially during the first three or four months of the year,
will give very good grounds for suspecting the presence of Black
Disease in a flock.
But suspicion can be turned into certainty only by means of
laboratory examination of absolutely fresh, preserved specimens. Speci-
mens should consist preferably of the whole of the internal organs,
ineluding heart and lungs (avoid pricking the heart sac and so spilling
the fluid), placed in a kerosene or petrol tin, covered with weak formalin
(one cupful to 2 gallons of water), and then soldered down. The tin
should then be forwarded to the nearest local laboratory. Where it is not
possible to send all the organs, the liver only may be sent, preserved as
before, in a half petrol tin or even in a 7-lb. treacle tin, though in the
latter case the liver sets in a twisted position, which makes further
examination more difficult. At the laboratory, the organs are examined
for the presence of the germ that causes the disease.
4. Recent Research on Black Disease by the Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research.
A painstaking and thorough investigation into the nature and pre-
vention of Black Disease, extending over a period of three years, and
partly financed by the graziers’ own money (The Pastoralists Research
Trust) has just been concluded by the Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research, aided by the valuable co-operation of the State
Departments concerned, i.e., those in Tasmania, Victoria, and New
South Wales. Stripped of technicalities and the scientific background,
the following results have been obtained :—
The germ that causes the disease has been fully studied, and, as a
result, an effective, though not costly, vaccine that will protect sheep
against reasonable doses of the germ’s poison or toxin has been
developed. In addition, the suspicion, first put forward by the late
Dr. Dodd, of the Sydney University Veterinary School, that the germ
was enabled to attack the sheep’s liver only because of injury by young
liver flukes, has been definitely and amply proven. Since Black Disease
exists only in fluky pastures, owners must expect to find that not all
deaths may be due to it; a certain number may be due to acute fluke
invasion of the liver. From this research have come the following
recommendations to the pastoral industry :—
1. Absolutely eliminate liver fluke from the flocks of Australia,
and so automatically get rid of Black Disease.
2. If this ideal cannot be reached, as in a great area of the
fluke-infested country, do what you can against fluke; but, to
make up for this deficiency and lessen the loopholes, have your
sheep vaccinated or inoculated against the germ that joins forces
with the fluke to produce the disease.
8
5. How to Prevent Black Disease.
As pointed out above, this entails—
1. fluke eradication ;
2. vaccination,
to which must be added,
3. disposal of carcasses.
It is not proposed to tire readers with the reasons for the following
recommendations, which are based on exhaustive scientific research.
Any one wishing to know the reasons and wanting fuller details is
referred to Bulletins 46 and 43 and Pamphlet 5 of the Council for
Scientific and Industrial Research, as well as to the publications of the
loca! State Departments of Agriculture and Stock. Stated briefly, the
recommendations are as follow :—
1. Fluke Eradication.
(a) Drain pastures, especially marshy or boggy patches, wherever
possible, and clean up the edges of irrigation channels, creeks, or springs,
removing weeds and other vegetation.
(b) Treat other marshy or boggy patches, edges of watercourses,
&e., with powdered bluestone (sulphate of copper) at the rate of 30 Ib.
to the acre of treated pasture. The cost of bluestone is about 12s. 6d.
per acre. It is best mixed with four parts of clean dry sand to allow
of broadcasting, or may be dissolved and sprayed if desired. Small
bags of bluestone crystals may be placed in running streams or dragged
through stagnant water to colour them faintly. The time for blue-
stoning is before the end of December and the end of June.
(c) Drench sheep with a mixture of one part of carbon tetrachloride
and four parts of liquid paraffin (Dr. Seddon’s method), giving 5 ce.
of the mixture (cost about 1s. 10d. per 100 sheep), or, if preferred,
give capsules containing 1 cc. of the pure drug (cost about 6s. per 100
sheep).
The times for treatment of sheep depend on how many treatments
can be given, three being best. If three, treat at end of April, middle
of June, and end of July; if two, middle of May and end of July; if
one, middle of June.
2. Vaccination of all Exposed Sheep during the Months of October
and November.
This is best carried out by the Stock Departments, and costs, for
the two necessary treatments, about 2d. per sheep, depending upon the
State and the number of sheep.
The vaccine developed by the writer has been found to be effective
in reducing considerably the number of deaths from Black Disease.
it is perfectly harmless when used as directed by experienced officers,
and cannot possibly give rise to deaths due to vaccinating. But it will
protect only against the germ of Black Disease, and, of course, has no
action whatever on liver fluke. It follows that sheep vaccinated against
Black Disease may still die of heavy doses of fluke or of other diseases,
so that owners should always endeavour to send the specimens described
above to the laboratory from any dead vaccinated sheep, on the chance
that they are being attacked by another disease.
9
Even as regards Black Disease, it must be remembered that there
is a limit to the degree of protection given by two doses, and that, if
the liver is repeatedly attacked by large numbers of flukes over a short
period, the protective properties of the blood due to vaccination may
give out, and the germ of Black Disease may still be enabled to grow.
Since the disease begins usually about January or February,
vaccination should be carried out in ample time to allow of the full
protective properties of the blood being developed. It is, therefore,
recommended to have this done during the months of October and
November, or November and December.
All vaccines lower the resistance of the body to the corresponding
disease for a short time after administration. For this reason, and
also because the full protection is not obtained until about a fortnight
after the second dose, vaccination during an outbreak should be
embarked upon only with the distinct understanding that the best results
are not to be expected and that, in fact, losses may be temporarily
increased for a few days.
3. Disposal of all Carcasses.
These contaminate the soil further with the germ. They should
be burnt as soon as the carcass is found, on the spot, if possible; or, if
removed to a more convenient spot, the surrounding surface soil should
also be removed and burnt. Where burning is impracticable, the next
best thing is to bury carcasses and soil deeply in a small, unused,
fenced-off paddock.
6. Conclusions.
If the above recommendations were all thoroughly applied, Black
Disease would be wiped out of Australia.
The ideal method is to carry them all out. Where this is possible
and losses have been heavy, it will pay to do so, although it appears
to be a heavy routine. Apart from labour and the trouble of handling,
the cost of drenching and vaccinating a hundred sheep is about
£1 2s. 2d. per year, i.e., a little over 24d. per sheep. The cost of
bluestoning snail carrying depends entirely upon the property.
Where conditions make the full programme impracticable, changes
must be made. [If it is possible to make a thorough attack upon the
fluke, by drenching and bluestoning, concentrate upon this; and, as long
as results remain good, vaccinating may not be necessary. Many pro-
perties in Victoria and New South Wales have found this effective.
But where the full anti-fluke treatment cannot be given, or where
experience has shown that little result follows its application, the
pastoralist is well advised to vaccinate.
On very bad properties, particularly where bluestoning is difficult
to carry out thoroughly (irrigation districts properties sharing a
common marsh or stream properties richly supplied with springs),
experience has shown that three vaccinations may almost eliminate the
disease, although, of course, some losses from acute fluke may continue
if the pasture be heavily contaminated with that parasite:
10
Black Disease Calendar.
There are thus two programmes, the full one and the partial :—
Full. Partial.
January. January.
February. February.
March. March.
April (end)—Drenching. April.
May. May.
June (middle)—Drenching. June (middle)—Drenching.
(end)—Bluestoning. July.
July (end)—Drenching. August.
August. September.
September. October—lst vaccination.
October—lst vaccination. November—2nd vaccination.
November—2nd vaccination. December Bluestoning.
December (end)—Bluestoning.
In conclusion, always get into touch with your State Stock Depart-
ment, whose officers are always eager to assist, both to find out whether
Black Disease is responsible for your losses, and also to help you in
preventing it.
Scientific Investigations.
Those who are interested in the details of this work, which has been
pursued for many years in Australia on the above subject, are referred
to Bulletin 46 issued by the Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research, copies of which may be obtained from The Secretary,
C.S.1LR., 314 Albert-street, East Melbourne, C.2.
The Australian investigators (in addition to the writer) whose
researches have brought the knowledge of Black Disease to its present
state include Gilruth, Dodd, Albiston, Edgar, and Oxer; prominent i»
the study of liver fluke in Australia have been Seddon, Clunies Ross,
and McKay.
1]
a LA aes aed had previously Fic. 2.—A sheep ill with black disease.
shown no signs of illness is seen lagging Note the extended head and the dilated
behind the flock on being chased by dogs. oatcis,
Re —. = a? ye De x x
Fie. 3.—In sheep dead from black —— —— —
disease the skin quickly becomes black Fic. 4.—A bad type of irrigation channel in the
and the wool easily pulls out. A man Kerang district, showing the ill-defined banks and
is seen plucking the wool from a carcass. the overgrowth with weeds. Fluke-carrying snails
The dark skin is plainly noticeable. (Limnea brazieri) were found in abundance here.
Fic. 5.—Liver of a sheep dead from black disease, showing at
A the gall bladder, at B the so-called “‘ necrotic areas’ (one cut
into), and at C dark reddish patches.
Fic. 6.--Heart of a sheep dead from black disease,
showing the heart-sac filled with fluid.
Fig. 7.—A greatly enlarged picture of the water snail that causes liver fluke,
and is therefore concerned in black disease. Note the ear-shaped “ feelers,”
and the fact that, if the shell is held mouth downwards with the point
away from one, the twist of the shell is from left to right. The actual
length of the snail is from a quarter to half an inch.
(Photograph kindly taken by Mr. E. Murray Pullar, M.V.Sc.)
H, J. GREEN.
GOVERNMENT PRINTER,
MELBOURNE
ie? a
PAMPHLET No. 20.
OF AUSTRALIA
= ie Identification e Wood by
aes Chemical Means.—-Part L
4
fay. hPa
-H. E, DADSWELL, M.Sc.
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Aes At)
HTH DE
ee Ser tee
MELBOURNE, 1931 Mitte
he J. Green, Coverament se nen
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354 Albert Street,
MEMBERS
Executive
Sir George Julius, Kt.,’B.Sc., B.E.
(Chairman),
A. ©. D. Rivett, Esq., M.A., D.Se..
(Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Offcer),
Professor A. E. ¥. Richardson, M.A., D.Sc...
Chairmen of ot State Com Committees :
Professor R. D. Watt, M.A., B.Sc.
(New South Wales),
Sir David 0. Masson, K.B.E., F.R.S., &c.
- Vi .
Professor H. C. Richards, D.Sc. Cen
(Queensland),
Ww. J. Young, Esq., C.B.E.
(South Australia),
B. Perry, Esq.
- (Western Australia),
P.-E. Keam, Esq.
(Tasmania).
Co-opted Members :
Professor E. J. Goddard, B.A., D.Sc.
Professor H. A. Woodruff, M.R.C.V.S., &c.
G. Lightfoot, M.A.
Easi Melbourne,
Victoria
PAMPHLET No. 20.
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
| The Identification of Wood by
Chemical Means.—Part I.
(Division of Forest Products.—Technical Paper No. 1)
MELBOURNE, 1931
By Authority:
H. J. Green, Government Printer, Melbourne
By
H. E. DADSWELL, M.Sc.
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hion of Karri and Jarrah—
) Cellulose determinations r.
Alkalinity of ash a5 ny
(i) Alkalinity of ash ik Pe
Dilution of alcoholic extracts ae
‘ion of the Ironbark Group f oe
‘iments with Red Box and Red Gum.
‘al Discussion ce - oe
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CONTENTS.
ca tion of Tallowwood, Blackbutt, and White Mahogany—
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No attempts have been made, however, to compare the results of
analyses of a number of closely related species from the same genus.
3. Discussion of Problem.
In planning the present investigation, it has been considered that
woods from the closely related species, i.e., from species placed by the
technologist in the same group, will show some differences in chemical
composition of such a nature that they will be revealed by simple tests.
The great difficulty lies in the finding of a suitable test which will
clearly mark the differences. The present standard methods of wood
analysis(4) are such that they may or may not reveal any differences.
For example, the percentage of extractives, as determined by the extrac-
tion of the wood sample with solvents such as water, alcohol, or ether,
has been found to be very similar for different species. This, however,
does not mean that the constitution of the extractives is the same in each
ease. Again, although the percentage of inorganic material as revealed
by the ash determination has not proved of value for identification pur-
poses, the study of the constituents of the ash may lead to interesting
possibilities. On the other hand, the determination, according to a
standard procedure,-of the amount of the cell wall constituent present
in different species—or in other words the cellulose—has been proved
to be of decided importance.
In the case of the genus Hucalyptus, confusion often arises as to the
botanical identity of certain species. For this reason, special care must
be taken to work with samples whose identity has been definitely estab-
lished by means of examination of the botanical material to which they
belong. In a preliminary investigation, it is necessary to confine the
study to that of heartwood samples only, for it has been shown(5) that,
especially as regards the extractive content, there are chemical differences.
10
between the heartwood and sapwood from the same tree, and erroneous
conelusions may be drawn if sapwood or heartwood are taken indis-
criminately.
The first timbers investigated belonged to the Ironbark group and
consisted of the following :—
E. paniculata (grey ironbark).
FE. sideroxylon (red ironbark).
I. crebra (narrow leaved ironbark).
E. siderophloia (broad leaved or red ironbark).
Together with the above species, samples of grey gum (H. propinqua
and #. punctata) were examined, as it is at times difficult to separate
the wood of these two species from that of the Ironbarks. Welch (8)
reported the results of some simple tests in the study of all these
timbers, but did not record any test which proved effective as a means
of identification nor the number of samples examined for each species.
The wood from the two Western Australian species, H. marginata
(jarrah) and #. diversicolor (karri) is very similar in macroscopic and
microscopic features. It is claimed(9) that normal specimens are
easily identified, but that some occur which it is quite impossible to
identify by ordinary means. It is after delivery to the consumer that
danger of mixing arises. Both these timbers are important from the
commercial point of view and therefore were selected for examination
in order to find, if possible, some suitable means of separation. Another
pair of woods, namely, H. microcorys (tallowwood) and H. pilularis
(blackbutt) are often confused with one another and also with a timber
ealled white mahogany.*
This latter timber is cut from three very closely related species,
namely, H. acmenioides, H. umbra, and EF. carnea. The wood from these
three botanical species is identical in structure, and in the work now
being reported, no distinction between them has been made. It is recog-
nised that the three timbers tallowwood, blackbutt, and white mahogany
can in many cases be distinguished one from the other, but there are
times when this is impossible and so the group has been included in this
preliminary study. Two other Eucalypts, which present a similar
difficulty, namely, E. polyanthemos (red box) and £. rostrata (red
gum), have also been investigated.
4. Tests with Aqueous and Alccholic Extracts.
1. The first experiments aimed at the possibility of using the aqueous
and alcoholic extracts from different species, and comparing the results
of treating these with such reagents as ferric alum, ferrous sulphate,
lime water, ferric chloride, caustic potash, and lead acetate. ‘The
extracts used were those obtained by the treatment of wood atin
(80-100 mesh) according to the standard methods for the determinatio
of alcohol and hot water soluble constituents. For the purpose of soli.
parison, each aqueous extract was diluted to approximately 150 cc. and
each alcoholic extract to approximately 30 cc. per gram of oven dry
wood extracted. These extracts were treated with equal volumes of each
of the above reagents, which were used at a concentration of 1%, and
observations were made on the results. (Colours were compared by
means of drops on a white spot plate.)
* White mahogany in New South Wales, yellow stringybark in Queensland. In this paper
the common name adhered to will be white ‘mahogany.
4
11
This procedure was applied to the woods of the Ironbark group ov
the one hand, and to karri and jarrah on the other. No striking differ-
ences in colour that proved of value as aids to identification were
obtained. This was due, undoubtedly, to the presence of the same
tannins in the extracts from each species, as proved by the deep blue
precipitate and colour given on the addition of iron salts.
Using a standard colour chart, certain differences were noted when
extracts from the different species of Ironbarks were tested, but these
differences were in depth of colour only and depended entirely on the
amount of extractives removed from the sample by the solvent. As this
umount varied considerably even with different samples of the one
species, it has been concluded that these tests are not helpful in the
separation of such a large group as the Ironbarks and the two related
grey gums, or even in the separation of jarrah and karri. Although
disappointing, the results obtained made clear the following points :—
(1) Considerable variation must be expected even with different
samples of the one species.
(2) As a result of (1), caution must be exercised in the development
of tests based on the use of aqueous or alcoholic extracts.
(3) A previous knowledge of the chemical composition as obtained
by quantitative analysis is of great assistance in the development of any
simple test.
5. Identification of Karri and Jarrah.
(i) Cellulose Determinations.—As stated above, the tests based on
an examination of aqueous and alcoholic extracts from these two species
proved unsatisfactory. In order to obtain further information,
authentic samples of both were therefore analysed according to the
standard procedure(4) employed at the U.S. Forest Products Labora-
tory, Mgdison. In each case, the sawdust passing through an 80 mesh
and remaining on a 100 mesh sieve was used for analysis. The com-
plete results of these analyses will be reported in a later publication. The
most important results from the point of view of separation were
obtained by means of the cellulose determination. This led to the
analysis of a larger number of authentic samples for cellulose only. The
samples were obtained from Western
© — Gouncil for Scientific and Industrial Research
feete 5 . i cated
Ae ;
he Density of Australian Timbers ||
ee | A Preliminary Study ie ou
sion of Forest Products.—Technical Paper No. 2)
oy ergs By
HE. DADSWELL, M.Sc.
ea Hi ay dt eee | |
‘Sir Macree Julius, Kt, B. Sey B. E. Aeotas .
(Chairman),
i aye C. D. Rivett, Psa. M.A., D.Sc. . We ;
ee ; iat Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive Offer
Professor i E.Y. san cahanas se A. D.Sc. me
- Chairmen of of State Com ‘Committees : ¢
Professor sd D. : Watt ME ve B.Sc. cp mane
(New South Wales),
Sir David. 0. Masson, K. B. E., eae Se pt SBR” dh
‘ | Vietoria),
¥ Professor H. ma Richards, D.Sc Bags
“(Queenslend), ee
Ww. J. Young, Esq., C.B.E.
- (South Acta,
B. Perry, Esq. Ae ASRS at eae
(Western Australia), Ly OWNS Ue RGN Pe
TP: ee ‘Keam, Esq. . BSH ai
(Tesmania). f
| ie Co-opted Sewers: hie ; SE
Professor E. J. ‘Goddard, BA. Dae
ARF eepaoy H. A. Woodrutt, eupe of Vv. S., &e..
se 314 Albert Street,
one rah East Melbourne, ms fe
| ces Sa | Victoria,
PAMPHLET No. 21.
woah
COMMONWEALTH ogee, OF AUSTRALIA
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
The Density of Australian Timbers
A Preliminary Study
’
(Division of Forest Products.—Technical Paper No. 2)
By
H. E. DADSWELL, M.Sc.
MELBOURNE, 1931
By Authonty:
| H. J. Green, Government Printer, Melbourne
€.7019.
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FOREWORD.
Such data as are available in regard to the density of Australian
timbers appear to be very unsatisfactory, as the figures for one species
vary over a wide range. So pronounced is the variation that density
as a diagn6stic feature is useless.
One of the causes of this wide variation appeared to be the standards
used in determining density. For this reason, the method outlined in
Technical Paper No. 2 was developed.
The only new feature in this method is that by cutting three adjacent
thin sections, using the centre one for volume determination and the
two outer ones for moisture determination, the very uncertain factor of
variation in shrinkage has been eliminated. Any method of drying to
obtain an oven dry sample whose volume is to be found, inevitably
introduces discrepancies due to the varying shrinkage with different
conditions of drying.
~ Using this new method, the range within a species is considerably
narrowed, and it appears as if density may prove very useful as one of
ne early factors in classification of timbers.
Phe paper describes the method and some of the results obtained by
its use. A very large number of timbers are being examined for density,
sections being cut for this purpose from all material sent in for identi-
fication studies. Later papers will be published, giving for the first
time reliable density determinations on a uniform system for Australian
timbers.
I. H. BOAS,
Chief, Division of Forest Products.
June, 1931. F
SUMMARY.
(1) A method for the determination of density of woods has been
investigated. '
(2) This method involves the determination of the oven dry weight
and the volume of the sample after soaking, and the results thus obtained —
are used in the calculation of density figures.
(3) From the experiments carried out, it has been concluded that
soaking under water from five to six days is sufficient to restore the small
samples used to their green dimensions and this has been found to be
the case even with dried and collapsed samples.
(4) The possibilities of the method for general and identification
purposes have been briefly studied in relation to the determination of the
density of a number of samples from different species.
ad
a
The Density of Australian Timbers.
A Preliminary Study.;
1. Introduction.
The determination of the density of wood is influenced by the fact
that wood is not homogeneous but is made up of a large number of cells
which have small or large cavities depending on their size and nature.
Actually, the amount of solid woody material present comprises only a
’ portion of the volume,and while the specific gravity of this wood sub-
stance is approximately 1.52, that of any piece of timber as a whole
will vary considerably, depending on the number, size, form, and arrange-
ment of the wood elements. The presence of water in the cell cavities
and walls will alter the weight, and the volume will change as the wood
is dried from the green condition. This alteration of volume, or shrink-
age, will differ according to the method of drying employed. Thus, in
any method for determining the specific gravity and subsequently the
density of wood, it is necessary to take into account the presence of
moisture and the shrinkage caused by the removal of such moisture.
» Determinations have previously been based on the following different
methods :—
_. (a) Weight of sample oven dry in relation to volume oven dry.
. (1) (2) (4) (5) (7) (7a) (8) (9)*.
(b) Weight of sample oven dry in relation to volume air dry.
(3) (5).
(c) Weight of sample oven dry in relation to volume at time of
test. (6) (7).
(d) Weight of sample oven dry in relation to volume green.
(2) (3) (5).
'(e) Weight of sample air dry in relation to volume air dry.
(5) (9).
(f) Weight of sample at time of test in relation to volume at
time of test. (7) (10) (11).
(g) Weight of sample green in relation to volume green.
| (1) (2) (5) (9).
The volume oven dry is determined on the oven dry sample by means
of the displacement of water, absorption of moisture by the sample
being prevented by giving it a thin coating of parafin. “Air dry” is
very indefinite; and the moisture content of an air dry sample will vary
according to the atmospheric conditions and the length of time exposed.
In most cases it is taken to represent 12% moisture content, but this
will vary in Australia at least from 6% to 18%, depending on the period
of the year and the locality. The weight or volume at the time of test
will also vary considerably and will depend on the previous history of
the sample. In such cases, it is customary to record the moisture con-
tent at the time of test. “Green ” volume refers to the condition of the
sample as taken from the living tree. Any method must give an arbi-
trary value for specific gravity, and figures are therefore valueless,
_ianless:the basis of the determination is recorded. The best basis for
calculating and for obtaining comparable results to be used ia common
ee a ee eee ee
+ Typescript received for publication 19th June, 1931. * See References to Literature, page 16.
8
practice has been a matter of dispute. The most commonly adopted
methods are (a), (e), and (g), of the above. The method (g) is.only of
value when the sample is taken directly from green timber. Clarke(12),
in 1930, suggested that the most reliable figures for specific gravity
would probably be. yielded by the ratio of oven dry weight to the
saturated volume, but as yet this method does not appear to have been
fully investigated.
2. Object of Investigation.
Numerous figures on the density of Australian timbers are avail-
able. In most cases, however, they are not accompanied by the record -
of the method used. In 1906, in his study of the timbers of Western
Ausiralia, Julius(9) used methods (a), (e), and (g). Swain(10), in
the Timbers and Forest Products of Queensland, records \average
density figures for the various woods tested on the air dry basis, but
does not mention the method employed in calculating these. Baker(11)
listed figures for numerous woods on the basis of air dry, well seasoned
timber, “having only, of course, its atmospheric absorbed moisture,
which is generally 10 to 18 per cent.” af
A systematic survey of the density of Australian woods is important,
but to be of any value this must be carried out by means of a standard
procedure. If such a procedure be followed, density may then prove
to be a factor of importance in the development of methods of wood
identification. It is necessary, therefore, that the method adopted
should be such that any investigator can by means of it obtain com-
parable results.
Certain other conditions also apply. Firstly, samples of varying
moisture content will be received, and the method for determination of
density must be effective, irrespective of the moisture content at the time
ef commencing the determination. Secondly, the bad collapse on drying
of the eucalypts such as H. regnans (mountain ash) mitigates against
the use of the oven dry or the Air dry volume, because it is extremely
unlikely that two pieces of wood from even the same stick will ever
collapse in exactly the same way. Reduction in volume is also
important, and in certain species, particularly some of the eucalypts, it
occurs at a relatively high moisture content.
For obvious reasons, none of the above methods (a) to (g) comply
with these conditions. Useful results have been obtained when the
oven dry weight and volume green have been taken as the basis for
calculation, but these conditions are not suitable when the sample to
be tested is in an air dry state and some shrinkage or collapse has
occurred. However, it was considered probable that prolonged soaking
in water would tend to restore the sample to approximately its volume
green, and in this way overcome changes in volume due to shrinkage
and collapse. With the idea of studying the possibilities of developing
a standard based on the oven dry weight and volume when soaked, the
following points were investigated :—
(i) Time of soaking im water necessary to bring kiln dry and
air dry samples to constant volume, the size and form of
specimen being kept within certain hmits.
(ii) Comparison of results obtained with the suggested method,
using green, air dry, kiln dry, and oven dry samples from
the same stick. 1
=e -
et
9
(ii) Comparison of results obtained by the suggested method with
those obtained on the ‘basis of the oven.dry weight and
the oven dry volume, using the same samples.
(iv) Effect of prolonged soaking on the ultimate oven dry weight
(1.e., loss due to solution of extractives).
(v) Variation within a tree and within a species.
(vi) The possibilities of the method as a standard, both for
general purposes and for purposes of identification.
With reference to (iv) above, it was recognized that in the case of
certain species the loss 6f weight on soaking might appreciably affect
the oven dry weight. Hence it was decided to obtain the oven dry
weight of the sample used for soaking by calculation from the average
of those of the adjacent samples, and to compare this calculated oven dry
weight with that obtained by oven drying the sample after soaking.
3. Experimental Procedure.
The details of the method employed are as follows:—Three adjacent
cross sections + inch to 4 inch thick were cut at least 2 inches. from
one end of the sample. These were kept together and trimmed to
approximately 235 inches x 1 inch, care being taken to secure only sound
heartwood. (See Diagram I.) The two outside portions were marked
with the laboratory number of the sample and a large M, while the
cenire-piece was marked with the laboratory number and a large D.
After marking, all three were immediately transferred to an air-tight
container preparatory to weighing. The two samples marked M were
seraped free from splinters and sawdust, weighed together, and
Discram I.—Showing the method of cutting moisture content and density
samples for use in the determination of density.
‘
10
transferred to an oven maintained at 105° C. When no further loss
of weight was noticed, the oven dry weight was recorded. The sample
D was scraped, weighed, and immediately immersed in water for a
period sufficient to secure a constant volume. The volume was
determined in the usual way by displacement of water*, care first being
taken, however, to remove any excess water from the soaked sample by
means of a cloth. The oven dry weight of sample D was calculated
according to the following formula:
O.D. weight of M
Original weight of M
The specific gravity of the sample was then calculated by dividing the
oven dry weight (calculated) by the volume of the soaked sample. By
multiplying this figure by 62.5, the density in lbs. per cubie feet was
obtained. The oven dry weight of sample D, when re-dried after the
determination of volume soaked, was also recorded.
O.D. weight of D = eriginal weight of D x
4. Experimental Results.
1. Experiments were carried out which showed that the method
employed for obtaining the oven dry weight of the density sample—
i.e., by calculation from the known moisture content of the samples
taken from either side of it—was reliable.
2. The time necessary for the density sample to reach a constant
volume by the continued soaking of that sample was investigated. This
time is naturally dependent, to some extent, on the original moisture
content. It was found that samples with as low as 11 per cent. moisture
required five to six days immersion under water to ensure their
reaching a constant volume. Results obtained with two of the species
investigated, using samples approximately 23 inches x 1 inch from
eross sections + inch to 4 inch thick, are shown in Table I.
Taste 1.—Showing Time necessary to reach Constant Volume (Soaked).
| Volume in ¢.c. at end of—
Name of Wood. 7 Woe Tipe
ist day. 2nd day.
| 4th day. ' 6th day.
. faces, TOPOS NCEP gh
Bemictocatyn robe | ae aed 14-8 | 18
E pilulans Ne : | 171 177. 18*1 18*1
3. Using four samples from different specimens of F. regnans, a
species in which collapse during drying is very common, the following
tests were made :—
(a) In the first place, the volume of the samples green from the
saw was determined, after which they were soaked three days in water
and the volume again determined. The samples,although in a very
wet state when cut—moisture content approximately 100 per cent. on
the oven dry weight—had apparently collapsed slightly, and the soaking
for three days in all cases caused a very slight increase in volume and
subsequent slight decrease in the values for density. -(See Table II.)
Apparently, slight collapse can occur even at very high moisture
contents. It will, therefore, always be advisable to immerse samples
for a few days before determining density, even if they are in a green
condition and apparently at their greatest volume.
* The displacement being determ‘ned indirectly by measuring the buoyant force exerted by the
sample on total immersion in water..
il
Taste Il.—Density of Samples of E. regnans.
" | ¥ ) ,
Xo. ae | olan $f. SDendity om’) 5 dayntnder |, Deislty od
: (gms.) | (c.c.) i(bs. per cu. ty a (Ibs. per cu. ft.)
BY SE) sto be T EYEE Re EEO Pit TIDID OUT TO ONG ey
1A1ID 18°9 40°1 + |, 29° 40°7 = ss 29°10
1B1D 26°2 4694 | 35°2 46°9 34°9
1C1D 17°4 37°0 29°4 37°5. | 29°0
1D2D 16°3 36°4 | 280 37°2 | 27°4
- i
_ (6) Further experiments were carried out with the same samples of
EB. regnans. In the first experiment, they were allowed to dry at room
temperature in the sun for three days, by which treatment the moisture
content was reduced considerably and the samples had collapsed to
some extent. They were then immersed for two days and the volume
subsequently obtained. The results showed that there was practically
no difference from the original soaked volume. (See Table III.) In
a second experiment, these same samples were dried in the sun and on
top of an oven, until the moisture content had been reduced to
approximately 12 per cent. There was evidence of considerable
collapse. They were then soaked for four days and the volume of each
determined. This was again practically identical with the original
soaked volume. (See Table ITI.)
“Taste LIL. regnans—Results of Expervment (b).
: Moisture : Moisture | — |
-} content after {| Caicniated | Volume content after | Volume
No. of } 3. days’ air O.D. after 2 Density: | 9 days in‘sun after 4 Density.
Sample.| drying at weight. ’ (lbs. per | and on top of days’ (lbs. per
"i room (gms.) 7 eu. ft.) oven. soaking. | cu. ft.)
‘| temperature. (c.c. (percent. | (cc) |
“(per cent.) °
, AA Herm
1AID}. _27°0 -18°9 41°0 | 28°8
1BID} —=—_.29°8 26°2 } | .46°7 35°1
1C1ID } —s_- 338°3 17°4 phe? fy eo Tee
1D2D} —-65°6 16°3 | 37°0 | 27°6
abe :
(ec) The same samples of EF. regnans were finally oven dried at
| 105°" @., and thus subjected to the most severe drying conditions.
Soaking for six days was sufficient to restore them to their original
{ soaked yolume within the limits of experimental error. (See Table IV.)
Bs Tasre I'V.—AZ. regnans—Results of Experiment (c).
>
9 ‘on : }
: ; afk. 733 Volume soaked :
Calculated O.D. Weight. = / Density.
ai b (gms,) ag j (6 res de (lbs. acon it.)
a ' .C.
ror Ros of 7078) |. 1 IGA | lane Domes
1A1ID 4. Gee 40°5 29°2
IBID... cat 26°2 47°0 34°8
ICID ... as 17°4 37°0 29°4
1D2D .! asl 16°3 363 23+]
;
“f et - ( : :
4 The Suggested method was shown to give more uniform results
oe a a species than that based on the oven dry weight and the
oven dry volume. Up to the present the latter basis for calculation has
been the one most commonly adopted for the determination of specifie
+
3
12
gravity and density. A number of samples of jarrah (#. margimata)
and karri (H. diversicolor) were used, and the new method outlined
above was followed in the determination of density. At the same time.
portions of the same samples were used for the determination of density
by one of the older methods, namely, that based on the ratio of oven dry
weight and oven dry volume.* Thus direct comparison of results by the
two methods using the same samples was possible (see Table V.). It
will be noted on examination of these results that method (i1)—i.e., the
proposed standard—gives the more uniform results, the range im the
case of the jarrah samples examined being 38.9 to 45.8 lb. per eubic
foot, a difference of 6.9 (18% on the lower figure), while the correspond-
ing range with method (ii) is 43.8 to 58.5 lb. per enbic foot, a differ-
ence of 14.7 (33°% on the lower figure). This larger variation with
method (ii) is due to the uneven shrinkage of the samples both prior
to and during oven drying; causing marked divergencies in the oven
dry volume. .
Taste V—Results of Density Determinations—K arri and Jarrah.
Density in Ibs. per cu. f€.
Name. No. of Moisture 1
Sample. Content. (1) Based on O.D. | (2) Based on O.D:
weight and volume}weight and volume
when soaked. oven dry.
%
E. diversicolor (Karri) Al 30°0 45° 6 56°4
* Ef B6 36°0 41°0 53°6
a e C10 32°0 46°1 po72
3 % D13 37:3 46°1 56°8
35 bs 3 29°7 37°9 46°8
£. marginata (Jarrah) A2 butt 25°9 40°3 47°6
ta ; A6 crown 26°6 44°4 53°1
“7 55 B7 3374 39°9 50°4
H ah Cll 39°6 38°9 49°2
& “4 Di4 29°7 45°3 58°5
5 = 903 28°4 45°8 55°0
g * 904 283 "\30°3 46°2
g 4 .. | 905 29°8 40°1 45°6
a a .. | 906 31°9 43°7 53°8
5 4 so OU 31°2 40°5 47°5
8 ss .. | 908 258Y 40°7 48°7
Pe ‘3 909 3179 42°4 50°0
a Hil 910 30°6 39°7 46°2
‘5 a 911 28°1 41°7 50°0
o 5 912 32°2 41°5 48°1
ES Je 913 30°2 41°9 48°8
os B 914 25°6 40°9 47°5
nr a3 915 26°9 41°5 48°8
2 4 916 30°2 40°8 47°5
+ 2 | 917 30°4 39°0 43°8
, es 918 31°8 44°0) 50°7
a5 a 919 29°9 41°8 48°8 ©
» - 920 29°9 42°4 46°9
5. By using the method described above, the question of the loss of
weight due to prolonged soaking of the density sample in water 1s not
a problem, as the oven dry weight of the sample is obtained otherwise.
However, it was considered necessary te show that the loss of weight
I a Se
* Po obtain the oven dry volumes, the hot oven dry samples were, after weighing, dipped into melted
paraffin and allowed to drain. Excess parafiin was removed by scraping with a knife, and the volume -
determined by displacement of water in the usual way. (See footnote page 10).
13
on soaking was sufficient to cause an appreciable difference in density
if the oven dry weight was determined on the sample after soaking. For
this purpose, the actual oven dry weights of a number of samples of
different species of the genus Hucalyptus were determined after the
samples had been used for determination of soaked volume. The result-
ing figures were compared with those obtained for the same samples by
calculation according to the method outlined. Typical results for each
species investigated are shown in Table VI.
Taste VIi.—Fffect of Loss of Weight, due to Prolonged Soaking, on
Density Results.
|
Actual Density
No. of | Calculated |O.D. weight (in Ibs. per cu. ft.).
Name. Sample. oe weight after Difference.
(1). soaking TW, aOR Vor ae es
| (2). Using (1). | Using (2).
—— SERA s) — aa a
BE. crebra .. ae 1194 | 18°83 | 18°80 0°03 | 58°7 58°7
EB. sideroxylon = 1319 14°45 | 14°15 0°30 53°9 52°7
E, siderophloia - 990 16°70 .| 16°69 | O96 57°9 57°5
EB. longifolia “a 508 | 14°99 14°50 0°49 50°7 48°9
B. tereticornis .. | 1306 | 21°62 | 21°13 0°49 49° 4° 48°2
EB. polyanthemos .. | 1512 16°55 15°80 0°75 55°2 52°7
E. paniculata ae 720} 11°02 10°75 0°27 54°9 53°5
B. rostrata. . a 617 | 10°47 10°00 0°47 45°6 43°6
E. resinifera zl 1295 17°22 | 17°05 0°17 48°7 48°2
E.gomphocephala .. 1375 |» 13°80 13°49 0°31 46°9 45°8
E. patens .. ae 1378 15°01 14°79 0°22 44°5 43°7
B. redunca var. elata 1391 16°15 15°75 0°40 56°0 54°7
BR. salubris Ha 1418 | 3b°53 11°47 0°06 51°6 51°2
E. salmonophloia .. 1415 12°61 12°58 0°03 56°3 56°0
. pilularis Pid wad 2: yf 16°65 16°25 Oa. dae ek 36°1
EB. piperita 1443 14°00 14°00 | tt 35°2 35°2
EB. corymbosa 1452 12°72 12°69 0°03 | 44°0 43°9
EB. hemiphloia 1548 | 13°81 13°50 0°31 | 55°5 54°2
6. It has been shown that the method under investigation gives more
uniform results because variations due to shrinkage and collapse have
been overcome. For this reason, it was considered that it would be of
interest to apply the method to the determination of the density of
samples from different parts of the one tree and from different trees ot
a species. For the former investigation, samples were collected from a
red ironbark ( #. sideroxylon) and were taken from the trunk at levels
of 5 feet, 15 feet, 25 feet, and 35 feet from the ground. The distribu-
tion of the eighteen samples thus collected is shown in Diagram I.
The results obtained for heartwood samples are shown in Table VIL
It was not intended to make a systematic study of the variations of
density within a tree, but only to observe the uniformity of results
obtained, using the proposed method. It will be seen that the varia-
tion is not great, the density decreasing slightly with the height of the
sample from the ground.
Taste VIL—Variation of Density in Samples from Different Positrons
in the Same Tree. \
. aoe msi
Position No. | he ook 0k ft.). | Position No. ina ae = it.).
2 | 56°1 ll 5a°4
3 | 56°7 12 54°6
5 5404 14 53°9
6 | 56°5 ) 15 54°5
§ 9 \ 55°8 | 16 54°7
10 56°3 17 53°0
——————————————————— mania ae
14
ot al Rr,
i
li ea
iiss
Cross Section No. 1. Cross Section No. 2.
5 feet from ground. 15 feet from ground.
Cross Section No. 3. Cross Section No. 4.
25 feet from ground. 35 feet from ground.
Diagram I1—Showing the distribution of the samples of red ironbark
used in studying the variation of density within the tree.
Results obtained by this method for a number of samples from
different species are shown in Table VIII. The different samples for
each species were obtained from different localities, and were taken from
the heartwood at various positions in the tree. Again no attempt was
made to study systematically the variation of density within a species,
but it is of interest from the aspect of wood identification to observe the
general uniformity of results obtained for each species using the method
under investigation.
Taste VIIT.—Density Values for a Number of Hucalypts.
Number of Density (in Ibs. per eu. ft.).
Name. samples
examined.
Maximuin. Minimum. Average.
EH. crebra ~.. a Mh 15 59°2 hae 56°1
E. sideroxylon 46 4! 15 57°2 52°8 54°9
E. siderophloia ut St ll 59°2 55°8 574
E. paniculata “ ‘a 10 59°2 51°2 55°7
E. polyanthemos.. - 10 58°6 52°6 54°9 .
E. rostrata. . Ke ui 14 47°2 37°8 43°6
E. resinifera a 4 12 50°4 40°8 45°9
E.gomphocephala .. vs 11 56°0 46°9 51s
E. patens .. bs 1¢ 12 48°5 37°5 42°77
E. vedunca var. elata A 12 60°6 53°6 57°9- °
E. accedens ot Ns 13 59*1 52°5 57°4
FE. salubris 77 7 1) 60°0 51°6 55°1
E. salmonophloia .. ye 10 58°4 53°8 56°0
E. tereticornis 43 9% 9 51°2 45°7 48°5
EH. marginata ame te 23 45°8 38°9 41°6
E.. sieberiana 9 56°1 37°6 45°8
#. obliqua” ag “4 9 42°8 28°4 35°4
E. gigantea - f i 35°8 31°0 34°1
E. regnans’ ae = 9 35°0 23°9 27°9
H. pilularis si, a 21 52°7 36°6 44*3
E.. microcorys 9 55°8 aed 51°8
——-
>.
- 4 .
desirable,. and these will be carried out and reported later.
q
15
5. Discussion of Results.
As a result of these preliminary experiments, it seems that the pro-
posed method for determining the specific gravity and density of wood
is quite satisfactory. The figures actually obtained are lower than
those given by the use of other methods. The basis adopted for caleu-
lation, oven dry weight and volume when soaked, implies the lowest
possible weight and the greatest volume.
Soaking under water has been shown to bring a sample to constant
volume within five to six ave and the experiments with 2. regnans, a
timber in which collapse is very prevalent, demonstrated that such
soaking definitely returned collapsed samples to their green dimensions.
Thus the treatment by means of which the sample is brought to its
greatest volume apparently removes many of the difficulties caused by
shrinkage and collapse which materially affect values for oven dry or
air dry volume. Owing to the effects of collapse, the density figures for
two samples from the one stick based on oven dry weight and oven dry
volume, may differ widely. On the other hand, it has been shown that,
with the proposed method, the soaked volume will not vary, and results
based on it will always be comparable.
The determination of the oven dry weight of a sample after it has
been soaked in water is not recommended, because it has been shown
that there is in many cases a definite loss of weight due to the solution
of extractives. The method suggested for determination of the oven
dry weight of the density sample by calculation has proved quite satis-
factory and reliable. In cases where the sample to be used for density
determination is too small for treatment as suggested, it would be advis-
able to determine the oven dry weight of the sample before soaking te
constant volume. This procedure is, however, not recommended for
general use because of the danger of the splitting of the sample during
the oven drying, and because it has yet to be shown that oven dry
samples of all woods will return to green dimensions on soaking.
The knowledge of the density of different species is of great value.
since it has been shown by the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory(3)
that there is a relationship between density and mechanical properties.
Thus it is important that the method employed for the determination
be such that results are generally comparable, and that any errors due
to abnormal shrinkage, collapse, &e., are obviated. It is suggested that
the method outlined in this paper is one which will give the most
uniform results, and for this reason should be employed in the study
of the density of the numerous Australian woods. Density may have
an important bearing on the development of keys for the identification
of these woods, and accordingly it is necessary that all the results
obtained be based on the same method. The preliminary work described
in this paper shows that the method suggested should prove to be most
suitable in this connexion. It may be argued that it is often necessary
to obtain the density of a sample within a short time, in which case
soaking for five to six days would be out of the question. However, if
the shrinkage of the sample is known, it would be possible to obtain an
approximate value for the soaked volume, and thus record the informa-
tion according to standard. On the other hand, this procedure will have
to be used with caution, as collapse may have occurred.
‘It is ‘récognized that further investigations with the method are
16
+
6. References to Literature.
(1) “Standard Methods of Testing small clear Specimens of Timber.”
American Society for Testing Materials. A.S.T.M. Standards, 1927.
D 148-27.
(2) “ Mechanical Properties of Woods grown in the United States.” U.8.
Department of Agriculture, Bulletin 556, 1923.
(3) “The Relation of the Shrinkage and Strength Properties of Wood to its
Specific Gravity.” U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bulletin 676, 1919.
(4) “Manual for the Inspection of Aircraft Wood and Glue for the United
States Navy.” U.S. Nayy Department, Bureau of Aeronauties, Wash
ington, 1928. '
(5) “Methods of Testing small clear Specimens of Timber.” British Engineer-
ing Standards Association. Standard Specification No. 373, 1929.
(6) “The Mechanical and Physical Properties of Himalayan Spruce and Silver
Fir.” (Government of India, Central Publication Branch, Caleutta).
Forest Bulletin 69, 1926.
(7) “Canadian Douglas Fir—Its Mechanical and _ Physical Properties.”
Department of the Interior, Canada, Forestry Branch, Bulletin 60, 1918.
(7a) The Rate of Growth and Density of the Wood of White Spruce,” Depart-
ment of the Interior, Canada, Forest Service, Circular 30, 1931.
M. H. Scott, S. African Journai of Science 23: 478-485, 1926.
(8)
(9) G. A. Julius—“* The Physical Characteristics of the Hardwoods of
Western Australia.” Western Australian Timber Tests. Government
Printer, Perth, 1906.
(10) E. H. F. Swain—*‘ Timbers and Forest Products of Queensland.” Qneens-
land Forest Service, 1928.
(11) R. T. Baker—* The Hardwoods of Australia.’ Government Printer,
Sydney, 1919.
(12) 8. H. Clarke—Forestry (London) 4: 95, 1930.
H. J. GREEN.
GOVERNMENT PRINTER.
MELBOURNE.
PAMPHLET No. 22.
as
=
4 Chemistry of Australian
: ‘Timbers
Part I. an Study of the Lignin
Determination
| isi on rs Forest Betis Technical Paper No. 3)
By
—
Cae, rs
MELBOURNE, 1931 theme Ses
Cuierat Pou Office, Melbourne, for ppinsmisiion thvoagh the pod aan ares
ey set up and printed in ekg : ;
MEMBERS vg te
Executive - ages WY ah Sars
Sir George Julius, Kt., B.Sc., B.E. 4
(Chairman),
A. C. D. Rivett, Esq:; M.A,., D. S60
— Chairmen of State Committees:
Professor R. D. Watt, M.A., B. Sc. ries
ee : - (New South W tel
Sir David O, Masson, K.B. E., F.R.S., &.~
2 ( Victoria),
Professor H. C. Richards, D.Sc.
Wvscasdenill: mae ey 3
W. J. Young, Esq., C.B.E. st
‘(South Australia),
B. Perry, Esq. ie
(Western Coe
Pp. E. Keam, Esq. rt LEY.
(Tasmania). ieee Beebe rl
ms
Co-opied flembers:
Professor E, J. Goddard, B.A.,. D.Sc., oe
> Professor H, A. Woodruff, M. R-C.V.S.. &e, ie
t
314 Abbert Street, = ae ; ee
East Melbourne, ©.
Vistorid 3025 2
PAMPHLET No. 22.
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
The Chemistry of Australian
‘Timbers
Part 1.—A Study of the Lignin
Determination
| (Division of Forest Products.—Technical Paper No. 3)
By
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
W. E. COHEN, BSc., and H. E. DADSWELL, MSc. |
MELBOURNE, 1931
Registered at the General Post Office, Melbourne, for transmissson through the post as a book.
Wholly set up and printed in Australia
By Authority : H. J. Green, Government Printer, Melbourne
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CONT EIN FS:
PAGE
Foreword 3 ac “43 ac =e ; e 5
Summary “ = + A ¥ ; Pe 6
1. Introduction .. Be oe aS on Poe ae 7
2. Historical e ae ae =e se ee - 9
3. Outline of Investigation .. es 5 ate = : 1]
4. Experimental Details—
(i) Preparation of samples Sa - 7 te. “hi 12
(ii) Extraction with neutral solvents =% = Sia a 12
(iii) Extraction with alkaline solations— He tf ze 13
(a) Qualitative ss a2 are Se ae 13
(5) Quantitative a7 oe ora 5. oe 14
5. Results and Discussion .. = =< Ete =i se 15
6. Conclusions 26
7. Literature cited Ac - He -(c = — 27
FOREWORD.
Technical Paper No. 3 covers investigations on two aspects of wood
analysis, which have arisen during the progress of work on a project
(C1-1) of this Division. This project concerns a study of the chemical
composition of Australian hardwoods. From this main investigation
several minor ones have arisen with definite economic aspects.
During the course of the work two problems developed, viz., the
proper sampling of the wood for analysis and the accurate estimation
of lignin.
Methods for both of these have been standardized in the United
States, but certain characteristics of Australian hardwoods brought
out what appear to be serious errors in the standard practices. The
errors only become marked when the wood contains large quantities of
more or less brittle resinous matter. While several workers have been
aware of the difficulty, as is indicated in the review of the literature,
no one appears to have recognized the possibility of large errors in
sampling or to have demonstrated a method of determining lgnin
suitable for all woods and free from the errors caused by resinous
material not removed by standard procedure.
This paper deals with an attempt to demonstrate these errors and
to suggest how they can be overcome. It is the first paper of a series
on the chemical composition of Australian hardwoods.
I. BH. BOAS,
Chief, Division of Forest Products.
June, 1931.
SUMMARY.
1. Representative samples of the Eucalypts in particular, and of all
woods in general, cannot be obtained unless all of the wood is reduced
to powder and included in the sample.
2. Microchemical studies have shown that the Eucalypts, and the
softwoods, hemlock and spruce, contain substances which are of an
extraneous nature and which are not soluble in benzene-alcohol.
3. By means of the microscope, these substances have been shown
to remain with lignin when it is isolated by the standard procedure.
4. Microscopic examinations of wood powder have shown that a
number of organic solvents and some neutral salts do not dissolve the
extraneous material from Eucalypts, but that weak solutions of sodium
hydroxide readily remove it.
5. A sodium hydroxide solution, when applied to thin sections,
removes all visible extraneous material in 80 minutes, without, as far
as can be seen by the microscope, attack on the wood structure.
6. Quantitative chemical analyses have been used to demonstrate
that the sodium hydroxide in weak solutions does not attack the lignin
of hemlock and spruce, the apparent loss in lignin being due to the
removal of extraneous material from the ray cells.
7. The chemical studies which have been extended to jarrah, red
ironbark, and mountain ash, have shown that reasonable values for
lignin can be obtained when wood powder is previously purified by
treatment with weak sodium hydroxide solution.
8. A procedure for this preliminary purification is outlined.
=
The Chemistry of Australian Timbers.
Part 1—The Study of the Lignin Determination.
1. Introduction.
The results of a preliminary investigation of the chemical com-
position of certain members of the genus Hucalyptus indicated that an
abnormally high hgnin content was obtained when the standard method
of estimation, as adopted by the U.S. Forest Products Laboratory, was
followed. This method(1) is:—Two grams of air-dried sawdust (80-100
mesh) are extracted for four hours with a minimum boiling point
mixture of eae and alcoho] (2:1). The extracted wood is dried
and treated with 72 2 per cent. aie: acid in the cold for sixteen hours,
the acid diluted to 3 per cent., and the solution boiled for two hours
under reflux. The residue is then filtered on a tared alundum crucible,
washed free from acid with hot water, dried at 105 deg. C., and w eighed
as lignin.
In the majority of cases the recorded apparent lignin content for
numerous North American hardwoods is in the vicinity of 25 per cent.,
based on the oven dry weight of the wood analysed( 2). On the other
hand, the apparent lignin content of jarrah (Z. marginata) varied
from 38.9 per cent. to 54.5 per cent., depending on the sample examined.
This high lignin content and wide variation within a species was also
found for members of the ironbark group, namely, red ironbark (£.
sideroxylon), 28.0 per cent. to 40.5 per cent.; broad-leaved ironbark
(f. siderophloia), 33.2 per cent. to 50.1 per cent.; narrow-leaved iron-
bark (2. crebra), 36.9 per cent. to 48.3 per cent.; grey ironbark (H.
paniculata), 28.2 per cent. to 36.1 per cent.; and grey gum (2. pro-
pinqua), 34.2 per cent. to 38.8 per cent. Certain other species on
examination similarly showed high lignin contents. These figures
indicated that the existing standard procedure, outlined above, resulted
in the isolation of lignin contaminated by other materials. A micro-
scopic examination of lignin isolated from the above woods dea the
presence of large numbers of particles obviously dissimilar from the
powdered lignin and apparently of a gum-like or resinous nature (see
Figure 1, page 8).
When thin sections of each of the above species were examined
microscopically, large quantities of dark-coloured substances were
observed in the vessels, ray cells, wood parenchyma, and even the lumina
of the wood fibres. After careful examination, it was concluded that
this material was the same as that isolated with the lignin.
The extraction of benzene-aleohol is carried out to remove resins,
gums, and other materials which would resist the treatment with 72 per
cent. sulphuric acid, and consequently would be isolated with the
lignin. Although it has not been claimed that this solvent removes
all substances from the wood that would otherwise be isolated with
lignin, it has been used with apparent success in a large number of
lignin determinations on North American species(2). That this is not
the case for woods of the genus Hucalyptus was exemplified by the
analysis of one sample of jarrah which, after prolonged extraction
C.7081.—2
8
with benzene-alecohol (2:1), lost 1 per cent. and still showed an apparent
lignin content of 54.5 per cent. While in this imstance the solubility
in benzene-alcohol was extremely low, it was found, in the case of the
Fig.
Fic. 1.—A photomicrograph of lignin isolated from jarrah
by the standard procedure and consequentiy con-
taminated with gum-like material. The latter is clearly
seen as well defined black opaque objects, which in a
number of instances are reflecting the light. %X 86.
ironbark group of eucalypts, that this factor varied according to the
species. For example, samples of red ironbark had a greater amount
of material soluble in benzene-alcohol (8.0 per cent. to 29.5 per cent.)
than other members of the group (less than 10 per cent.). This varia-
tion depends on the nature, and hence the solubility, of the material in
the vessels, rays, wood parenchyma, and lumina of the fibres.
(NorEe.—In addition, these substances are very brittle and are readily reduced
to a fine dust in a mill, thus giving rise to a variation in the quantity retained
on a 100-mesh sieve, even for two samples prepared from one piece of wood.
When a’ sample of wood is ground in a mill and sieved to separate that portion
which passes through an 80-mesh sieve, it is apparent that any brittle material
in the wood will tend to concentrate in the reject passing through the smaller
meshed sieve. For this reason, the existing standard procedure for sampling
is unsatisfactory. Serious sampling errors arise in those woods that contain
much of these resinous materials, and even in the softwoods the error may be
appreciable. In support of this argument, the following results of analyses
are included. In this case, an 80-100 mesh sample (A) of red ironbark was
obtained, together with a sample (C) of the rejected material (passing through
the 100-mesh sieve). After removing a smaller sample of (A) sullicient for
analytical purposes, the remainder was ground to pass through the 100-mesh
sieve, thus providing sample (B). The three samples (A, B, and C) were then
examined by the standard procedures and the following results, based on the
oven dry weight of wood, were obtained :—-
(A) (B) (C)
Per cent. Per cent. Per cent.
Soluble in aleohol .. - ss 17.0 fy (2s 26.6
Soluble in benzene-alcohol (2:1) im 5.4 53 8.1
Soluble in ether re i 1.8 eye 2.6
Soluble in N/4 sodium hydroxide ae Slay PAE) 43.]
Lignin aid ee sy ee OME 9.) 41.7
Cellulose 5 - 23 ae 40.7 39.6 34.5
Pentosans in wood .. — ar 16.2 16.9 14.9
It was also noticed, by microscopic examination, that in the 80-100 mesh
material, there were some comparatively large pieces of free resinous substances,
and some still enclosed in wood cells that had not been completely disintegrated.
Any procedure, therefore, which rejects the finest product of the grinding must
be unsatisfactory. The sample will not be representative of the original wood.
In order to yield a true sample, the whole of the wood used must be ground
to pass the desired mesh. The failure to observe this precaution in the past
throws doubt upon the accuracy of many published analyses of woods.)
Since benzene-alcohol failed to dissolve the material completely,
even in a fine state of division, the lignin determination was
correspondingly affected. The problem then amounted to the develop-
ment of some other method of purification. Two alternatives
immediately presented themselves, (1) the use of other neutral solvents,
(11) the application of weak alkaline solutions. The latter are known
to dissolve free kino, which, in the case of a large number of species of
the genus Hucalyptus occurs as an exudation from, and as gum pockets
or veins within, the tree. It was considered that the materials in the
vessels, rays, ee of the wood were closely related to, if not identical
with, this kino. In this present publication they have been grouped and
referred to as “extraneous material.” Thus. preliminary purification
with dilute alkali to remove this material seemed to be a possibility,
but the danger of the removal of some of the lignin complex by such
treatment would need to be considered.
2. Historical.
Schorger(3) has stated that, under present conditions, all substances
insoluble in the acids used in the lignin determination are estimated
as lignin. He considered that, in addition to extraction with benzene-
aleohol, a preliminary purification that would not remove lignin was
needed, and he suggested dilute ammonia for this purpose.
Some of the early workers on wood chemistry, viz., Stackmann(4)
and Schuppe (5), used both neutral and alkaline solutions to dissolve
the gums, resins, fats, &c., from the wood preparatory to the isolation
of lignin.
The extraction with alkaline solutions did not, however, find favour
because, according to Pringsheim and Magnus(6), the presence of
acetates after treatment of wood with cold alkali solutions was taken,
with a good deal of assurance, as an index of the presence of acetyl
groups in lignin.
Dore(7) also reported that the cold alkali treatment completely
removed the acetyl groups from the wood, as he found very little
remaining in lignin subsequently isolated by means of 72 per cent.
10
sulphuric acid. (It is recognized that alkaline solutions will remove
acetyl groups, but it is to be remembered that any treatment with dilute
acid, such as 3 per cent. sulphurie acid, will also remove them.) In
addition, Hawley and Wise(8) have stated that no lgnin fraction
has as yet been isolated from wood that was capable of yielding more
than minimal amounts of acetic acid when treated with acids or alkalis.
In spite of this loss of acetyl groups, Dore(9) recommended the
preliminary purification of hardwoods by consecutive extractions with
benzene-alcohol, water, and cold 5 per cent. sodium hydroxide solution.
He found that the methoxyl content of live oak was not affected by
this purification, although the acetyl groups were almost completely
eliminated. The lhgnin content of the wood purified in this manner
was found to be 20.3 per cent., while that extracted only with alcohol
and benzene varied between 22.1 per cent. and 25.5 per cent. He
claimed that these treatments removed all adventitious substances, but
did not injure either the cellulose or the lignin.
For coniferous woods, Dore(10) specified a preliminary purification
using benzene and alcohol consecutively. On the other hand,
yon “Euler (11) claimed that the preliminary extraction of the wood
with alcohol removed some constituents related to, and properly belonging
to, the hgnin.
Bechmann, Liesche, and Lehmann (12), in a study on the extraction
of lignin from both hardwoods and softwoods (previously purified with
ether) by means of sodium hydroxide, found that, after 48 hours in the
cold followed by six hours boiling under reflux with 1.5 per cent.
sodium hydroxide, the yield of so-called lignin only amounted to about
3 per cent. of the oven dry wood.
Klason(13) has attempted to obtain uncontaminated lignin by
washing the product obtained by acid treatment with hot alcohol to
remove resins and fats, and with N/10 potassium hydroxide to
neutralize residual sulphuric acid.
Preparatory to the isolation of lignin from pine wood for constitu-
tion studies, Friedrich and Diwald(14) freed the wood meal from
resins by extraction with benzene-alcohol and from gums by extracting
it four times (each of 36 hours) with 5 per cent. sodium hydroxide at
room temperature. In a subsequent paper, Friedrich and Briida(15)
have emphasized the necessity for this method of purification, in order
to avoid complications in the study of the constitution of lignin from
white beech. Horn(16) has studied the purification of wood from
hemicelluloses and gums, using cold 5 per cent. sodium hydroxide
solution in addition to benzene-alcohol (1:1). He expressed the opinion
that, in the presence of sodium hydroxide, lignin may be oxidized or
its components split off, possibly by s saponification, and that the residue
may be altered. He recommended the use of 5 per cent. sodium hydroxide
in the cold for de-gumming wood, even though he considered that a
part of the lignin had been removed.
According to Schorger(17) it remains to be shown that such alkaline
treatments do not remove a portion of the lignin. On the other hand,
titter(18) in his work on the distribution of lignin, has stated that,
after treatment of wood sections at 52 deg. to 54 deg. C. with 3 per
cent. hydrochloric acid and with 3 per cent. sodium hydroxide alterna-
tively for a total period of one and a half hours with each reagent, the
middle lamella remained intact with no apparent signs of solvent action
by the acid-alkali treatment.
Il
A number of investigators have of recent years published results
of analyses of wood after extraction with sodium hydroxide. Hawley
and Campbell (19) found that, on extracting 60-80 mesh sawdust from
sitka spruce with 1 per cent. sodium hydroxide for one hour at 100 deg.
C., the apparent lignin content on the basis of the original oven dry
wood was reduced from 29.3 per cent. to 27.7 per cent. Ross and
Hill(20) found that on extraction with 1 per cent. sodium hydroxide
for six hours at 100 deg. C., the apparent lignin value was reduced
in the case of spruce, balsam fir, poplar, chestnut, and cherry. They
also ascertained that the loss on alkali extraction was practically
constant after six hours, and raised the question as to whether the
alkali removed further impurities or just slowly attacked the lignin, if
considered to be a homogeneous body. They formed the opinion that
lignin obtained from wood thus purified should be valuable raw
material for a lignin investigation. Subsequently(21), they studied
the progressive extraction of chestnut sawdust with boiling 1 per cent.
sodium hydroxide, and estimated the lignin in the residues obtained.
They found that the final residue was almost completely resistant to
the solvent action of the dilute alkaline solution employed, and that
there was apparently a definite ratio of lignin to cellulose in the wood
that had been extracted for 24 hours. Campbell and _ Booth(22)
examined the heartwood and sapwood of English oak, and found that
the apparent lignin content was reduced in both when the 80-100 mesh
sawdust was treated for one hour with 1% sodium hydroxide at 100 deg.
C. (It is rather remarkable in this case that the lignin contents of
the purified sapwood and heartwood were in closer agreement than
before, and this is as one would expect.)
In no instance have attempts been made to define the alkali-soluble
portions of wood. In some cases, the apparent loss in lignin has been
explained by greater purification, ie., removal of gums, Wc., which
would otherwise contaminate the isolated lignin, while definite solution
of lignin has been assumed in other cases. There was not, however,
any conclusive evidence to prove that weak alkaline solutions do attack
and remove lignin from wood. Im addition, no other solvent was
suggested which could be applied to the eucalypts, without further
investigation, in order to remove the extraneous material. Ross and
Hill, as well as others, have shown that the difference between the
apparent lignin content on wood purified with benzene-alcohol and on
that purified with 1 per cent. sodium hydroxide solutions amounted to
about 3 per cent. These losses could be represented by resins, gums,
and extraneous matter generally which are insoluble in benzene-aleohol
but soluble in the sodium hydroxide solution, rather than a degradation
of the lignin. In any case, they are unimportant when it is considered
that as much as 60 per cent. of the material isolated as lignin from
some eucalypts after purification with benzene-alcohol, consists of
extraneous matter.
3. Outline of Investigation.
The main object of the investigation amounted to a search for a
reagent—organic, inorganic, neutral, or otherwise—that would dissolve
the extraneous substances in the eucalypts, but not the lignin. Another
important object was concerned with the preparation of true samples—
which subject has already been dealt with in the introduction.
12
Since the consensus of opinion seemed to be that weak alkaline
solutions do attack lignin, the possibilities of organic solvents and
neutral solutions were first explored. For this purpose, fine wood
powder was treated with a number of solvents and the purified material
examined microscopically for the presence of extraneous substances, and
chemically for the lignin content. The experiments were made with
hemlock, red ironbark, and jarrah, and only served to prove that some
organic solvents and some neutral salts neither removed all the
extraneous substances nor attacked the lignin. It therefore appeared
that further work with neutral reagents was not justified.
Jarrah having been found to contain a large amount of extraneous
material, tests with weak alkaline solutions were naturally first applied
to this wood, Studies were made qualitatively, quantitatively, and
microscopically, and certain very promising results were soon obtained,
in that weak solutions of sodium hydroxide were found to dissolve the
extraneous substances. It became necessary at this stage to prove that
the sodium hydroxide neither attacked the lignin nor affected the wood
structure in thin sections. For this purpose, hemlock wood powder was
treated with different strengths of weak sodium hydroxide solutions
for increasing periods of time and the effect on the lignin content
determined. At the same time, thin sections were similarly treated and
examined microscopically for any interference in the wood structure
that might have been caused. The experiments were extended to spruce,
red ironbark and mountain ash (#. regnans).
4, Experimental Details.
(1) Preparation of samples—Before proceeding with the study, it
was essential to ensure uniform and representative samples. The
difficulties arising from using s samples of 80-100 mesh have already been
discussed in the imtroduction. In view of these, the following conditions
were adhered to in the preparation of samples for analysis :—
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Fics. 2 and 3.—Cross and tangential sections of jarrah after extraction with benzene-
aicohol {2 : 1) showing the presence of extraneous material in rays, vessels,
parenchyma, and wood fibres. X 75.
Fie. 4.—Cross section cf jarrah which has been extracted with benzene-alcohol
(2 : 1) and subsequently treated with 72 per cent. sulphuric acid. The extraneous
material which existed in the lumina of the wood fibres can be seen to remain with
the lignin. xX 335.
¥ic. 5.—Tangential section of jarrah which has been treated with N/20 sodium
hydroxide for 80 minutes. That the extraneous material has not been com-
pletely removed by this treatment can be seen. X 75.
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Fic. 10.—Tangential section of hemlock
which has been extracted with benzene-
aleohol (2 : 1) and subsequently treated
with 72 per cent. sulphuric acid. The
material which occurred in the rays is
seen to remain with the lignin. X 75.
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Figs. 11 and 12.—Cross and tangential sections of hemlock after treatment with
N/8 sodium hydroxide for 80 minutes. The greater proportion of the material
which existed in the rays has been removed, and no alteration in the wood
structure is apparent. X 75.
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Fic. 13.—Tangential section of spruce after extraction with benzene-alcohol (2 : 1),
showing material still present in the ray cells. X 75.
Fic. 14.—Tangential section of spruce which has been extracted with benzene-alcohol
(2 : 1) and subsequently treated with 72 per cent. sulphuric acid. The material
which occurred in the rays is seen to remain with the lignin. % 75.
Fies. 15 and 16.—Cross and tangential sections of spruce after treatment with N/8
sodium hydroxide for 40 minutes, showing the absence of material from the rays and
no alteration of the wood structure. 75.
and 13 (spruce)), and which remained with the hgnin on treatment
with 72 per cent. sulphuric acid (Figures 10 (hemlock) and 14
(spruce) ). While this material is not considerable in the case of these
softwoods, there are such large quantities of it distributed throughout
the wood elements of the various species of the genus Hucalyptus, that
it becomes a serious factor; and hence the need for eliminating it
before estimating the lignin. The above results have led to the opinion
that benzene-alcohol is not a suitable reagent for purifying the wood
powder.
Tests have shown that other organic solvents and some neutral salt
solutions are ineffective in that they only partly remove the extraneous
substances. Following this, alkaline solutions were found to be more
satisfactory. Of these, we: aesodium hydroxide solutions gave the most
promising ‘results, because they removed the material with no apparent
attack on the wood structure. This was demonstrated by examination
of thin sections of hemlock, spruce, and jarrah after treatment with
the various strengths of sodium hydroxide according to the method
outlined above. The weakest solution used (N/20) did not remove the
material within a reasonable time. Figure 5 shows the material to be
still present in rather large quantities in jarrah after 80 minutes treat-
ment at 100 deg. C. The N/8 sodium hydroxide solution, however,
dissolved practically all of it in the same time (see Figures 6 and 7).
The N/8 sodium hydroxide solution removed the material from the
rays of spruce and hemlock, after 40 minutes treatment in the case of
the former, but at least 80 minutes was necessary in the latter case.
(See Figures 15 and 16 (spruce) and 11 and 12 (hemlock).) A close
examination of all treated sections did not reveal any evidence of attack
on the wood structure by the sodium hydroxide solutions,
In order to demonstrate quantitatively whether or not lignin is
removed by prolonged alkali treatment, the extraction of the wood
powder with three strengths of sodium hydroxide, namely, N/20, N/S,
N/4, was carried out for the different time intervals mentioned above.
The extracted wood was subsequently analyzed for lignin, which was
caleulated back to the oven dry weight of the original wood. The
maximum time of extraction (320 minutes) was considered sufficient
for all practical purposes. These conditions were applied in the first
place to hemlock, and it was found that there was an immediate
solution of material in the sodium hydroxide amounting to approxi-
mately 10 per cent., after which the amount of extraction gradually
increased with time and strength of alkali. (See Table 1 and Diagram
1.) It may be argued that the latter is due to a solution of lignin,
but it is more probable that part of the cellulose and the pentosans
are being slowly hydrolyzed. The difference in apparent lignin content
after 20 minutes extraction with sodium hydroxide from that after
benzene-alcohol treatment (see Table 1) is not regarded as due to loss
of lignin, but rather to the fact that extraneous materials otherwise
isolated with it have been removed by the alkali. The facts (1) that,
after 320 minutes extraction, the apparent lignin content is very little
different from that after only 20 minutes extraction (see Table 1),
and (ii) that this is the case for each of the three strengths of alkali
used, are taken as indicative that there has been no loss of ]jgnin.
These points are clearly demonstrated by the curves in Diagram 1.
The slight decrease in apparent lignin found when the extraction with
alkali was continued for periods longer than 20 minutes was due to the
22
isolation with the lignin in the latter case of small amounts of ex-
traneous materials which existed in the rays of the wood, and which
resisted to a certain extent the action of the alkali. This has been
substantiated by the microchemical work with thin sections, when it
was found that at least 80 minutes extraction with N/S sodium
hydroxide was necessary to remove all the extraneous materia] (see
Figures 11 and 12), although by far the greater part was removed
after 20 minutes. The effect of the alkali on the lignin must, then, be
considered to be very slight even when N/4 sodium hydroxide i is used.
UD
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Diagram |
!
Canadian Hemlock
10) 20 40 60 80 160 320
Time in Minutes.
DraGRamM 1.—Showing (i) the progress of extraction when
hemlock is treated with N/2C, N/8, and N/4 sodium
hydroxide for different periods ; and (ii) the lignin content
of the extracted wood based on the oven dry weight of
original wood.
When similar experiments were applied to spruce wood powder, the
results obtained were found to substantiate the conclusions drawn from
the results of the experiments with hemlock (see Table 1 and Diagram
2). These results again indicated that lignin isolated from wood
powder which has only been purified with benzene-aleohol was con-
taminated with extraneous material which, as in the case of hemlock,
amounted to about 3 per cent. of the oven dry wood. Microchemical
studies of thin sections of this wood showed that the extraneous material
was readily removed by the alkali, very little remaining after 40 minutes
treatment with N/S8 solution (see Figures 15 and 16). The lgnin
irves obtained when N//20 sodium hydroxide was used to purify both
fone and spruce wood, were found to remain flat after 80 minutes
treatment. On this evidence alone, the N/20 solution would have been
23
selected for the purification, but microchemical examinations showed
that it was not strong enough to remove all the extraneous material
within a reasonable time.
Eel | eee
“ho NaOH
‘4, NaOH
Soluble in "4Na0OH
of Oven-Dry Wood
ia
paca
i
NaOH
aaa
eke
Soluble in %
Per cent.
Soluble in “4oxNaOH
= eer ae
Sapadian Spruce
20 40 60 80 160 329
Time in Minutes.
DracraM 2.—Showing (i) the progress of extraction
when spruce is treated with N/20, N/8, and N/4 sodium
hydroxide for different periods ; and (ii) the lignin content
of the extracted wood based on the oven dry weight of
original wood.
When this quantitative study was extended to jarrah, it was found
that the material dissolved by sodium hydroxide amounted to over 40
per cent., whereas in spruce and hemlock it did not greatly exceed
20 per cent. even after prolonged extraction with solutions as concen-
trated as N/4. The greater part, representing the free material, was
practically dissolved in the first 40 minutes, and after 80-120 minutes
the rate of extraction became slower and more uniform (see Table
and Diagram 3). Concurrently, the apparent lignin was found to be
greatly reduced in the initial stages of treatment and rapidly approached
a constant value. In other words, it was reduced from 50.6 per cent.
in the benzene-aleohol extracted wood to less than 25 per cent. in the
wood extracted with sodium hydroxide for 20-40 minutes, and after
80 minutes extraction it decreased but slowly. On the evidence of
the microchemical studies, it was obvious that the early treatment
removed all the free extraneous material, that the solution proceeded
but at a decreasing rate as the sodium hydroxide penetrated the fibre
bundles, and that the slow decrease of apparent lignin in the later
stages was due to the gradual solution of the material from within the
lumina of the fibres.
24
The premature flattening of the lignin curve during the extraction
of the wood with N/20 sodium hydroxide requires some explanation.
During the extraction of hemlock with the N/20 solution, it was found
possible to determine the approximate consumption of alkali, which
was 140 to 150 ce. per gram of soluble material. Anticipating only
30 to 35 per cent. extraction with jarrah, it was considered that 150 ee.
of the N/20 solution would suffice to extract 3 grams of wood powder.
However, the quantity of extractives present proved to be greater
(over 40 per cent.) than originally thought, and consequently the rate
of extraction with this solution was retarded, the total remaining at
99
33 to 35 per cent. Hence the apparent lignin content remained
=o Lignin in wood after extraction
with Benzene-Alcohol 2:1
Soluble in Y% NaOH
40 "
Soluble in Y% NaOH
Soluble in Yao NaOH
w
fo)
Per cent of Oven-Dry Wood
N
(o}
Diagram 3
E marginata
0 20 40 60 80 160 320
Time in Minutes.
DiacRaM 3.—Showing (i) the progress of extraction
when jarrah is treated with N/20, N/8, and N/4 sodium
hydroxide for different periods ; and (ii) the lignin content
of the extracted wood based on the oven dry weight of
original wood.
constant on account of the failure of the N/20 solution to complete
the removal of extraneous matter. The results from these experiments
with jarrah suggested that it would be necessary to use the N/4 strength
of sodium hydroxide to purify the wood completely. However, it was
recognized that the sample examined was an extreme case, as it con-
tained such a large amount of extraneous material—a quantity of which
existed in the lumina of the wood fibres—that it was difficult to remove.
It was decided that in such cases it would be preferable to tolerate a
slight contamination of lignin, as, for example, after 80 minutes ex-
traction with the N/8 solution, rather than risk a degradation by the
use of stronger solutions over a longer period in order to remove all
traces of extraneous matter,
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26
The procedure was further applied to samples of red ironbark and
mountain ash, using only the N/8 solution of sodium hydroxide. The
results obtained indicated clearly that with these two widely different
species (the red ironbark being representative of a group of dense red
woods, and the mountain ash of a group of open-grained pale-coloured
woods), the treatment for a period of 80 minutes was all that was
necessary to obtain uncontaminated lignin. (See Table 1 and Diagrams
4 and 5.)
The experiments indicated that the wood powder, purified by means
of alkali, was more likely to give constant lignin values for a species
when the results are calculated on the basis of extractive-free wood.
The extractives are known to vary widely within a species, and therefore
would directly and indirectly influence the lignin value determined by
any procedure when it is calculated on the oven-dry basis.
6. Conclusions.
On the evidence obtained, a new procedure for the determination
of the lignin content of wood is recommended. This requires the
preliminary purification of the wood powder with N/8 sodium hydroxide
for 80 minutes at 98 deg. to 100 deg. C. Weaker solutions are not
recommended because of their failure to remove all the extraneous
material in a suitable time, and stronger solutions (up to N/4) are
avoided because the results for lignin when they are used agree sub-
stantially with those obtained when the N/8 solution is used, and, in
addition, the possibility of attack on the wood structure is reduced.
One hundred (100) cubic centimetres of the reagent per 3 grams
of the air-dry wood should be sufficient for all samples. In eae
of the latter, which contain large amounts of extraneous material,
will be necessary to aid the reaction by agitation, and this oe
procedure is recommended for all cases. Treatments for periods of
longer than 80 minutes are not suitable for laboratory routine methods,
and may, in addition, cause complications through attack on wood
structure. The possibilities of this method as applied to other hard-
woods have not been investigated, but it is considered that the purifica-
tion of the wood by the use of alkalies is much preferable to the employ-
ment of organic solvents, because the final lignin product is less
likely to be contaminated with extraneous substances. The experiments
with spruce and hemlock indicate that the alkali method of purification
gives a purer lignin residue than the benzene-alcohol method. While
in a number of cases the contamination is not sufficient to affect
comparative analyses to any degree, the lignin which is isolated for
constitution studies needs to be as near true lignin as is possible, and the
alkali purification might assist towards this end. The doubt still
existing in the minds of many workers as to the ultimate effect of the
alkali on the lignin seems unwarranted when the lignin curves for
hemlock and spruce (Diagrams 1 and 2) are considered. In these two
cases, prolonged extraction with N/4 alkali does not remove lignin, and
the very gradual slope of the curves has been caused by the removal
of extraneous substances from the ray cells. The difference between
the apparent lignin content of wood purified with benzene-alcohol and
of that of wood purified with the alkaline solutions has been definitely
shown to be due to extraneous material that is not soluble in benzene-
alcohol.
This investigation became necessary owing to the failure of the
existing standard procedure when applied to Australian woods. It is
considered, however, that the method may prove of value to other
workers in the field of wood chemistry. The work will not be complete
until the nature of the substances that are removed by the alkaline
treatment, together with the extraneous substances, is determined, and
this will be considered at some future date as time permits.
bo
7. Literature Cited.
. Mahood, S.A., and Cable, D. E., Jour. Ind. Eng. Chem., 14: 251, 1922.
. Ritter, G. J., and Fleck, L. C., Jowr. Ind. Eng. Chem., 14: 1050, 1922; 15:
1055, 1923; 18: 576, 1926; 18: 608, 1926.
. Schorger, A. W., “ Chemistry of Cellulose and Wood” (New York: MeGraw
Hill), p. 524 (1926).
. Stackmann, “Studien tiber die Zusammensetzung des Holzes,’ Diss. Dorpat
(1878). See Schorger, loc. cit., p. 71.
. Schuppe, N., ‘“ Beitrage zur Chemie des Holzgewebes,” Diss. Dorpat (1882).
See Schorger, loc. cit., p. 71.
. Pringsheim, H., and Magnus, H., Z. Physiol. Chem., 105: 179-186, 1919.
. Dore, W. H., Jour. Ind. Eng. Chem., 12: 472, 1920.
. Hawley, L. F., and Wise, L. E., ‘“‘ The Chemistry of Wood” (New York: The
Chemical Catalog Co.), p. 53 (1926).
. Dore, W. H., Jour. Ind. Eng. Chem., 12: 984, 1920.
. Dore, W. H., ibid. p. 476.
. Von Euler, A. C., Cellulosechemie, 4: 1-11, 1923. Abstr. C.A., 17: 2049, 1923.
. Bechmann, E., Liesche, O., and Lehmann, E., Biochem. Z., 189: 491-508, 1923.
. Klason, P., Cellulosechemie, 4: 81-84, 1923. See Schorger, loc. cit., p. 520.
. Friedrich, A., and Diwald, J., Montash, 46: 31-46, 1925. Abstr. C.A., 20:
1598, 1926.
5. Friedrich, A., and Briida, B., Montash, 46: 597-610, 1926. Abstr. C.A., 21:
99, 1927.
. Horn, O., Cellulosechemie, 11: 151-2, 1930.
. Schorger, A. W., loc. cit., p. 522.
. Ritter, G. J., Jour. Ind. Eng. Chem. 17: 1195, 1925.
. Hawley, L. F., and Campbell, W. G., Jour. Ind. Eng. Chem., 19: 742, 1927.
. Ross, J. H., and Hill, A. C., Pulp and Paper Mag., Can., 27: 15, 541, 1929.
. Ross, J. H., and Hill, A. C., Pulp and Paper Mag. Can., 29: 13, 453, 1930.
. Campbell, W. G., and Booth, J., Biochem, J., 24: 642, 1930.
H. J. GREEN.
GOVERNMENT PRINTER,
MELBOURNE.
PAMPHLET No. 23.
OF AUSTRALIA
igeration Applied to the
ervation and Transport of
\ustralian Foodstuffs
vey as a Scheme for Research
MELBOURNE, 193!
| eg ¥
“executive Loree 7
Sir George J Jaa, Kt, 8, BEY BEL | Sees ae
(Chatrman),
An. De Rivett, Bag, M.A., D.Sc.
ae Professor R. D. Watt, Mda Bs. 2
(New ‘South Wola,
Sir David 0. Masson, K.B-E., F.R.S., &e.
| Wie) ne
Protescor Hi. Cc. Richards, D. Sc. .
Bae (Queensland), — ee
W. J. Young, Esq., CiB.E. Gage SEES SE
_ Gouth Australig
B. Perry, WRB F sa i oes eatin tae re
~ (Western hoteale) een z epeaot
“P, E. Keam, Esq. BS Se TE LAE oe oa
at . | (Tasmania). ey ers. 2 : ate af ia
es - coapte Pemvers: A re ae Ze
_ Professor “ick J. J. Goddard, B.A. D.Sc
Victoria 3
PAMPHLET No. 23.
OF AUSTRALIA
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
Refrigeration Applied to the
Preservation and Transport of
Australian Foodstuffs
A Survey and a Scheme for Research
By
Pom. VIGRERY, Ph.D.
MELBOURNE, 1931
Registered at the General Post Office, Melbourne, for transmission through the post as a book.
Wholly set up and printed in Australia.
C.10613. By Authority : H. J. Green, Government Printer, Melbourne
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CONTENTS.
FOREWORD
SUMMARY
1. INTRODUCTION ..
2. Meat Propucts—
(i) Beef :
(ii) Lamb and Mutton
(iii) Pork, Ham, and Bacon :
(iv) Edible and Pharmaceutical Offals .. ie al
(v) Genera] Meat Works Technique
(vi) Rabbits
(vii) Canned Meat
3. FIsu
4. Darry Propuce—
(i) Butter ..
(ii) Cheese ..
(iii) Eggs
(iv) Recommendations
5. Frorr—
(i) Apples and Pears
(ii) Citrus Fruits
(iii) Grapes ..
(iv) Plums
(v) Peaches
(vi) Passion Fruit
(vii) Bananas
(viii) Pineapples
6. TRANSPORT AND ENGINEERING PROBLEMS ..
7. Summary oF ImmMepDIATE [INVESTIGATIONS REQUIRED
8. PLANS FOR ORGANIZATION OF Foop PRESERVATION INVESTIGATIONS—
(i) Meat and Tropical Problems
(ii) Non-tropical Fruit Problems
(iii) Temporary Arrangements for N on-tropical Fruit Investigations
(iv) Organization of Transport Investigations
(v) Control of Organization
PAGE
eTVUATAOS.
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7
FOREWORD.
At the first meeting of the Council, held in June, 1926, it was
decided that efforts should be concentrated primarily on the organization
of research work on certain main groups of problems, of which groups
“The preservation of foodstuffs, especially cold storage,” was one.
Owing largely to the lack of the necessary trained investigators, it has
not so far been practicable for the Council to proceed with the organiza-
tion of a special “ Division” to undertake work on these problems, as
it has done in the case of the other main groups on which it was decided
that efforts should be concentrated.
As indicated in its Annual Reports and other publications, the
Council has been able to arrange during the past few years for investi-
gations to be conducted on certain important cold-storage problems,
such as the preservation of citrus fruits, the maturation and transport
of bananas, and the freezing of beef. In the meantime, the Council has
continually recognized that the whole question of undertaking
systematic investigations in this field of work is a matter of very con-
siderable importance to Australia’s primary industries, in connexion
with the export of perishable foodstufis, and with the development of
land settlement and the problem of finding new markets.
With the recent return to Australia of Dr..J. R. Vickery, who for
the last four years has been at the British Low Temperature Research
Station, Cambridge, as an officer of the Council and also as an 1851
Exhibition Research Scholar, the Council has now decided to proceed
with the creation of a Section of Food Preservation, and to place him
in charge of it. Owing to the present financial stringency, it will not
be practicable yet to develop the work of this Section on such a wide
basis as had previously been contemplated. The Council has, however,
received from various sources soffers of co-operation and assistance in
investigations on various problems relating to the preservation and
transport of foodstuffs, and it will thus be able to make a beginning
with the work of the new Section on an effective though limited scale.
_ As a preliminary to the establishment of the Section, the Council
obtained from Dr. Vickery a report, which is printed in this pamphlet.
In making it available, the Counci! desires to indicate that such action
does not mean that the opinions expressed in it are necessarily its
adopted views, nor that it is intended to follow in their entirety the
recommendations made.
C.10613.—2
SUMMARY.
A survey has been made of several primary industries in which
refrigeration is necessary for the successful preservation and transport
of the foodstuffs concerned. The main purpose of this survey was to
obtain information for the preparation of a programme of the most
urgent scientific investigations required in this field; the investigations
would be directed chiefly toward the development of methods of placing
the foodstuffs on the overseas markets with a minimum of wastage and
in a condition resembling, as closely as possible, that of similar, fresh
food.
It is recommended that investigations be carried out in Queensland
with the view to testing the possibilities of exporting hindquarters of
beef in the chilled condition. Further investigations required in the
field of meat products include -—
(a) the freezing, storage and thawing of bacon pig carcasses
with a view to placing them in the hands of curers over-
seas in a condition most suited to the production of bacon
and hams of good quality.
(b) the freezing and storage of edible offal.
Attention is drawn to the extensive wastage occurring in exported
apples and pears, and the consequent severe monetary losses sustained
by exporters. Since few exact data exist in this important branch of
our exports, it is recommended that extensive investigations be com-
menced on three aspects of the storage and transport of apples and
pears, viz., orchard conditions affecting the subsequent “life” of the
fruit, the influence of conditions of transport and storage, and the
complementary biochemical studies designed to determine the relation-
ships between the physical and chemical constitution of the fruit and
its storage-life.
It is urged that investigations on navel oranges and passion fruit
already being carried out by the Council be continued and extended.
Investigations directed toward increasing the number of varieties of
grapes now exported and toward their safer transport overseas, should
be commenced.
Two urgent problems in the interstate transport of fruit await
solution, namely, the carriage of tropical fruit to the south and the
carriage of apples and pears from Tasmania to the northern States.
For several types of foodstuffs, notably lamb, fish and tropical fruit
—excluding bananas—scientific investigations will probably be required
in the near future.
It is suggested that efforts be made to secure the study of refrigerated
transport on ocean-going vessels by means of an Empire Refrigeration
Transport Survey Team to which an Australian investigator would
be seconded.
Two laboratories, with attached cold storage facilities, should be
established in Brisbane and Melbourne, the former to study problems
in meat export trade and in the transport of tropical fruits, and the
latter to investigate the preservation and transport of non-tropical
fruits.
An organization suitable for the co-ordination of these and future
investigations is outlined.
The Preservation and Transport of
Australian Foodstuffs by Cold:
A Survey and a Scheme for Research.«
1. Introduction.
Both to gain an adequate picture of the various industries
employing refrigeration for the preservation and transport of foodstuffs,
and to determine where the application of scientific research would most
likely aid in placing the refrigerated products on the various interstate
and overseas markets in a condition resembling, as closely as possible,
that of similar fresh food, I have visited the four States, viz., New
South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and Tasmania, where these "indus-
tries are most firmly established, and deal with a wide range of
foodstuffs.
During the course of the investigation, inquiries have been made
concerning the chief aspects of the meat export and fishing industries,
the production and export of fresh fruit and dairy produce, and general
problems relating to the intra-state, interstate and overseas transport
of foodstuffs under refrigeration. The inquiry necessitated a survey
of pastoral, farm, and orchard conditions, a study of meat works, fruit-
packing sheds, and the methods of loading, stowing, and cooling the
produce in insulated railway wagons and ships’ insulated holds. In
the case of the fishing industry, inquiries were made concerning the
amounts of fish obtained from the chief fishing grounds, the potentiali-
ties of the chief types of fish obtained, and the present methods of the
transportation, preservation, and distribution of the fish.
Opportunity was taken everywhere to obtain the views of pastoralists,
farmers, orchardists, engineers, technicians, and business men concerned
in all phases of these industries, and those ‘of many officers of the State
Departments of Agriculture.
For the sake of clarity, it will be convenient to deal with the economic
aspects, the research work previously carried out, and the chief scientific
investigations required under the headings of :—
(1) Meat, (4) Fruit,
(2) Fish, (5) Refrigerated transport,
(3) Dairy produce,
together with the organization required.
2. Meat Products.
(i) Beef.
Although Queensland has always oceupied the premier position in
the export of beef from Australia, New South Wales and Victoria, in
the past, contributed considerable quantities. _ To-day, however, 90 per
cent. (approximately) of the beef (as quarters) exported from Australia
is produced in Queensland, the remaining 10 per cent. being divided
between Western Australia (Wyndham) and New South Wales. The
* Received for publication 16th September, 1931.
8
supplies of beef cattle in Victoria and New South Wales are barely
sufficient to meet the demands of the local markets, and it is unlikely
that, in the future, the raising of fat cattle for export from these
States can be carried out at a cost comparable with that in the less
closely settled areas of Northern Australia.
Taking the world production as a whole, unlike most other primary
produce, there has been no increase, but on the other hand, perhaps a
decrease, in the production of beef during the last five years. The
supplies from the Argentine seem gradually to be dwindling, owing
chiefly to the spread of more intensive cultivation on the rich black
soil plains forming the main cattle fattening areas. Uruguay shows
no signs of increasing her production of beef, but there are distinct
signs that, in the future, the Southern States of Brazil will attain
approximately to the production of the Argentine. It is to be expected,
therefore, that, taken as a whole, the supplies of beef from South
America will show no marked decrease,
The grading-up of the herds, eradication of stock diseases, and the
improvement of the pastures, are gradually improving both the quality
and numbers of South African and Southern Rhodesian cattle, and
already several successful exports of live cattle from Southerm Rhodesia
to England have taken place. It is difficult, however, to predict the
extent of the future development of an export trade from these countries,
but I am inclined to believe that the amazingly rapid commercial
expansion and spread of western civilization in Central Africa will
absorb the bulk of the increased production of the African ranches.
For instance, the large mining areas of Northern Rhodesia are, at
present, solely dependant on Southern Rhodesia for their supplies
of meat.
Canada has a small surplus production of cattle, the bulk of which
was formerly sent to the United State of America. Recent tariff
enactments by the United States of America have greatly reduced
this trade, and Canada has now re-commenced the export of live eattle
to Europe. Again, it is doubtful whether Canada can greatly increase
her supplies or produce cattle at a price to compete with South America.
The low prices of beef now prevailing overseas are an indication of
a world-wide reduced standard of living, rather than of an over-produc-
tion of beef. In fact, Germany and the United States of America
are definitely suffering from a shortage of beef. In the United States
of America, in particular, the numbers of cattle have remained practi-
cally constant at about 56,000,000 head during the last few years, and
therefore the ratio of cattle to the human population bears a decreasing
value. .
To some extent, the apparent world shortage of beef is offset by
the increased production of mutton and lamb; for instance, there are
indications that cheap mutton is tending partially to displace beef as
the chief meat diet of the English working classes. Over the five-year
periods 1921-1925 and 1926-1930, the exports of lamb and mutton
from the chief exporting countries—New Zealand and the Argentine—
have shown a definite increase.
_ On the whole, therefore, Australia should retain, and possibly
increase, the volume of her exports of beef, provided that she can supply
it to the consumers overseas in a condition most suited to their needs.
9
At the present time, only about 25 per cent. of the total imports of
beef into Great Britain are received in a frozen condition, while of
the total exports from the Argentine, Uruguay, and Brazil, the pro-
portions of chilled to frozen beef respectively are approximately 3:1,
2:1, and 2:1. An idea of the preference in Great Britain for the
chilled article may be gained by quoting the wholesale prices now
prevailing (August, 1931) for imported hindquarters of beef, viz.,
6} to 74d. per lb. for Argentine chilled, and 3d. to 3%d. per Ib. for
Australian frozen, while the average difference in prices prevailing
during the last few years has been of the order of 2d. per lb. A smaller
diserepancy exists between chilled and frozen forequarters. Not only
are the prices for Australian beef extremely discouraging to the Queens-
land pastoralist, but, even at these low figures, beef is very difficult
to sell, the chief outlets being by contracts for the military and naval
forces and public institutions, very little, except in the warm summer
months, passing into general retail trade. While the lower prices
and poorer demand for the Australian frozen article may be attributed
in part to the fact that it has a lower average initial quality than
Argentine beef, it is to be largely accounted for by the fact that the
British consumer now recognizes that chilled beef resembles the
fresh home-killed article more closely.
In order to maintain the outlet for excess beef produced in Queens-
land, inquiries should be made into the possibility of exporting beef in a
condition more closely resembling that of the fresh, unfrozen material.
The only methods appearing feasible are the export of :—
(a) Quick-frozen quarters or cuts of meat,
(6) Chilled quarters.
The long-continued, careful investigations carried out by the joint
Meat Preservation Committee of the Council and of the Australian
National Research Council have failed to indicate any method whereby
whole quarters may be quick-frozen, and after storage and thawing,
present a condition closely resembling that of fresh beef. An export
of quick-frozen packaged cuts of beef may be feasible, but it appears
likely that, for some time to come, the technical difficulties, the difficul-
ties of disposing of the poorer cuts of meat, and the high costs of
production, will prevent the general adoption of this process. The most
hopeful line of investigation, therefore, would appear to be the possi-
bility of exporting hindquarters in the chilled condition. The small,
constant difference in price between chilled and frozen crops (fore-
quarters) is insufficient to warrant the probable extra cost of transport
involved in exporting them in the chilled condition.
Experiments carried out at the Low Temperature Research Station,
Cambridge, during the last two years, have defined approximately the
chief causes of spoilage, showing bacterial and fungal attack of the
fat to be the most important cause. There are indications that regula-
tion of the initial rate and extent of evaporation of moisture from the
quarters of beef may provide a useful method of control of this and
other types of microbial spoilage, and, indeed, when conditions were
arranged in the Cambridge experiments for a fairly high initial rate
of evaporation of moisture, the quarters of beef were unaffected by
storage for a period of 60 days. These experiments are distinctly
encouraging, since the maximum period of storage in the chilled condi-
tion to be allowed for in possible exports from Queensland is of the
order of 55 days. PIA
10
One of the essentials of a trade in chilled beef being regularity of
supplies, the question thus arises as to whether sufficient continuous
supplies of young beef of good quality could be obtained in Queensland.
The low prices of frozen beef and the relatively high costs of produc-
tion prevailing during the last few years have provided little inducement
to the pastoralists to raise, or even maintain, the quality of their herds
by the purchase of high-grade bulls. It is agreed that, as a whole,
considerable. decrease in the average quality of beef exported from
Queensland has taken place, and that the pastoralists have not altered
or have been unable to alter the type of beast to supply the short-backed,
chubby carcass having a large proportion of flesh to bone.
Queensland may be divided arbitrarily into Northern and Central-
Southern districts by a line running east and west, represented by
latitude 22° S. Inquiries made in the Northern district showed that,
on the whole, a very marked decrease in the quality of the beef had
taken place during recent years. The climatic conditions prevailing
in the Central, Gulf, and Western country make it almost impossible
to prepare the cattle for slaughter before an average age of five to six
vears. The period during which supplies are available for the freezing
works at Townsville is limited merely to fifteen weeks. This area is
largely unsuitable for sheep, and, for many years to come, must remain
chiefly a cattle producing area; but the prospects of obtaining relatively
regular supplies of young beef of good quality are unfavorable. It is
chiefly to the Central and Southern districts, therefore, that we must
look to obtain adequate supplies of beef suitable for export in the chilled
condition. On the whole, the quality of the cattle produced in this
area is higher than that of the North. A number of fine studs of cattle
of types suited to modern requirements exist in this area, and the
pastoralists believe that, given sufficient inducement to “grade-up”
the herds, a steady improvement, from the point of view of breeding,
could be instituted. At the present time, the districts yielding the most
regular supplies of fat cattle are situated in the coastal belt, which may
be taken as extending to-the limits of the western ranges, some 200 miles
inland. In the years of good rainfall, excellent fattening areas occur
also in the far west and south-west, where the flooding of the Georgina,
Diamantina, and Cooper’s Creeks provides rich pastures, but drought
conditions are so frequent in these areas that their supplies of fat cattle
are likely always to remain irregular in volume.
At present, the pastoralists in the coastal belt rely on the summer
rains to provide sufficient pastures for the fattening period from
February to July, and, if good winter rains fall, a further supply of
fat cattle is available for slaughter during September and October.
Gradual improvements for fattening are being made in the pastoral
properties by the elimination of surplus timber, subdivision into smaller
paddocks, and the provision of a larger number of water-holes. If
better prices for beef were given, the pastoralists believe that, by the
extension of these practices, fat cattle could be regularly supplied to the
meat works from February to November, and that cattle could be
fattened at an average age of three years instead of four to five years
as at present. It is the opinion of the leading men in the pastoral
industry that no methods of fattening other than those utilized at present
are likely to be practicable. It is doubtful, however, whether the above
methods would ensure a sufficiently regular and adequate volume of fat
cattle during the period from August to November. Further, there is
evidence to support the view that the utilization of considerable areas
ll
of the existing well-watered coastal areas and the reclaimed prickly
pear country for the intensive fattening or “topping-off ” of cattle,
is not impracticable.
Experiments on the sowing of pasture grasses and cover crops on
reclaimed prickly pear lands have recently been carried out by the
Queensland Department of Agriculture at Palardo, South-Central
Queensland, and have been described by H. C. Quodling. [Queensland
Agric. Jour. 34; 513, 1930.| The soil in this district, which has a rainfall
of about 21 inches per annum, is dark-red heavy loam, and has been
covered with a fairly dense growth of small trees. In this district, the
pear had once covered an area of considerably more than 1,000,000 acres.
These experiments have shown quite clearly that good stands of lucerne,
pasture grasses such as Rhodes and Prairie, and cover crops, such as
wheat, oats, and barley sown simultaneously, could be grown on this
reclaimed land, which could carry and fatten approximately one ox
per 3 acres all the year round. It is believed that, provided the price
given for beef were of the order of 26s. per 100 Ib. dressed weight (the
present price is approximately 18s. to 20s. per 100 lb.),-the sowing of
very considerable areas with similar pasture grasses and cover crops,
not only in the south-central district, but also nearer the coast, would
yield profitable returns to small graziers, who could fatten store cattle
purchased from the larger runs.
It may be argued that land capable of carrying the relatively heavy
pastures indicated in these experiments would be used for dairying,
the raising of fat sheep and lambs, and wheat-growing. While these
possibilities exist, nevertheless, the world production of beef does not
seem likely in the future to keep pace with the production of dairy
produce, fat lambs, &c., all of which are now being produced on an
ever-increasing scale. Consequently, the raising of fat cattle on such
improved areas would seem to be a profitable and logical method of
utilizing the land.
Summing up the situation, therefore, it would seem that fairly ample
supplies of fat young cattle could be made available for export as
chilled beef from the central and southern districts* during the months
February to August inclusive, and it is likely that the stimulus of better
prices to be realized from an export of beef in the chilled condition, and
the provision of better fattening areas, would later make available
supplies of cattle during the period from August to November.
Of the five meat works situated in the central and southern districts
(eight beef export works are now operating in Queensland), four works,
treating 65 to 70 per cent. of the beef exported from Queensland, viz.,
Gladstone, and the three Brisbane works at Cannon Hill, Pinkenba,
and Moreton, have their own wharves for direct loading into overseas
vessels. They appear, therefore, to be admirably situated for dealing
with the export of so perishable a product as chilled beef.
All the evidence obtainable from a consideration of the research work
already carried out on chilled beef, the survey of Queensland’s cattle
industry, and the situation and equipment of certain meat works, points
strongly to the need for the initiation of investigations into the possi-
bility of transporting Australia’s beef in the chilled condition overseas.
* These districts at present contain approximately 67 per cent. of the total cattle of Queens-
land. The well-watered coastal pastoral districts where, it is believed, less haphazard methods
of fattening could be utilized, now contain approximately 55 per cent.of Queensland’s cattle.
12
Little reference has been made to the participation of the Northern
Territory and North-west Australia in this possible development. The
eattle industry in these regions must remain for many years the chief
mode of primary production. Moreover, the fact that the meat works
at Wyndham and Darwin (now closed) are situated nearer to the
British markets than Brisbane by a distance equivalent to one week’s
voyage, would naturally give this area some advantage if the export
of chilled beef were possible. It is doubtful, however, whether sufficient
regular supplies of young fat cattle would be available for some time to
come, and the possible difficulty of obtaining regular shipments would
probably be a very considerable obstacle to the export of chilled beef
from these areas. It should also be borne in mind that the results of
experiments carried out in Queensland would, with modifications, be
applicable to North-western Australia.
(1) Lamb and Mutton.
During the two years 1928-29 and 1929-30, 1,495,845 and 2,132,738
carcasses of lamb respectively, and 728,756 and 786,497 carcasses of
mutton respectively were exported from Australia, Great Britain
absorbing the bulk of the consignments. While these figures do not
show any substantial increase on the averages of the exports for the
last ten years, there are indications that Victoria and New South
Wales will shortly be exporting larger numbers of lambs, and it is
probable that Tasmania and Western Australia will soon be in a
position to contribute substantial amounts to the total exports. Observa-
tions made in Victoria and New South Wales have shown that no
outstanding faults exist in the treatment which the carcasses, of lamb
receive during the chain of treatment from slaughter to the wholesale
markets of Great Britain; in general, the chief problem confronting
Australia in this branch of meat export is the improvement in the
average initial quality of the carcasses.
The reason for the fact that the average price received for Australian
lambs is lower than that received by New Zealand appears to be due
chiefly to the lower average quality of the Australian carcasses, but one
cannot neglect also the factor of the vigorous advertising campaign
pursued in Great Britain by New Zealand. Until this improvement in
quality is effected, and the average quality of the lambs approaches that
of carcasses exported from New Zealand, there would seem to be no
object in applying the methods of scientific investigation to the finer
points in the chain of treatment.
It cannot be recommended, therefore, that any investigations aimed
at improvements in the methods of cooling, freezing, transport, and
storage of lamb (and mutton) be undertaken in Australia at the pre-
sent time. Until attention needs to be paid to these details, the results
of the recent scientific survey of the New Zealand lamb export trade*
will probably serve, with modifications suited to local conditions, as a
guide for improvements in the Australian technique.
(iii) Pork, Ham, and Bacon.
Concurrent with the rapid increase in the production of dairy
produce in Australia, there has been an increase of production in the
associated industry—the raising of pigs. This production fluctuates
i, * Jour. Coun. Sci. Ind. Res., Aust., 2: 245. 1929. The full report of this survey is now in
e press.
13
widely, and, unless the excess during periods of gluts be exported, the
prices received by the farmers become so low that the industry suffers a
severe reverse. The present production appears to be limited solely by
the demand in Australia, and, given sufficient inducement, it appears
very probable that the numbers of pigs to be raised even solely in con-
junction with the dairy industry could be increased very greatly. The
industry, so to speak, is working on part-time production.
Since many of the wheat farmers now realize that it is unsafe to
depend for a livelihood solely on one type of produce, considerable
numbers of fat pigs will probably be raised in the areas now devoted
to the production of grain.
The question of the most profitable method of disposal of Australia’s
surplus pig-products is now giving rise to considerable discussion in
the industry. For a number of years past, relatively small quantities
of bacon and frozen pork have been exported to the East, but it is
unlikely that these markets can absorb greatly increased quantities.
Recently, a considerable quantity (800,000 lb. approximately in
1929-30) of frozen pork has been exported to Great Britain, chiefly
from Queensland and New South Wales. While it appears prebable
that there exists a profitable outlet in Great Britain for increased sup-
plies of frozen pork, the opportunities are not unlimited. Is it possible,
therefore, to export green bacon and hams (cured but not smoked) to
Great Britain? Since the wholesale prices of good quality Danish
green bacon in England are now of the order of 6d. to 64d. per Ib.,
apart from any technical difficulty in an export trade, it is unlikely that
.profitable prices could be obtained for Australian bacon and hams.
Experiments recently carried out at the Low Temperature Research
Station, Cambridge, have shown that the limiting factor in the storage
of green bacon in the frozen condition is the susceptibility of the fat
to oxidation, which, in its more advanced stages, produces rancidity; it
is probable that, with the present methods of storage and transport
available, there would be a considerable incidence of rancidity in the
fat of green bacon exported from Australia,
There appears, however, to be a considerable outlet in England for
Australian bacon pigs (weighing 120 to 180 lb. per carcass) which
could be cured after thawing. Experiments conducted chiefly by the New
Zealand Meat Producers’ Board have shown that it is possible to manu-
facture bacon and hams of good quality from frozen carcasses, since
the fat of the uncured carcass does not undergo appreciable oxidation
during cooling, freezing, and storage for periods up to six months in
duration. According to reports received from England, the bacon
factories in England, at present, are working at only 25 per cent. of
their full capacity, and, even in prior years, when the wholesale price of
bacon was higher, the limited supply of cheap pigs greatly restricted
their output. Can Australia, therefore, supply frozen bacon carcasses
to the English bacon curers at a price payable to the producer? The
present wholesale price of Australian bacon pigs in England is approxi-
mately, 5d. to 54d. per lb., and when one considers the cost of curing,
the trimming and wastage involved, and the fact that there is a shrink-
age of approximately 20 per cent. in weight during curing and smoking,
it is unlikely that, with the prevailing low price of Danish bacon, con-
siderable quantities of Australian bacon pigs will be purchased for
English curing. \ There is every reason to believe that the present
wholesale prices of bacon in England are definitely unprofitable to the
14
Continental curers, and that, owing to measures being instituted to
restrict Continental production, prices are likely to rise considerably in
the near future.
It has been almost impossible to obtain reliable figures for the cost
of production of fat pigs in Australia, owing chiefly to the fact that
they are usually raised on farm by-products such as skim milk, waste
maize and wheat, to which no definite values can be allotted. While
farmers, both in Queensland and in New South Wales, stated that the
present prices of pork and bacon carcasses ruling overseas did not yield
a profitable return, the opinions of the experts on pig husbandry in each
State Department of Agriculture were that it was doubtful whether the
total costs of production at present exceeded 24d. to 3d. per lb., a figure
which should make export overseas a profitable one, even with the
present low prices ruling. Provided we can export bacon carcasses
overseas at prices approximately 25 per cent. lower than the ruling
wholesale price per lb. for Danish green bacon, a ready demand should
exist in England for the cheap Australian raw material.
It behoves us, therefore, to place our bacon carcasses in the hands
of the English curers in a condition most suited for the production of
bacon and hams of high quality. At present, it is uncertain, however,
whether the present technique in the cooling, freezing, storage and thaw-
ing of the bacon pigs is such as to fulfil this condition, one of the chief
dangers being the possible development of “reestiness” or rancidity
in the fat when the bacon is being stored or distributed.
It is suggested, therefore, that the Council undertake an investiga-
tion to determine the most suitable technique in the preparation of the
bacon pig for the English market.
It is doubtful whether, at the present time, the type of fat pig being
produced, particularly in Queensland and New South Wales, is wholly
suited to the overseas market. Examination of large numbers of
carcasses in these States showed that they had too great a proportion
of fat to lean, the external layer of fat usually being excessive. The
cause of this unsatisfactory condition les in the breed and/or the diet
of the pigs. In addition, there are many indications, particularly in
pigs from the Northern Rivers District of New South Wales and from
Queensland, that too soft a fat is laid down, 1.e., speaking in chemical
terms, it is too highly unsaturated; it is probable that the rate of onset
of “ reestiness ” in such fat is greater than in less unsaturated (harder)
fats. It is hoped that the Food Preservation Section will shortly be in
the position to indicate the type of fat most suited to withstand the
onset of “reestiness”’ in the bacon. When these data are available it
is urged that the Council secure the co-operation of the several State
Departments of Agriculture to apply the results of previous investiga-
tions, and, if necessary, to carry out new investigations to determine :—
(a) The cause of the excessive ratio of fat to lean, and
(b) The mode of fattening required to produce the most suitable
“bacon fat.”
If sufficiently low temperatures during storage and overseas trans-
port could be obtained, it is probable that Australia might be in the
position to export green (unsmoked) bacon, although the prevailing
high costs of curing would be a serious obstacle. The present difficul-
ties in the way of export, being beyond our control, are so great that it
-—— e
15
cannot be recommended that, at present, the Council undertake any
investigations in the field of curing, freezing, storage, and transport of
bacon and hams.
(iv) Edible and Pharmaceutical Offals.
In addition to the various select cuts of skeletal muscle—fillet steaks.
ox tails, and cheek meats—the frozen organs, such as ox and sheep’s
sweetbreads, ox, sheep’s, and pigs’ livers, kidneys and hearts, and ox
tripes, also form a profitable part of the export trade from the meat
works. While considerable differences exist in the mode of preparing
these products for freezing and in their packing at the various works,
they are usually frozen in air temperatures ranging from 0° to 10°F.
Examination of Australian edible offal at Smithfield Market, Lon-
don, from time to time has shown that the quality of the livers and
kidneys is distinctly inferior to that of similar, fresh, English offal,
an observation supported by the figures for the comparable wholesale
prices at these markets. The following table gives the comparable prices
of some products during June, 1931 :—
Prices or EnerisH anp AvstTrRALIAN Eprsie OFFrats.
a Salar | Ox ines anaes te
English .. ois te 9d. to 10d. 20d. 24d.
Australian “ wd 43d. to 5d. | 11d. to 13d. 6d. to 10d.
Comparable prices for other offals are not available, but the dis-
erepancy between them is usually quite as large.
While a complete survey of this branch of the trade has not been
made, the chief defects of the Australian material would appear to be :—
(a) A “slushy ” texture of the flesh after thawing.
(b) The presence of extensive, superficial, whitish patches, which
detract considerably from the appearance.
The cause of the former trouble is not definitely known, but it is
likely that the rate of freezing is not sufficiently high to prevent serious
alteration of texture.
The latter defect can probably be further subdivided into (i)
“ freezer-burn,” and (ii) “storage-burn.” The cause of “freezer-burn ”
lies probably in the strains set up during freezing causing distortion of
the superficial cells, and hence light is reflected from shallower layers
and is scattered by the heterogeneous arrangement of reflecting surfaces.
The colour of the organ in such situations appears, therefore, to be
considerably paler, although no change may have taken place in the
actual concentration of the pigment. “Storage burn” appears to be
due chiefly to desiccation. While careful attention to handling and
wrapping has reduced the losses by both “freezer” and “storage”
burns, their occurrence is still far too frequent.
Tt is recommended, therefore, that the Council undertakes an inves-
tigation designed to freeze, store, and transport frozen edible offals in
such a way that, on thawing, they do not differ materially from similar
fresh produce.
16
An inquiry in the principal abattoirs devoted both to the local and
export trade showed that very little use was being made of various
animal organs and ductless glands for the purposes of pharmaceutical
preparations. As the separation of these organs and glands would pro-
bably be profitable only in meat works where a very large number of
animals are slaughtered each year, the considerable neglect in such
establishments in Melbourne and Sydney of these preparations, un-
doubtedly a very profitable source of income for the American meat
packers, indicates a direction for future developments.
While the Council is at present not in a position to Pa an
investigation designed to obtain the best methods of utilization, the
position should be borne in mind and possibly investigations be under-
taken at a later stage.
(v) General Meat Works Technique.
One of the most outstanding of the general problems confronting all
cold storage plants is the prevention of desiccation of the stored food-
stuffs, and, with regard to stored meat, the effects, not only of total loss
of moisture, but also of superficial desiccation on the appearance, are
perhaps more serious than in any other foodstuff. As this problem is,
however, essentially physical in nature, further reference to it will be
made in the section dealing with engineering problems.
Although the general methods of treatment of careasses and edible
offal throughout the meat works in Australia appear to be yielding
fairly satisfactory results, except as indicated above, one cannot but be
struck with the lack of exact knowledge on minor points and the con-
flicting reasons given by works managers for the methods used. For
instance, in order -to utilize as small an amount of freezing space as
possible for a given amount of meat to be frozen, certain works make a
practice of freezing quarters of beef as rapidly as possible, frequently in
rather less than four days. In other works, with ample freezing space.
relatively rapid freezing is practised because the management believe
that the texture and flavour of the meat is superior to the more slowly
frozen meat after thawing, and several influentia] men in the trade, if
given the opportunity, would make such relatively rapid freezing com-
pulsory. In many freezing works, a period of six to seven days is
allowed for the freezing of beef. There is no scientific evidence to
show that, in general, the slower freezing produces a poorer texture and
flavour in beef than does freezing rather more rapidly (excluding, of
course, freezing times of the order of several hours).
For the storage of frozen meat, many works maintain temperatures
in the bulk stores ranging from — 2° to 5° F. In several works situated
at considerable distances from the ports of export, and where the
insulated railway wagons are frequently defective, maintenance of this
low temperature is essential in order that the meat may not soften
en route to the overseas vessels. But in many works situated close
to or alongside the wharfs these low temperatures are also maintained.
The minimum temperature at which bacterial and fungal growth may
occur is approximately 18° F., and the temperature above which dis-
tortion of the meat under pressure may occur is approximately 16° F.
It is advisable, of course, to allow a fairly wide margin of safety in case
of a breakdown of the refrigerating equipment, and; _ therefore,
maintenance of a temperature in the stores ranging from 10° to 18° F.
would appear to be advisable, but there exist no reasons, apart from
17
those stated above, why meat frozen by present methods should be main-
tained at such a low temperature as 0° F., which, naturally, is expensive
to reach and maintain, particularly during the summer months.
Many other general questions arise, but it will be sufficient only
to mention one, viz., whether the subsequent texture and flavour of
the frozen meat would be improved to any marked degree by allowing
it to hang before freezing for longer periods than are at present
employed. (After slaughter, the sides of beef are hung overnight in
chilling rooms kept at 30° F. approximately, and lambs’ and sheep’s
carcasses are hung in unrefrigerated cooling floors for periods ranging
from one to seven hours.) Any improvements so introduced would, of
course, be offset by the extra cooling space required and the probable
slightly higher losses of weight (moisture) taking place from the
meat,
(vi) Rabbits.
_In Victoria, the institution of excellent methods for the rapid
collection, chilling, and despatch of rabbits from the country districts
to the packing and freezing works in Melbourne have resulted in
elimination of most of the losses previously experienced due to the
onset of yellowing of the fat and bacterial taint of the flesh. On arrival
in England, considerable deterioration in rabbits from New South
Wales is frequently found—chiefly the presence of strong odours,
probably bacterial in origin, and extensive yellowness of the superficial
fatty tissues. It is probable that the general. mode of treatment in
New South Wales prior to packing for export is largely responsible for
this unsatisfactory state of affairs. In the rural districts, the bulk
of the rabbits are usually packed loosely in boxes, and chilled or
partially frozen. They are then despatched to the packing and freezing
works in Sydney, and here they are thawed, graded, packed into
erates, and frozen. The delay, both during collection and during the
time occupied by thawing, probably accounts for the bulk of the troubles
experienced. In addition, considerable losses are experienced annually
by the formation of superficial “ corkiness” (desiccation) in the flesh.
Most of the difficulties requiring remedies have been dealt with in
the investigation carried out at the Low Temperature Station, Cam-
bridge, and it is felt that the results of this investigation provide suff-
cient data to secure the elimination of most of the defects experienced.
The defect of superficial desiccation belongs rather to the general
problem of desiccation of foodstuffs in cold storage, and it is expected
that any general physical data obtained in regard to that problem would
be applicable also to the prevention of desiccation during the freezing
and storage of rabbits.
(vii) Canned Meat.
In general, the canners experience few troubles in canning either
mutton, beef, or rabbits; close attention to cleanliness and efficient
methods of sterilization have eliminated most of the subsequent tainting
and “blowing” of the cans formerly experienced. The chief source
of loss, though one not frequently met with, is the development of the
so-called “black spot” on the meat,
For some -years past there has been very little demand, however,
for canned meats, and it is difficult even to sell the highest quality
18
“packs.” In the circumstances, therefore, it is considered unnecessary
for the Council to undertake any critical scientific studies of the canning
of meat.
. 3. Fish.*
The investigations carried out by the Federal investigation trawler
Endeavour, and the comprehensive inquiries undertaken by the Develop-
ment and Migration Commission in conjunction with the States,
established the existence of fairly considerable resources of demersal
(bottom-feeding) fish off the coasts of Australia. With the exception
of the inshore fish, little exact knowledge of the resources of pelagic
(surface) fish is available. Until one or two experimental fishing
vessels working in conjunction with a marine biological laboratory are
employed in a systematic study of our waters, not even an approximate
idea of the potential resources or the most profitable methods of catching
and distribution of the fish can be obtained.
Extensive grounds, where the existence of considerable quantities of
pelagic fish have been observed, occur off the southern and eastern
coasts of Tasmania, but, except for a small quantity of fresh and cured
(smoked) fish (barracouta) sent to the mainland, the production is
limited to supplying the small local demand for fresh fish. Other
pelagic fishes, sucb as the pilchard, are not yet commercially exploited.
That greatly increased quantities of fish could be caught by the Tas-
manian fishermen is apparent from the fact that the time spent in port
while the catches are being sold in a live state bears a high ratio to the
time occupied by the fishing operations.
The capital cities of Australia, with the exception, possibly, of
Sydney, do not receive regular supplies of fish at a price which the
majority of the citizens can afford, and their per capita consumption
of fresh fish is low compared with British cities. In the country
districts, particularly during the summer months, only meagre supplies
of fish are available, and resort is, therefore, made to the imported
canned products. There would appear, therefore, to be distinct possi-
bilities for a development of a more extensive fish trade between
Tasmania and the mainland, provided that difficulties of transport
could be overcome, probably by means of quick freezing. Of the
numerous types of popular fish—at present being commercially captured
—existing off the coasts of Tasmania, the barracouta, black perch, and
cod are probably the most common. Of these, the barracouta lends
itself particularly well to the production of fillets, which could be
packaged and frozen in the manner so extensively practised in the
United States of America. If sufficient capital were available to
rationalize the Tasmanian fishing industry, by freezing both whole
fish and fillets, by curing a portion of the catch, and by manufacturing
fish meal from the waste portions of the filleted fish and the numerous
types of less popular fish caught off these coasts, Tamania would be in
a position to contribute substantially to Australia’s supply of foodstuffs.
An obstacle to such a development at present is the lack of adequate
shipping facilities from Hobart, which would, most probably, be the
centre of such large-scale treatment works. The vessels plying between
the mainland and Tasmania at present have no refrigerated space in
the cargo holds, but this difficulty is not insuperable.
* In preparing this section, valuable assistance has been given by Mr. 8S. Fowler, of the
Development Branch of the Prime Minister’s Department.
+ On behalf of the Australian Fisheries Conference.
\ 19
Large quantities of sardine-like fish are said to exist in the warm
current that sweeps the north-east corner of Tasmania. It may be
possible, therefore, to establish nearby, a canning industry linked with a
plant for the production of fish meal. During the year 1929-30, Aus-
tralia imported 29,000,000 lb. (approximately) of dried, smoked, and
canned fish, in addition to 7,500,000 lb. of fresh and frozen fish, the
bulk of which, with the exception of canned salmon, could be replaced
by the Australian product.
The greater proportion of the sea fish caught by New South Wales
fishermen is forwarded to Sydney. Of these supplies, slightly less
than one-half is estuarine fish caught by hand line and net, while
the remainder consists of fish supplied by sixteen privately-owned
trawlers, whose base of operations is Sydney.* Owing to its greater
specialization and concentration of supplies on one port, it is to the
trawling industry that New South Wales must largely look for improved
methods of treatment and distribution. The trawlers now operate on
fishing grounds extending from Port Stephens to Flinders Island, in
the east of Bass Strait, aiming to catch chiefly flathead. All other fish,
with the exception of some leatherjacket, gurnard, and perch (from
southern waters), amounting frequently to one-half of the total catch,
are returned to the sea. With a more highly capitalized industry, the
owners of the trawlers believe it would be possible to institute a wider
system of distribution by quick-freezing part of the catch, and to retain
all edible fish caught, using the less popular varieties for the production
of fish meal. It is understood that within the last few years the average
weights of the hauls of flathead from the fishing grounds nearer
Sydney have diminished very considerably. Opinion seems divided
as to the causes of this falling-off. With the present meagre data it is
impossible accurately to establish the real cause; it is possible that the
present scarcity may be due to some unknown biological factor. Such
periods of scarcity are common overseas.
Practically, no use is being made of non-estuarine surface fish, large
shoals of which, particularly the herring family, are said to exist off
the coast of New South Wales. Until catches of these fish with
equipment such as, say, drift nets or purse seines, are made and proved
to be feasible commercially, little can be said concerning a phase of
the industry which would probably lend itself readily to an organiza
tion similar to that suggested for the trawling section.
There is very limited information concerning the extent of the
resources of pelagic fish off the coasts of Victoria, South Australia,
and Queensland, and it seems probable that the resources of demersal
fish close to the large centres of consumption in these three States
are probably very limited in extent and abundance, and, at present,
ean scarcely be considered in any rational scheme of re-organization of
the industry. Extensive fishing grounds exist in the Western Aus-
tralian section of the Great Australian Bight and off the north-west
coast of Western Australia, but until a considerably larger local popula-
tion exists, economic difficulties may prevent their extensive exploitation,
at least in the form of fresh fish.
Athough, at present, it appears inopportune for the Council to
attack the scientific problems concerned in the preservation, storage,
and transport of fish in Australia, the extensive possibilities of develop-
* During the "year 1929 the trawlers supplied approximately 12,000,000 Ib. of fish to the
_ SydneyzMunicipal Market.
e
®
20
ment warrant the position being closely watched, so that experiments
can be initiated to establish the required data on problems of distri-
bution when schemes for the large-scale development of our fisheries
are being put into operation.
4. Dairy Produce.
(1) Butter. .
Discussions with various officers of the Dairy Products Export
Branch of the Commonwealth Department of Markets and the Dairy
Experts of the several State Departments of Agriculture, and visits
to butter factories in Tasmania, Victoria, and Queensland, showed that
the chief cause of deterioration of texture and flavour of butter in
cold storage is bacterial contamination during the operations on the
farms, and, to a lesser extent, in the dairy factories. In this connexion
the experience of the industry in New South Wales only need be men-
tioned. Prior to the year 1915, no effective legislation existed giving
power to the dairy inspectors to compel the farmers and owners of
the dairy factories to introduce methods and equipment which careful
investigation had shown to be effective in producing butters free from
taints and capable of being held in cold storage for long periods. In
the year 1915, approximately 30 per cent. of the butter manufactured
in New South Wales was graded as choice (top grade). As a result,
both of wise legislation and the complementary educational campaign
to introduce greater cleanliness into the industry, more than 90 per
cent. of the butter produced in New South Wales is now graded as
choice,
It is the opinion of all disinterested men in the dairy industry
that, provided butter be manufactured from choice creams, the present
methods of its handling and cold storage are wholly satisfactory to
maintain the original (Australian) grading on the overseas market.
The inquiry into the causes of butters being tainted on arrival on
the overseas markets (with the exception of taints acquired from their
surroundings during storage) is reduced chiefly to a consideration of the
frequent occurrence, particularly in Victoria and Tasmania, of low-
grade creams delivered to the dairy factories. While the defects appear
to be due chiefly to bacterial contamination, intensified by excessive
temperatures of the creams during the period elapsing between milking
and arrival at the factory and by delayed delivery, some creams appear
to be more susceptible to bacterial decomposition than others. It is
possible that these changes are closely related to the chemical composi-
tion of the creams, which, in turn, is dependent partly on the breed of
the cow and partly on the nature of its diet. While, however, these
defects require somewhat extensive scientific investigation before they can
be overcome, a considerable improvement of the quality of Australian
butters could be attained by a stricter regard for cleanliness.
(11) Cheese.
Queensland is practically the only State from which cheese is
exported, but, on the whole, the quality is not high grade.
In general, no peculiar diffieulties are experienced during the cold
storage of this product. Since cold storage is utilized not only
to preserve the cheese but also to effect its gradual maturation, a definite
relationship obyiously exists between the temperature of storage and
the rate and nature of maturation. As little information on’ this.
iN
ie : e
\ Es
a *
subject is available, it merits close study, since, in order to establish
a steady market overseas, it is essential to place the cheeses on the
market in a uniform degree of maturity.
» In the manufacture of cheese during the early summer months,
difficulties are frequently encountered in securing a good “ body,” i.e., at
the completion of the milling operations, the cheese, instead of being
“rubbery,” has an open granular texture, and, therefore, disintegrates
too easily.
(iii) Eggs.
The export of chilled eggs—carried at a temperature of 32° to
34° F—has assumed fairly considerable proportions in Australia
during the last few years, the average annual quantity exported during
the last five years being 2,445,000 dozen.
The experience recently gained by the trade and ships’ engineers
has eliminated most of the losses due to fungal attack, but considerable
depreciation in the quality of the eggs is often caused by relatively
excessive evaporation of their moisture content. This defect occurs
particularly in ships’ holds refrigerated by the dry-battery air-circula-
tion system, which otherwise very successfully inhibits fungal attack.
(iv) Recommendations.
The problems relating to the storage and transport of butter and
cheese are intimately related to the conditions existing on the farms
and in the dairy factories, and are, in general, localized in occurrence.
They require for their solution the close co-operation of the well-
organized dairy instruction and inspection staffs of the State Depart-
ments of Agriculture.
The problems general to all States relating to the treatment of the
ereams, the manufacture and transport of butter, and the manufacture
and maturation of cheese, could probably be best attacked by research
chemists and bacteriologists attached to the proposed Federal Dairy
Research Laboratory, and working in close co-operation with the State
Department of Agriculture. Problems more localized in nature could
probably be best investigated by the Departments of Agriculture
concerned.
It appears probable that the conditions most suited to the overseas
transport of chilled eggs have still to be determined, and, while no
definite recommendation for extensive investigations in this field can
be made, a preliminary inquiry should be carried out by the Council’s
engineer-physicist as part of his general survey of the transport of
chilled and frozen foodstuffs from Australia.
5. Fruit.
General.
Apples and pears form the bulk of the exports of fresh fruits from
Australia, relatively small quantities of oranges, grapes, and plums
forming the remainder. The bulk of thé export trade is directed toward
Great Britain, but Germany and Canada are beginning to absorb
inereasing quantities. Except for the relatively small quantity exported
to New Zealand, India, and Java, the fruit is transported overseas in
ships’ insulated holds cooled to temperatures varying from 30° to 45° F.
22
With the exception of pears exported from Victoria, the greater part of
the fruit is not pre-cooled to the approximate temperature of transport
prior to shipment.
The wastage of fresh fruit exported from the Dominions in the
Southern Hemisphere has often seriously imperilled the economic
stability of the sections of the community dependent on this trade.
Many scientific investigations, therefore, have been initiated to study the
nature, causes, and methods of elimination of the wastage.
As is the case with all primary produce grown in Australia, with
the exception of wool and wheat, the home market provides a larger
outlet for fresh fruit than do the overseas markets. In addition to a
large intra-state distribution of fruit frequently stabilized by cold
storage of portion of the crop, a considerable interstate movement of
fruit now occurs. In the latter trade, the transportation of apples and
pears from Victoria and Tasmania to New South Wales and Queens-
land, and of tropical fruits from Queensland to all the other States
are the most important sections.
Fruit being a living, and, therefore, respiring material, its death
after picking normally takes place when a certain fraction of the avail-
able sources of energy (chiefly carbohydrates) is exhausted; the rate of
consumption of La reserve supplies is greater the higher the tem-
perature. It would appear, therefore, that death of the fruit would
occur more rapidly during storage at higher than at lower temperatures.
This statement, however, is only approximately correct on account of
the fact that for different kinds of fruit, and for different varieties
within each kind, there exist certain critical, environmental tempera-
tures below which the metabolism of the fruit is disorganized, leading
to onset of one of the many so-called physiological disorders; pro-
gressive onset of death in the affected cells of each fruit will then take
place. The duration of the “life” of the fruits after picking, there-
fore, is dependent upon the temperature—time relationships occurring
in each subsequent stage. Other environmental factors influencing the
post-picking life of the fruit are the composition of the surrounding
atmosphere, and, probably, the degree of saturation of the air with
aqueous vapour.
The pre-picking factors influencing the subsequent storage life have
not been fully defined, but certainly include the type of root-stock,
the type of soil (including the type of manuring), the climatic con-
ditions, the cultural treatment, the degree of infestation of the plants
by insects and fungi, the size of the crop, and the degree of maturity at
picking.
For fruit exported from Australia there are, therefore, numerous
closely inter-related pre-shipment, transportation, and post-shipment
factors which determine the average “life” of the material; only by a
eareful study of each factor and its inter-relationships with other factors
ean any light be thrown upon the causes and methods of elimination
of the wastage.
During the last few years, extensive investigations, particularly
in England and the United States of America, have defined and analyzed
many of the factors stated above, particularly for the apple; but, apart
from the work of Carne in Western Australia, the Citrus Preservation
Committee of the Council, and the Victorian ‘Departments of Agricul-
ture and of Railways, little systematic study of these factors or the
—_
4,
23
application of the findings of overseas investigators has been undertaken
in Australia. While it is probable that the results of many investiga-
tions conducted outside Australia can be applied here without con-
siderable modification, accurate information is particularly required
in each exporting State concerning the susceptibility of certain 648
of each kind of fruit to physiological disease and fungal attack;
other words, definitions of their “biological characteristics” are
required.
The economic aspects and the chief problems of the export trade in
each kind of fruit will now be outlined. It will be convenient, however,
to consider apples and pears together.
(i) Apples and Pears.
The average annual production of apples in Australia during the
last five years has been of the order of 74 million bushels, of which
approximately 2,600,000 bushels were exported (see Table I.).
Taste I.—Averace Propuction anp Export or APpPptLEs.
|
Average Annual Average Annual
State. Production Apples. Export.
Thousand Bushels. | Thousand Bushels
Tasmania * 3,283 1,629
Western ‘Australia oe 723 393
Victoria Z = 1,836 372
South Australia. 3. 728 175
New South Wales ~ 780 27
Queensland a sap 180* 3*
Total ba 7,530 2,599
* Approximately.
The corresponding figures for pears (1926-29) are—
Taste I].—Averacre Propuction anp Export or Pears.
State Average Annual Average Annual
: Production. Export Fresh Fruit.
Bushels. Bushels.
Tasmania bie se 184,500 74,787
Victoria B> 792,951 59,888
Western Australia =i 92,189 24,721
New South Wales Ss 252,975 6,313
South Australia Ss 168,701 3,462
Queensland 4A: a* 10,781 26
Total a6 1,502,097 169,197
With the recent increased production of apples and pears there
seems to have been increased export, particularly as regards apples
from Tasmania and Western Australia, and pears from Victoria.
The tables show that Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia
are the chief exporting States. Since alternate light and heavy cropping
appears to be characteristic of the production of both apples and pears,
the average values given above do not truly indicate the extent of pro-
duction, and, therefore, the surplus available for export in any given
24
year. For instance, during the year 1927-28, 11,500,000: bushels of
apples were produced in Australia, of which approximately 4,300,000
bushels were exported, whereas in the following year, 1928-29, the total
production was only 5,500,000 bushels, which allowed an export of only —
1,600,000 bushels (approximately).
The chief varieties of apples and pears exported may be tabulated
as follows :-—
Taste I1]—Curer Varteries or Appres anv Prars.
|
Apples. Pears.
Tasmania. nese | Victoria. oe ee age Victoria. Tasmania,
Sturmer | Jonathan | Jonathan Granny Packham’s | Beurre Bose
Jonathan Five Crown | Cleopatra Smith Triumph | Josephine
Cox’s Orange} Rome Beauty| Dunn’s Jonathan Beurre Bosc | Keiffer
Pippin Yates’ | Granny Josephine
Cleopatra Seedling | Smith | Keiffer
|
Export of the early maturing varieties of pears commences from
Victoria early in February, and later in the same month is generally
followed with the initial shipment of early maturing varieties of apples
from Victoria and Western Australia. Regular shipments then con-
tinue to take place every few days until the middle of June, when the
final cargoes of Tasmanian apples are loaded. Between 40 per cent.
and 50 per cent. of the apples and pears exported from Australia are
discharged at London, about 20 per cent. at Hamburg, and the
remainder chiefly at numerous United Kingdom ports, such as Liverpool,
Hull, and Glasgow.
The conditions existing in ships’ holds during transport overseas
will be considered more fully in the section devoted to transport and
engineering problems, but it is useful here to draw attention to several
outstanding features. Owing chiefly to lack of collective organization
in the States exporting large quantities of apples and pears, and lack
of co-ordination between the various States, holds are frequently not
completely filled at one port, and loading is completed at later ports
of call.
The temperature which the ships’ engineers aim to maintain in the
holds carrying apples ranges from 33° to 36° F., while the holds
containing pears are usually kept at temperatures varying from 29°
to 34° F. The time during which the fruit may remain in the holds
varies from 30 to 56 days.
After discharge at the British ports, the fruit is forwarded to the
agents for sale, either at the warehouses of firms selling by private
treaty or to agents who operate at the auction markets. In both of
these methods of distribution the fruit is sold to wholesale dealers, who,
in turn, distribute it to the retailers. Even with the aid, or perhaps
on account, of the complex organization apparently necessary for
the distribution of large quantities of fruit arriving on the English
markets during the months of April, May, and June, the period elapsing
between the discharge of the fruit at the docks and its ag: to the
retailer is as great as two to five weeks.
26
Judgment of the effectiveness of the present technique employed in
the export of apples and pears can, of course, only be made by a con-
sideration of the condition in which the fruit is placed in the hands of
the retailers overseas. While investigations carried out in England have
approximately defined the chief types of wastage present in shipments
of Australian apples and pears (British Food Investigation Board,
Special Report, No. 38), no complete surveys have been made to deter-
mine the average per centum wastage occurring up to the time of
disposal of the fruit to the retailers.
An approximate conception of the extent of the wastage may be
obtained by tabulating the reports of the various State Agents-General
upon the condition of Australian shipments of apples and pears on
arrival in England during the years 1927 to 1930. The reports, how-
ever, are incomplete, as numerous shipments each year are not
commented upon, and no data are given concerning the nature of the
wastage.
‘Taste 1[V.—Conpition oF Fruit Carcors ror Years 1927 ro 1930.
{
F | Type of Refrigeration
Condition of Cargoes. on Boats.
|
;
|
Year.
; aA Numb P t | Number Number
Dewinin, | Spam | ieee, | aaa,
Myeat, <4 9% 2 |
Small quantity | Excellent . a 1 3 1 se
exported | Good of ‘ 34 87 14 20. 5
Wholly or partly un- 4 10 s 4
| satisfactory a
| i a
1928. | |
Large quantity | Excellent . 1 2 Fy t
exported Good 65s | 7 14 2 7
low helly or partly un- 44 84 20 24
satisfactory =
oa
ard rh ogy | Excellent .. 1 + nt 1
Good + : 18 62 6 12
_ Wholly or partly un- 10 34 + 6
/ satisfactory
1930. | |
; |
Large quantity | Excellent .. 1 | Fit 1 a
exported Good = : 18 35 4 14
| Wholly or partly un- 32 63 22 10
| satisfactory |
\
This table shows that the condition in which the fruit arrives in
Great Britain, in general, is unsatisfactory, particularly in the years
of greatest export; the cargoes showing wastage constituted 84 per
cent. and 63 per cent. of the total examined during the years quoted.
26
The report on the fruit investigation during the Australian and New
Zealand season 1927, issued by the Empire Marketing Board (Special
Report, No. 3) defines fairly accurately the extent of the wastage
oceurring up to the time of discharge of the fruit at the English docks,
but these results must be considered in conjunction with the incomplete
figures given by Barker (British Food Investigation Board, Special
Report, No. 38) for the development of further wastage during
marketing.
The Marketing Board survey showed that in 1927—a year of small
exports—the following wastage occurred in different varieties of
Tasmanian and Western Australian apples :—
Taste 'V.—WasTAGE IN WEsTERN AUSTRALIAN AND TASMANIAN APPLES
DURING YFAR 1927.
Bitter Pit Internal Breakdown (collec inelecohens
Variety.
Tasmania. Pit eh Tasmania. Palen Tasmania Bice
a 9 f 0, o/ oO os
Cox’s Orange Pippin. . 21 a ge <3 He a
Cleopatra .. oe 10 18 “2? <1? °8 5
Sturmer Pippin 9 100] & i | ¥e1 ee ale ee
Goldfield’s Red- 85 185 2 (10 0) 4310 . mo) eens
wood
Jarrah =e 11 240 13 1 00 5.435 8 6 E63) ee 6
Marri (Red Gum) 13 283 1 1 0 0 7 4 10 O a 2 AY 126. 0
Morrell ae 12 262 2 0" 0 6 10 9 3 1 610)1 9 8
Salmon Gum... 10 218 2 1 0 0 at ae i SBE te tee
Pinus radiata .. 11 240 ] | es ea 6 3 8 6 L 1S) Lass
Boree .. = 7 153 2 T0520 4 0 aS 1 2-0) 65
__ * Note.—Whenr treatment can be carried out under favorable conditions and only the actual
time of working on the treatment is chargeable, the estimated cost of labour at £3 15s. per week for
gimlet, Goldfield’s redwood, morrell, salmon gum and boree would be about 18s. per 100 posts, for
Mallet and jarrah about 14s. per 100 posts, and marri and Pinus radiata about 10s. per 100 posts.
A small charge for firewood of about Is. to 1s. 6d. per 100 posts, a charge for carting water to the
treating plant, and any minor items should be added to the cost given under “‘ Costs of treated posts ”’.
However, in the Eastern wheat belt, in rainfall areas below about
18 inches per annum, the factor of leaching becomes less important and
the use of water-soluble preservatives is recommended.
The estimates given in Tables 4 and 5 are a guide only, and in
estimating his own costs a farmer should make allowance for the actual
cost to him of preservatives, untreated fence posts, and labour. If only
a small number of posts are being treated, the total or a large propor-
tion of the cost of the treating plant should be debited against the cost
of the treatment. At the conclusion of the treatment, there will remain
on hand quantities of preservative solutions, which will be found to be
of considerable value for brush treating shed posts, gates, and other
farm structures.
12. Probable Life of Treated Fence Posts.
No data are available regarding the life of treated fence posts for
the species of timber available for treatment in Western Australia.
Experience with preserved fence posts in other countries, however, shows
that properly-creosoted posts will give a life of at least 20 to 25 years.
In dry localities, posts treated with water soluble preservatives should
give a life closely approximating this.
In conjunction with the Western Australian Forests Department,
about 1,800 fence posts were treated with preservatives as set out in this
publication. These posts have been installed in fence lines in three
30
different localities in Western Australia, viz., Ghooli (near Southern
Cross), Wickepin, and Pemberton. Frequent inspections of these lines
will be made, and when the information is available, details of results
being obtained will be widely published in agricultural papers.
13. Economy of Treatment.
Although it is possible to increase the life of timber by preservative
treatment, it is not economical to do so unless the cost of treatment is
more than repaid by the increase in the life of the post. The cost for
setting an untreated post is the same as for a treated post. If a treated
post will last twice as long as an untreated one, then to the increased
life of the treated post must also be added the cost that would have to
be borne if the untreated post was removed and a new one put in its
place. The best method of comparison therefore is to determine the
annual service charge (cost per year of life) as distributed over the
length of life of the post, assuming a constant charge for setting, com-
pound interest at, say, 5 per cent. per annum, and no value for the
eventually destroyed fence post. The costs per year of life of a post
costing one shilling in place are given in Table 6.
Taste 6.—Costs PER YEAR OF Lire or Posts Costine 1s. 1x PEACE.
Compounp INTEREST AT 5 PER CENT.
Annual Annual Annual
Life in Years. Service Life in Years. Service Life in Years. Service
Charge. Charge. Charge.
s. 8. Ss.
] 1:050 Ju 0°121 21 0:078
2 0:°538 12 0°113 22 0:076
3 0°367 13 0:107 23 0-074
4 0°282 14 0-101 24 0:073
5 0:231 15 0-097 25 | 0-071
6 0°197 16 0:092 26 0-070
7 0°173 iy) 0:089 27 0:069
8 0:°155 18 0-086 28 0:076
9 0:141 19 0:083 29 0-066
10 0:130 20 0-080 30 0-065
From Table 6, the cost per year of life for a post which cost 1s. 6d.
to set, and which lasted ten years, would be 0.130 multiplied by 13
equals 0.195 shillings, or about 23d.
The following figures give an indication of the method for deter-
mining the economical value of treatment. The details of working are
given in Appendix 4.
1. (a) For an untreated salmon gum post costing 2d. to cut and
1s. to set, and lasting seven years, the cost per year of life would be
0.202 shillings, or about 23d.
(b) For a salmon gum post treated with creosote and fuel oil at a
cost of 8d., plus 1s. to set, and lasting 20 years, the cost per year of life
would be 0.133 shillings, or about 13d.
(c) For a salmon gum post treated with sodium fluoride and white
arsenic at a cost of 6d., plus Is., to set, and lasting fifteen years, the cost
per year of life would be 0.145 shillings, or about 13d.
31
The above figures show that both creosote with oil, and sodium
fluoride with white arsenic treatments would result in a considerable
saving over the use of untreated posts. For one post, this does not
seem large, but if the results are considered for 1,000 posts the saving
would be £3 9s. per year when using creosote with fuel oil, and £2 15s.
per year when using sodium fluoride with white arsenic.
2. If a durable post costing 1s. on the farm, plus 1s. to set, lasts
30 years, the annual service charge would be 0.130 shillings. Creosote
and oil-treated salmon gum posts, lasting 20 years, would have a cost
per year of life of 0.133 shillings (see above). The difference is very
small, and on account of the lower actual immediate outlay in money
(£5 per 100 for naturally durable posts as against about £2 5s. per 100
for creosote and oil-treated salmon gum) the ordinary farmer would
probably consider the treated salmon gum post as being the better for
his purpose.
By estimating his own costs of treatment, by determining the
probable cost per year of life on his posts, and by considering his initial
outlay, a farmer can make his own decision on the advisability of treat-
ing and on the type of treatment.
14. Conclusions.
The preservative treatment of fence posts means, in a large number
of cases, a saving in first cost together with, in many cases, a reduced
cost per year of life. It also makes available for use large quantities
of timber which would otherwise be destroyed in clearing operations.
Three different types of preservatives are described for use with the
open tank process and the choice of any one will depend on the cost, the
availability of supplies, the location of use, and the estimated life or
annual service charge. Creosote with fuel oils is better for use in wetter
localities and treatment with this type of preservative is generally easier
and simpler than with water-soluble preservatives. Either of the two
types of water soluble-preservatives, i.e., sodium fluoride with white
arsenic or zine chloride with white arsenic will give good service in
drier localities and the choice of these latter preservatives is a question
of price and availability.
If information on source of supplies is required, inquiries should be
addressed to the Conservator of Forests, Forests Department, Perth, or
the Chief, Division of Forest Products, 314 Albert-street, East
Melbourne.
The practice of preservation can likewise be extended to farm timbers
other than fence posts, and the Division of Forest Products will gladly
advise and assist farmers or other users of timber.
The Division would be grateful if those who have adopted the
methods of treatment of this publication would forward details of the
quantity and kind of posts treated, and of the preservatives used. This
information will be of value in future years as a record of the advant-
ages to be gained by preservative treatment.
32
APPENDIX 1.
Creosote Oil.
In this appendix, full details are given regarding the quality of creosote oil
suitable for fence post treatments. If a user of oil is in doubt as to whether a
grade of oil offered for sale is suitable he should state on his order that it must
comply with the specification given below. It should not be necessary to do more
than refer to this publication which will be forwarded to all known creosote
producers in Australia.
In England, Europe, and the United States of America, creosote oils mostly
used for wood preservation are horizontal retort oils and any such creosote oil
conforming to the British Engineering Standards Association specification No.
144, 1921, or grade 1 and 2 of the American Wood Preservers’ Association, is
satisfactory for fence posts.
The bulk of Australian creosotes are produced from vertical retorts and they
differ considerably from the horizontal retort oils. An investigation is now
being undertaken to determine suitable specifications for these oils. Pending the
completion of this, a tentative specification complied from the results of the
investigation to date, together with information collected from England, the
United States of Ameri ica, and New Zealand is suggested for use. This tentative
specification is, of course, subject to modification after completion of the work.
Vertical retort creosotes bought according to this specification should give com-
plete satisfaction as fence post pr eservatives.
Tentative Specification for Australian Creosote Oils for Fence
Post Preservation.
1. The oil shall be a distillate of coal tar and be free of any admixture of
petroleum or similar oils. (In the case of ready-prepared creosote with oil mix-
tures the creosote used shall conform to the specification, and be in the proportion
of at least 2 parts of creosote to 1 part of petroleum oil).
2. The specific gravity of the oil at 38°C. compared with water at 15.5°C.
shall be not less than 0.94.
3. The oil shall not contain more than 3 per cent. of water.
4. The oil shall not contain more than 0.5 per cent. of matter insoluble in
benzol.
5. The distillate based on water-free oil shall be within the following limits :—
Up to 210°C. not more than 10 per cent.
Up to 235°C. not more than 35 per cent.
Up to 315°C. not more than 85 per cent.
6. The residue above 355°C. if it exceeds 5 per cent. shall have a float test
of not more than 50 seconds at 70°C.
7. The amount of tar acids shall be not less than 5 per cent. by volume. There
shall be no upper limit to the amount of tar acids.
8. The foregoing tests shall be made in accordance with the standard methods
of the American Wood Preservers’ Association. (Details of these methods will
be supplied on application). .
APPENDIX 2.
Methed of Controlling the Strength of Water Solutions.
It is very desirable that the strength of the treating solutions should be con-
trolled. This can easily and conveniently be done by the use of a hydrometer,
which is an instrument for determining the density or strength of solutions. A
type recommended for use with the solutions of sodium fluoride with white
arsenic and zine chloride with white arsenic for the open tank process is one
marked from 1,000 to 1,060, costing about 3s. 6d. to 4s. 6d. In use, it is simply
placed in a long glass or tin of solution, and the point at which the liquid und
the scale-marking coincide is noted. It will be found that the solution will be
raised slightly around the glass stem of the hydrometer. The reading should be
taken at the top of the raised surface against the hydrometer stem.
33
When using the hydrometer, the following simple precautions should be
taken :—
1. The stem should be dry when it is used and it should be carefully
inserted into the liquid so that the stem is not wet excessively.
2. The hydrometer should float freely in the solution and should not be in
contact with the sides of the vessel when the reading is taken.
3. After use the hydrometer should be rinsed in clean water and dried.
As explained on page 24 the strength of the treating solutions can be roughly
regulated by ensuring that during the boiling period, water is added to make up
loss by evaporation, and during the cooling period, solution to make up for that
absorbed by the posts. It is desirable that a closer control of the strength than
is possible by this method is used. This can be very simply and conveniently
done by using a hydrometer and a Fahrenheit thermometer.
When the fresh solution is prepared, a sample should be removed in a con-
venient vessel, allowed to cool, and the hydrometer reading taken together with
the temperature. Whenever the strength of the treating solution is again deter-
mined, care should be taken that the temperature is not more than 5° Fahrenheit
above or below that of the temperature of the fresh solution, as a larger differ-
ence in temperature affects the reading on the hydrometer. The strength of the
fresh solution should be carefully recorded, as it is to be used for comparison with
the treating solutions in use.
The strength of the fresh zine chloride and white arsenic solution should be
about 1050 at 60°F., 1049 at 70°F., and 1047 at 80°F., while the fresh sodium
fluoride and white arsenic solution should be about 1053 at 60°F., 1051 at 70°F.,
and 1050 at 80°F. Commercial hydrometers vary somewhat, and it may be found
that the strengths of the fresh solutions will differ from the figures given above
by one to three points. Provided however, that the reading is carefully taken,
the actual figure obtained does not matter.
If the treating solution is becoming weaker, it will be found that the hydro-
meter reading will be less than that for the fresh solution. For every point
difference, one-half gallon of solution should be added during the boiling period
to the treating drum (containing 25 gallons) to make up for some of the evapo-
ration. For example, if the strength of the fresh solution at 70°F. is found to
be 1049, and the strength of the solution being tested is 1043 at the same tem-
perature, then the difference in the hydrometer readings is 6. Therefore, in order
to increase the strength of the treating solution to normal, 6 multiplied by one-
half, i..e., 3 gallons of solution, should be added to the 25 gallons of solution in the
treating drum during the boiling period. The same method applies, whether the
zine chloride with white arsenic or sodium fluoride with white arsenic solutions
are used.
If the strength of the treating solution becomes greater than that of the fresh
solution it can be corrected by adding water directly to the treating drum. If
the level in the treating drum is correct, a better way is to remove solution and
replace it by water. For each point of the hydrometer reading greater than tlie
recorded reading of the fresh solution, remove half-a-gallon of solution and
replace it by half-a-gallon of water.
A kerosene or petrol tin holds 4 gallons of water or solution, and is a con-
venient measure for use. If the height of the tin is divided into eight equal
parts, and these are clearly marked on the outside, each mark will represeni,
approximately, half-a-gallon of solution.
Tests of the strength of the water treating solutions should be made, if treat-
ment is continuous, at least twice a week. More frequent determinations will
give closer control of the strength of the solutions, but, if care is taken to follow
the directions given, these are not thought to be necessary.
34
APPENDIX 3.
Precautions when using White Arsenic.
White arsenic is a poison, and care should be taken while using it. On no
account should the powder or the solution be kept near food of any description.
The precaution of thoroughly washing the hands after handling the solution or
treated posts before handling food will prevent any trouble. If sores, open cuts,
or abrasions are on the operator’s hands, they should be kept well bandaged and
out of contact with solution as festering is likely to occur.
If by accident the white arsenic solution or powder is swallowed, vomiting
should be brought about by taking a glass full of luke warm water containing
one tablespoon of salt or a dessert spoonful of mustard, or by tickling the throat
with a feather. Drinks of milk, raw eggs and milk, olive oil, or strong tea should
be taken afterwards. If necessary medical advice should be obtained.
APPENDIX 4.
Economy of Treatment—Details of Calculations.
The figures in Table 6, giving the cost per year of life of posts costing Is. in
place, compound interest at 5 per cent. were obtained from the formula—
Cost per year of life = eet
where C = final cost of post in place,
R = rate of interest (5 per cent. 0.05),
n = life of posts in years.
By using this formula, the figures in Table 6 can be extended beyond the period
of 30 years if so desired.
Details of working—
1. (a) Cost of cutting salmon gum post . Ric By 0 2d.
Cost of setting a ae we Lee
Total cost of untreated post in fence Ae 1. 2
Estimated life of untreated post . ae fe 7 years.
Cost per year of life=0.173 (from Table 6) multiplied by 1% shillings.
0.202 shillings, or about 23d.
(b) Cost of cutting, seasoning, and treating salmon gum
post with creosote and fuel oil .. nic §. 0 8d.
Cost of setting .. sae Ae sis 1:8
Total cost of treated post i in fence .. of az eS
Estimated life of treated post .. ae 20 years.
Cost per year of life=0.080 (from Table 6) multiplied by 13 shillings.
=0.133 shillings, or about 13d.
(c) Cost of cutting, seasoning, and treating salmon gum
post with sodium fluoride and white arsenic .. 0 6d.
Cost of setting .. a = ihe Le
Total cost of treated post i in fence .. Se: Ihe ie
Cost per year of life—0.097 (from Table 6) ‘multiplied by 14 shillings.
—=0.145 shillings, or about 1d.
7 Cost of durable post 10
Cost of setting .. sis a ov 1,0
Total cost of durable post i in fence .. zie - 2 O
Estimated life of durable post 30 years
Cost per year of life—=0.065 (from Table 6) sanltiplied by 2 shillings.
—=0.130 shillings or about 13d.
H. J. GREEN,
GOVERNMENT PRINTER.
MELBOURNE
te (White - Ants) if |
uth-eastern Australia
TES
a ae
le Method of Webihcatian and a Discussion
_ of their Sree yt in Timber
Forest Trees
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GERALD: F,
MELBOURNE, 1932
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cn Ne RN A NE OT TO NT ilo een ooeabkend namaonomnnrguctnowateternsiometnaomnal
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~ (Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive C
Pratessor A. E. V. Richardson, M.A. ‘DSc.
2 4res
cannes of Sotnte Committees : 5,
Professor R. D. Watt, MA. B.Sc,
(Neo Sth Wale)
Sir David 0. Masson, KBE, F.R. Sy &e.
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Protessor Hi. «,. Richards, D.Sc. 223
° ‘1Qvcensand), BG As
Sir ‘Walter J. Young, KBE.
. ee, (South bees gic eat
B. Perry, Esq. Eee eee
(Western Australia), Rate
P, E. Keam, Esq. Se eras s
es asmoni).
Co-apted embers: See
Professor E. J. ‘Goddard, BAs D. Sou,”
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Professor H. A. ebaseeedll BS. ees &e.
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314 Albert Bias ae se : Sees
Ea Means: Site Pes
COMMONWEALTH
PAMPHLET No. 25.
OF AUSTRALIA
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
South-eastern Australia
A simple Method of Identification and a Discussion
of their Damage in Timber and
Forest Trees
|
|
Termites (White Ants) in
By
GERALD: F.:HILL
Repistered at the General Post Office, Melbourne, for transmisston through the post as a book.
eg ; : g
| Wholly set up and printed tn Australia |
i
|
|
MELBOURNE, 1932
|
|
By Authority : H. J. Green, Government Printer, Melbourne
a , | eee ee
CON TER ro.
PAGE
oo
FOREWORD:
The paper entitled “Termites (White-Ants) in South-eastern
Australia,” by Mr. G. F. Hill, Senior Entomologist in charge of the
Section of Forest Insect Pests in the Division of Economic Entomology,
C.S.ILR., is written with the principal object of providing a reliable
guide to foresters and all others interested in our native Eucalyptus
trees in South-eastern Australia, on the subject of the damage caused
by termites or white-ants. It is hoped that all such workers will be
enabled, by means of this paper, to identify the commoner species of
termites which they may find damaging timber.