REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



REPORT OF THE IMPERIAL AGRICULTURAL 



BACTERIOLOGIST. 



(C. M. Hutchinson, B.A.) 



I held charge of the section throughout the year. 



1. Charge and Establishment .—The First Assistant Mr. 

 N. V. Joshi was on privilege leave from October 9th to 

 23rd December 1911 and the Second Assistant Mr. K. S. 

 Viswanatham was on privilege leave from April 9th to 

 29th June 1912. 



All the Assistants in the section showed great interest 

 in the work, and not only worked daily several hours over- 

 time but made themselves sufficientlv familiar with French 

 and German to be able to read and make translations into 

 English from papers published in these languages. 



2. Tours. — To Rangpur to observe the conditions of 

 incidence of bacterial disease of tobacco. 



To Jorhat to see the manurial experiments carried out 

 by Mr. Meggitt and the new Experiment Station of the 

 Indian Tea Association. 



To Dacca to consult Mr. Finlow on the subject of bac- 

 terial action in jute retting and " heart damage." 



To Lyalljjur to consult Mr. Barnes on the subject of 

 " Reh " soils and to deliver a course of lectures on soil 

 bacteriology. 



3. Soil Bacteriology. — The work of the Bacteriological 

 Section at Pusa during the year has been mainly directed 

 towards ascertaining what factors determine biologic acti- 

 vity in Indian soils, and to the measurement of the changes 

 resulting therefrom under various conditions. The main 

 problem so far dealt with has been the supply of available 

 nitrogen as provided by the biolysis of such substances as 

 green manures, root residues, and organic manures. No 

 work has been done upon nitrogen assimilation by Legume 

 bacteria or such organisms as Azotobacter. Clostridium, or 

 Rhizobium. 



