ABSTRACTS
65
manufacturers and the Thibetan is supposed to be the best among the Chinese wools.
The Vicanere wool is produced in north Central India. It is soft, lively and springy and
these are the characteristics which are highly valued in carpet wools. The Aleppo wool
is grown in Syria, in Asia Minor, and possesses good length and is well known for its colour,
strength and resiliency. The Woozie wools, which are produced in the neighbourhood of
Shanghai, are regarded by the trade as one of the poorest of carpet wools. The macro¬
scopical analysis of carpet wools has indicated that the more desirable types according to
manufacturers contain lower percentage of true wool and kemp and larger percentage
of heterotypical fibres. The Vicanere and Aleppo wools on examination admirably satis-
fied this requirement. The authors conclude that Chinese wools are not as good as the
Vicanere and Aleppo wools in the macroscopical characteristics. The Romney wool
sample showed only true wool fibres. It is observed that an ideal carpet wool should
contain :—
(i) at least 15 per cent by count or 35 per cent by weight of heterotypical fibres.
These fibres should have an average thickness of at least 30 microns and
the fibre sizes should not vary more than 15 per cent. The average lengths
of these fibres should be at least 100 mm. for normal growth (12 months),
and the variability of the fibre length should be less than 20 per cent ;
(ii) not more than 2 per cent by count or 4 per cent by weight of kemp fibres.
The dimensional characteristics of the kemp fibres are not so important.
The important thing is to eliminate kemp from the fleeces and work on the
subject has shown that this can be done by paying attention to the selec-
tion of breeding rams and ewes;
(iii) not more than 85 per cent by count or 65 per cent by weight of true wool
fibres. These fibres should have an average thickness not exceeding 25.4
microns, and their variation in fibre thickness should not exceed 25 per cent.
They should have an average length of at least 100 mm. for normal growth
(12 months) and the variation in fibre length should not exceed 25 per cent.
[H. B. S. ]
Present day problems in animal nutrition. ISTVAN MOSKOVITS. Monthly
Bulletin of Agricultural Science and Practice, International
Institute of Agriculture, Rome—April 1940. No. 4
A T the instance of the General Assembly of the International Institute of Agriculture it
is proposed to deal in the above monthly bulletin, in a series of articles, with the
most striking investigations and practical trials in the field of animal nutrition and
to review the outstanding results achieved during recent years. The first of this series
relates to ' Self-sufficiency in fodder supplies ' or, in other words, the tendency in various
countries, notably in Europe, to utilise home-grown fodder for livestock. Naturally,
therefore, this trend, which is a reaction to the tendency of obtaining maximum yields
by using suitable feeding stuffs irrespective of any regard for their origin, has led to much
radical alteration in fodder production and dietary methods. The present study dis-
cusses the different methods adopted for attaining this objective, i. e. the rearing of
livestock on home-grown feeding stuffs without in any way adversely affecting the
amount or quality of animal products but rather, on the contrary, aiming at the mainte-
nance of a steady increase.
Imports consist mainly of concentrates, i. e. products of high nutritive value in pro-
portion to their weight. The feeding value thus justifies the cost of transport which
is often heavy. Intensification of the output of home-grown produce would, in many
countries, result only in increased quantity of fodder crops. Most fodders produced
on the farms, however, are bulky, i. e. contain less nourishment and a large proportion
of roughage. Ruminants can utilise roughage better than other classes of livestock
whose ration requires a higher concentration of essential nutrients. The question of
basing the ration of ruminants mostly or totally on home-grown produce does not,
therefore, present insuperable difficulties. However, in this connection, it is observed
that though from the technical point ' the supply of carbohydrates presents no difficulty
in countries which have adopted a self-sufficiency policy, the same cannot be said as
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