420 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



especially tbat tbe raw phosphate "must be used in connection with liberal 

 amounts of manure or with a good crop of clover plowed under if satisfactory 

 results are to be secured " on these soils. 



Fertilizer inspection {Maine 8ta. Off. Insp. 9, pp. 17-31).— This gives the 

 results of analyses of manufacturers' samples of fertilizers licensed up to 

 March, 1909, with notes on valuation of fertilizers. 



AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. 



Agricultural bacteriolog'y, H. W. Conn {Philadelphia, 1909, 2. ed., rev., pp. 

 X+331, figs. 6Ji). — This work is designed as a study of the relation of germ 

 life to the farm with laboratory experiments for students, and treats of the 

 mici'o-organisms of soil, fertilizers, sewage, water, dairy products, miscellaneous 

 products, and the diseases of animals and plants. 



This is a second and revised edition of the author's work, which originally 

 appeared in 1901 (E. S. R., 13, p. 623). Since the publication of the first edi- 

 tion the advance in all lines of agricultural bacteriology has been very great, 

 and practically the entire work has been rewritten to include the new informa- 

 tion. The present edition was planned with special reference to its use as a 

 text-book and for laboratory purposes. A number of elementary experiments 

 are given, the directions for which are sufficiently in detail for student use and 

 which would serve as an introduction to the methods of bacteriological investi- 

 gation. 



The book may be considered a careful summary of the present information 

 regarding agricultural bacteriology. 



The bacterial flora of Hawaiian sugars, L. Lew ton-Brain and N. Deerb 

 {Hatcaiian Sugar Planters' Sta., Div. Path, and Physiol. Bui. 9, pp. 36, figs. 

 21). — ^An investigation has been carried on to determine the cause for the 

 fall in polarization of sugars in storage, and especially on the voyage from 

 Honolulu to New York, via Cape Horn. 



The studies I'esulted in the isolation of 5 species of bacteria, which were 

 grown in various media and their action on commercial sugars under various 

 external conditions determined. It is believed that the deterioration depends 

 on the influence of bacteria acting in the presence of a sufficiency of water and 

 at a temi^erature favorable for their development. 



Report of the assistant bacteriologist, E. B. Fred {Virginia Sta. Rpt. 1908, 

 pp. 25, 26, fig. 1). — A brief account is given of the work conducted by the 

 department of mycology, which was combined in 1907 with the department of 

 bacteriology. 



The work of the department of bacteriology has been largely devoted to a 

 study of nitrogen-fixing organisms, about 50 species of native leguminous plants 

 having been collected and studies made of the bacteria infecting their root 

 nodules. By careful staining the bacteria may be seen entering the plants 

 through root hairs, immediately after which a tubercle starts to form. A series 

 of sections showed that mitosis goes on in the nodules much the same as it 

 does in diseased tissues of animals. The mitotic figures are larger, very 

 irregular and not well marked, and have an uneven number of chromosomes. 

 In the normal root the mitotic figures are about one-sixth as large, very clear, 

 and the chromosomes in numerous pairs. This seems to bear out the theory 

 that the legume bacteria are symbiotic parasites of the plant. 



Assimilation of nitrogen by different strains of Bacillus radicicola in the 

 absence of the host plant, E. B. Fred {Virginia Sta. Rpt. 1908, pp. 132-13Jf. 

 fig. 1 ) . — This work was carried out to make a study of the amount of nitrogen 

 assimilated by different types of nodule bacteria. 



