3o6 



THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



THE PRODUCTION OF INOCULATING 

 MATERIALS FOR USE IN AGRI= 

 CULTURE (NITRAQIN). 



At a meeting of the Society of Chemical In- 

 dustry, London Section, Dr. J. A. Voelcker, 

 Consulting Chemist to the Royal Agricultural 

 Society of England, read a paper on the above 

 subject. 



Dr. Voelcker first briefly referred to the well- 

 known, but for many years unexplained fact 

 that leguminous crops (peas, beans, vetches, 

 clover, etc.), though highly nitrogenous do not 

 impoverish the land of nitrogen to any per- 

 ceptible extent; indeed, when the stubble is 

 ploughed in after cropping, as is usually the 

 case, the soil is found to be richer in nitrogen 

 than before cropping. Hellriegel and Urllfarth's 

 experiments, in which it was found that though 

 seeds of leguminous plants in sterilized sand, 

 watered only with solutions of mineral fertiliz- 

 ing constituents, died soon after germination, 

 whilst when a small quantity of the watery ex- 

 tract of a soil on which such plants had flourish- 

 ed healthy growth with formation of character- 

 istic rootnodules ocurred, showed that nitrogen 

 must be assimilated from the air presumably by 

 the aid of these nodules. 



Dr. Noble has been able to isolate from these 

 roots nodules the specific organism or bacterium, 

 which is instrumental in the assimilation of 

 nitrogen — in fact, he finds that the various 

 families of the order Leguniinoscs have each 

 their modification of the organism which best 

 effects the action — probably the result of a pro- 

 cess of natural selection during several genera- 

 tions. With the energy and far-seeing wisdom 

 which characterizes the trade in Germany, the 

 Farbwerke von Meister, Lucius and Briining, 

 of Hoechst on Maine, have devoted an entire 

 department to the commercial utilization of 

 these discoveries, and are now selling at 2 m. 

 50 pf. (2s. 6d.) per bottle, sufficient to inoculate 

 seed or soil for half an acre of land, pure cul- 

 tures of the bacterium under the somewhat un- 

 fortunate, so far as we are concerned in Eng- 

 land, name of "Nitragin." 



Dr. Voelcker described briefly, experiments 

 made rather late in the present unfavorable 

 year, at a farm in Sussex, at the Woburn Ex- 

 perimental Farm of the R. A. S. E., at Moxhull 

 Park, Warwickshire, and at Reading (under the 

 superintendence of Messrs. Sutton & Sons), 

 and though deprecating hasty conclusions ex- 

 pressed his opinion that nitragin would proba- 

 bly be found of use in lands where leguminous 

 crops could not otherwise be grown. The ex- 

 periments will be continued for some years. 

 — British and Colonial Druggist. 



EGYPT AND GUM ACACIA. 



In March of this year we briefly dealt, as our 

 readers are aware, with the effects of the 

 Egyptian disturbances on the trade in gum 

 arabic. It will be remembered that the gum 

 auctions of March 26th, showed a material rise 

 in the price of this gum, which change was 

 attributed to the influences exercised by the 

 disturbances in Egypt, then becoming talked 

 about. We said then — and the course of gum 

 arabic up to now has justified our opinion — that 

 the political situation had been worked on more 

 than was warranted, and that the prices obtained 

 at the sales referred to were largely moves in 

 the game of speculators. In public, the sellers 

 of gum arabic have continued to maintain ap- 

 parently a firm attitude ; but the sales at each 

 auction have been proportionately very small, 

 and our private information is to the effiect that 

 a retail character also is shown in business out- 

 side the auction room, while a tendency to give 

 way to buyers has been becoming more appar- 

 ent of late. 



Whether the eff"ects of the disturbance have 

 really resulted in so large a curtailment of the 

 supplies, which otherwise would have reached 

 the coast, as was expected, is to be doubted. The 

 figures returned by the various warehouses here 

 do not assist one very much in comparing the 

 stocks of Soudan gum in London at various 

 periods. This is owing to the fact that all kinds 

 of gum arabic are grouped together. Compared 

 thus, indiscriminate of kind, the stocks of gum 

 arabic over here have been larger since the rise 

 in March than they were at corresponding 

 periods of last year. This is apparent up to the 

 end of last month, and helps to bring about the 

 result which is to be expected from the latest 

 news from the seat of war. 



An important trade emporium is, according to 

 Renter, in contemplation by Colonel Hunter, at 

 Dongola. To the centre thus aff"orded caravans 

 will come from Darfur and Kordofan, bringing, 

 among other things, gum. By passing through 

 Dongola, says the report, the canal and the 

 Khalifa's duties will be avoided. It is further 

 understood that direct steamer and railway 

 communication will be established. As Dongola 

 forms an excellent centre for the districts pro- 

 ducing the best gum acacia, these facilities for 

 its exportation should very quickly affect the 

 price of the article, and will soon lead to its 

 cheapening unless some set-back occurs to the 

 British expedition, which is net expected or 

 probable. The further advance of the expedi- 

 tion to Khartoum, if this takes place, will act 



