In the last year I requested funds for partial support towards a conference trip in the USA, together with a visit to the principal laboratory in the USA investigating tillage and compaction. After I made this application, I received a further invitation to undertake some work in West Germany with Professor Rainer Horn, a leading worker in the field of compaction. This work in West Germany was not supported by the Cotton Research Council, nor was it directly concerned with cotton soils. Nevertheless, the work that we undertook on compaction is of direct relevance to my work on the cotton soils, so I shall report on this visit also.