REPORT OF THE CHEMIST 165 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



become necessary, therefore, to make a brief statement as to what bas been done in 

 this important research by the Experimental Farms and our present position as regards 

 the necessity or desirability of generally distributing the cultures. 



1. For many years we carried on experiments, both in pots and in the field, with 

 cultures of nitrogen-assimilating bacteria, prepared in Germany, publishing the re- 

 sults in the Experimental Farms reports (1897-8-9). In certain instances it was found 

 that the cultures favoured the growth of legumes, clover, beans, &c., but there was not 

 sufficient evidence to justifj' us in recommending them for general use. The cultures 

 ■were found particularly susceptible to light and heat, and under the best conditions 

 of preservation their vitality could only be guaranteed for six weeks from the date of 

 their preparation. It was felt tliat the matter was still in the experimental stage, and 

 for the reasons just stat-ed it was not desirable to make any general distribution of the 

 cultures. 



Since these experiments were made, the preparation of the cultures, Icnown-as 

 Kitragin, has been discontinued, owing, we presume, to lack of sufficient demand for 

 the preparations. 



Last spring we were kindly supplied by the authorities at Washington with samples 

 of their new cultures for Ked clover and Alfalfa. It is claimed for these cultures 

 that by reason of the method employed in their preparation and the mode in which 

 they are sent out, they are more potent and more stable than the cultures formerly 

 made in Germany. We experimented with these preparations, using pots filled with 

 sterilized soil. The directions issued with the cultures were c'arefully followed. While 

 it is true that nodules were found on many of the plants growing in the inoculated 

 pots, these nodules were few and of small size and no general increase in the weiglit 

 of the crop was to be observed as a result of the use of the cultures. Further, as 

 nodules developed on plants in two of the control (uninoculated) pots, we were unable 

 to decide if the cultures had been effective or not. It is certainly to be regretted that 

 the r^ults this year have not been more satisfactory, but at present, from our own 

 experience we cannot report very favourably. Further trials will be made next season, 

 both in pots and in the field, and the results made known in due course. 



The attention of farmers may be drawn to the fact that effective inoculation for 

 clover and Alfalfa may be obtained by the use of a certain amount of the soil from 

 fields growing good crops of these plants. This method has proved most successful. 

 Such soil is not difficult to obtain in all the provinces save, perhaps, Manitoba and 

 the North-west Territories. Directions for using such soils have from time to time 

 been issued by us. 



For many years past, as is well known, particular attention has been paid by us 

 to the system of soil enrichment by the growth of legiimes and to the various means 

 that could be taken to obtain a vigorous growth of the crop. In this connection I 

 should like to add that our experience and observation have shown that the necessity of 

 inoculation is not so great as was at one time thought. We are led to believe that the 

 existence of the bacteria that serve to fix; the nitrogen in the legume is by no means 

 restricted to small or isolated areas. We have found — at all events in Ontario and 

 the eastern provinces — that failures in the past to obtain a good catch of clover have 

 been due ratlier to deficiency of moisture, or unsuitable mechanical condition of the 

 Eoil, or insufficient drainage, than to the absence of nitrogen-assimilating germs. The 

 general — though probably not universal presence of root nodules on the clover in 

 Ontario and the east lead us to believe that special means for inoculation have not 

 been necessary save, perhaps, in exceptional instances in the aforementioned pro- 

 vinces. It was due to these facts, we consider, that there has been no general demand 

 for inoculating material. 



In my recent tour through British Columbia, I found these organisms present 

 upon every root of clover examined, and I took especial care to obtain informatiooi 

 upon this matter in all the agricultural districts I visited. The same stands true alike 

 for the irrigated soils of the dry belt (Nicola and Okanagan valleys), as well as for 



