Vol. VIII. No. 184. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



147 



bacteria may prove to be of very considerable value, but 

 on the majorit}' of cultivated lands, which have already 

 borne leguminous crops, inoculation is likely to prove 

 beneficial only if the bacteria introduced belong to a more 

 vigorous race of nitrogen-gatherers than those normally 

 present in the soil, or are specificaHy adapted to the 

 peculiar crop to be grown. In thisconnexion it ma\' 

 be mentioned that it has not .yet been fully decided 

 whether nitrogen-fi.\ation is carried-*^ on by more than 

 one species of soil bacteria, or whether the bacteria 

 which are associated with the various leguminous crops 

 all belong to the species Fseud<jmona» radtcicola. 

 Points of similarity and slight points of difference are 

 observed in organisms from different plants, and it 

 would appear that if all an- of the same species, there 

 are a number of varieties of this spfecies in existence. 

 Evidence has been brought forward in si pport of the 

 belief, held by many investigators, that the bacteria, 

 when grown continuously in association with one kind 

 of leguminous crop only, become in time so modified 

 as to be capable of giving the best results with that 

 crop alone. At any rate, a greater degree of success 

 lias in many cases been obtained when each species of 

 legume is directly infected with bacteria from nodules 

 taken from other plants of the same species. 



The most notable instances of success in soil inocu- 

 l,ition that have so far been recorded have naturally 

 been obtained on lands which have not previously 

 borne a leguminous crop, more especially on virgin soil 

 newly broken up, or on heath or bog land lately 

 reclaimed. The presence of suitably quantities of lime 

 and mineral manures are necessary for success, and 

 must be provided, if normally deficient in the soil. 

 In East Prussia very large areas of barren sandy heath 

 land have been reclaimed and made valuable for 

 agricultural purposes by working ,on this principle. 

 Dressings of basic slag and kainit were applied to the 

 *oil, and after preliminary inoculation, crops of lupins 

 have been repeatedly grown, and , ploughed in. As 

 a result, the nitrogen content of t|he first 8 inches of 

 land has been raised from 0027 to 0-177 per cent, in 

 the course of twenty-five years, while it has also 

 become proportionately richer in the mineral con- 

 -stituents of fertility. i 



Book on Plant Names. A handy little book 



tiititled ' Pronunciation of Plant Names ' lias lately been 

 issued irom the ottice of the Gardeners (Jhronich. The 

 book contains a list of over 4,000 generic plant names, 

 accented to indicate the proper method of [jronnnciation. 

 It was prepared by the Kev. C. Butler, M.A,, and should 

 prove useful to workers in liorticultufe, as Curators and 

 Assistants at Botanic Stations. 



HOMEGROWN AND IMPORTED SEED. 



In raising crops from seed, a review of all the 

 evidence available on the^ subject strengthens the 

 opinion that the seed likely to give the best results in 

 any locality is that which has been wisely s,elected and 

 carefully bred under the conditions peculiar to that 

 locality. The seed should be good, selected, home- 

 grown seed, in facr,, and this is likely to be more relia- 

 ble than high-priced, higli-breii seed brought from 

 a distance. 'P " 



This subject is di.scussed in a Rn/fetin issued .sometime 

 ago from the Nebraska Experiment Station, which reports 

 a series of e.vpeiiments with corn carried on at the Station. 

 The following is quoted from the report : — 



When corn grown in one section of the country for 

 a number of years is moved to imother section where soil and 

 climate are different, the plant always undergoes more or less 

 change during the first two or three years before it becomes 

 ' adapted ' to its new condition,s. 



Several trials made at the Nebraska Experiment Station 

 show the effect of climate in modifying the characteristics of 

 the corn plant. Seed of two varieties of corn, ' Snowflake 

 AVhite, and 'Iowa Gold Mine', obtained from Iowa, were 

 grown for two years in Nebraska. In the third year seed was 

 taken from this and a further supply obtained from the same 

 original source in Iowa, Tbe,s,e were all grown on adjacent 

 plots at the Experiment Station, but marked diflFerences were 

 observable throughout between the plants resulting from the 

 Iowa and Nebraska seed. With the 'SnowHake White' 

 corn, the stalk from the seed that had grown in central 

 Nebraska for two years had , decreased almo-st 1 foot in 

 height, the ear was 8-8 inches lower down, and the ear shank 

 ■2 inches shorter, while the le.ivfes on these plants were, on an 

 average, 12 per plant Jess than on those from Iowa seed. 



The weight of both stalk and ear was found to be 

 heavier in the coin grown from the freshly-imported Iowa 

 seed, but the jjioportion of ear to stalk was liigher in the 

 acclimatized corn. The diminishefl leaf area of the corn 

 from the Nebraska seed was what might be expected from 

 plants grown in a dry climate. The yield of grain was in 

 favour of the home-grown seed. 



Experiments were also organized by the Nebraska 

 Experiment Station, in whit'h twenty-t«'o different varieties of 

 corn were tried by farmers in tlifferent parts of the State. Of 

 these varieties, thirteen had long been adapted to Nebraska 

 conditions, and nine were native to other States, It is 

 significant that not one of the nine kinds of corn, of which 

 the seed was imported, have, in any season, ever taken first or 

 even second place in the average results for the State. This 

 is attributed to the fact that these varieties have not yet 

 become acclimatized in Nebraska, 



The lesson to be learned from the above trials is that 

 to get the best results in corij growing, the seed must be 

 home-grown, and grown not only in the same country, but 

 the same locality. The results of the variety tests referred 

 to, indicate that seed grown in eastern Nebraska will not do' 

 as well in western Nebraska as local varieties, and vice verm. 

 Seed growing and seed selection ,should be carefully done ia 

 every district. 



These results form another notable addition to the 

 large mass of evidence which has of late years been 

 accumulated by Experiment Station work that locally 

 grown seed is the most reliable, and that planters and 

 farmers should give increased attention to the work of 

 raising and selecting their own seed 



