On-Line Automated Inspection of Poultry Carcasses by Machine Vision
Development of an automated poultry inspection system that is low-cost, operates 
with minimum human intervention, and is able to maintain its accuracy is important to 
the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the poultry industry. Such 
a system, placed strategically in the processing plants, would help improve the 
inspection speed, minimize problems of human error and variability, improve the 
effectiveness of the federal inspection program, and increase the slaughter plants’ 
productivity. This paper describes an automated poultry inspection system that 
utilizes machine vision technology. The system was tested on-line at a poultry plant. 
The results showed that the classification accuracy for wholesome and unwholesome 
carcasses were 94 and 87%, respectively.
Agricultural Statistics
THE International Institute of Agriculture, Rome, has now published the sixth of its economic commentaries, “The World Agricultural Situation in 1934–5” (price 25 lire). As in the preceding issue, the volume is divided into two parts, the first of which deals with world agriculture and the second with the individual policy and conditions in the different countries. Both sections contain a wealth of interesting material of which it is impossible to give more than the briefest outline. Under the first heading, an analysis is made of the more important changes and trends in world economy as influenced by national planning, together with a survey of the market conditions of the principal agricultural crops and livestock. The year under review was a period of adjustments and adaptations involved in the carrying out of schemes of planning and control rather than a period of new initiations in economic organization, the outstanding feature being the increasing development of economic autarchy, which in theory stands almost universally condemned. The effects of this tendency, economic, political and technical, are discussed at length, and it is shown that greater stability is now being sought by the formation of large economic combinations between qountries usually with close political associations. Further, the various forms of industrialization that are taking place in the so-called agricultural countries are shown to be producing far-reaching repercussions upon international economic relations. The information in the second part is principally concerned with Government measures for farm relief and the economic conditions of agriculture prevailing in the various countries. More than thirty countries are considered, information with regard to Austria, Portugal and Portuguese Colonies being included in this issue for the first time. Data for Argentina and Poland which were omitted in the last issue of the commentary are again included.
Investigations on the rôle of organic matter in plant nutrition
1. As the result of decomposition of green manure in a swamp soil, the coarse fractions (including coarse and fine sand) of the surface layer (first 3 inches) decreased by 11·2 per cent. while the fine ones (silt+clay) increased by 9·8 per cent. in the course of 43 days. The effect was less pronounced in the manured soil maintained at 60 per cent. saturation, while no alteration was to be noticed in the case of the unmanured specimens. 2. Treatment with dilute hydrochloric acid prior to dispersion had no appreciable effect on the estimates of mechanical composition obtained in the different cases. Loss in solution was also comparatively small. 3. The silica-sesquioxide ratio increased slightly as the result of decomposition of green manure in swamp soil. The composition of the fine fractions was also altered, the total percentages of the oxides of iron, aluminium and silicon increasing from 90·5 to 99·3 in the course of 71 days. 4. The practical significance of the above and related observations has been discussed.