EXPERIMENT STATION REPORTS. 169 



Gram positive rods were found to be present but cultural and animal inocula- 

 tion tests were negative. 



One of the state hospitals which does its own canning had trouble with 

 spoilage of their fruits and vegetables. The cans used were 2 qt. Mason jars 

 and they were planning to discard these and use gallon jars instead to see 

 whether the spoilage couldn't be prevented in this way. Advice was given 

 to the effect that it would be poor policy from the "keeping" as well as from 

 the economic standpoint to make this change since their trouble evidently 

 came from the failure of heat penetration in the 2 quart jars. The processing 

 periods advised in the cold pack method are for quart and pint jars which have 

 a lesser diameter than the 2 quart and thus the heat will more quickly pene- 

 trate. It is obvious that the use of gallon jars would not solve this trouble. 



[Zae Northrup Wyant]. 



Fifty samples of soil, silage and manure have been sent upon request to 

 the University of California where they will be analyzed for the presence of 

 B. hotulinus. 



The investigations on foods and fermentations are to be continued by Mr. 

 Robert L. Tweed. 



Mrs. Wyant reports further on her soil studies: 



SOILS. 



One season has passed since undertaking the microbial peat decomposition 

 experiment which employed buckwheat as a crop indicator of microbial activi- 

 ties in peat soil, with very interesting results. In the first place the manure 

 organisms caused a very startling increase in the yield of seed over that of 

 peat uninoculated. Peat alone gave a yield of 3 bushel per acre while peat 

 inoculated with manure organisms gave a yield of 104.8 bushel per acre, peat 

 plus rock phosphate yielded buckwheat seed at the rate of 44.3 bushel per acre, 

 while the same combination plus manure organisms gave a yield of 101.1 

 bushels per acre. 



The various composts used as soil gave very good yields also. Compost 

 A Avhich contained peat, rock phosphate and manure gave a jdeld of 58.3 

 bushel per acre. This most probably would have been considerably larger 

 if the plants hadn't been destroyed by rabbits when they were quite large, 

 necessitating the setting in of more plants. Compost B (peat and rock phos- 

 phate %\ith compost A as an inoculum) gave a yield of 80.7 bushel per acre, 

 while compost I+M which contained sulfur in addition to the peat and rock 

 phosphate, gave a yield of 94.5 bushel per acre. Thus it was made evident 

 that microorganisms play a considerable part in crop yield. 



Either sulfur or rock phosphate or a combination of the two, or sand were 

 found to be desirable adjuncts to peat. The particular type of clay used, 

 however, seemed to depress yields in most cases. The stimulating or de- 

 pressing action respectively of the various additions seemed to affect the 

 microbial flora, especially particular types. 



As a rule composted peat seemed slight better as a soil than raw peat to 

 which compost or other materials was added but this is not sufficiently marked 

 to advise its use in agricultural practice. 



From the standpoint of seed yield, it was found to be profitable to compost 

 peat with rock phosphate before using it as a soil or as a fertilizer. 



[Zae Northrup Wyant.] 



