106 SCIENTIFIC REPORTS OF THE AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH 



REPORT OF THE IMPERIAL AGRICULTURAL 



BACTERIOLOGIST. 



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



I. Administration. 



I was in charge of the Section during the year except 

 for one mouth's privilege leave during September, 1918. 



Captain J. H. Walton. Supernumerary Agricultural 

 Bacteriologist, returned from military duty in Mesopotamia 

 and Palestine after an absence of about four years. 



II. Training. 



Mr. K. Adinarayan Rao, a student from Mysore State, 

 is under training in agricultural bacteriology, from 12th 

 June, 1918. 



Mr. H. S. Govinda Rao, a student deputed by the Mysore 

 Government, to undergo training in laboratory technique 

 in connection with silkworm diseases, worked in this 

 Section from 17th December, 1918, to 26th June, 1919. 



III. Soil Biology. 



Nitrification. Field and plot observations of seasonal 

 variation in nitrification in soils under crop and fallow 

 were maintained ; the results obtained confirmed the opinion 

 that movement of soil water either upward or downward 

 conduces to increased formation of nitrates; such move- 

 it jent may be caused by drainage, by surface evaporation, 

 or by plant absorption (transpiration), this last factor 

 accounting for the greater total nitrification fourd in 

 cropped as compared with fallow plots. An important point 

 affected by soil management seems to be the annual re-estab- 

 lishment of nitrifying flora to take the place of that elimin- 

 ated by adverse conditions, such as waterlogging, during 

 the monsoon; the success of this operation depends upon 



