726 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



of silt. "Rich tliongli it may be, tlie Orange liiver deposit contaius too much 

 clay, and is tlierefore too dense and heavy to enable it to be advantageously 

 used in its original condition, but when deposited on the surface of a sandier 

 soil, with which it may be manipulated, it would add cousideraltly to the agri- 

 cultural value of the latter." 



Report of analyses of samples of fertilizers collected by the Commissioner 

 of Agriculture during 1907 i\<ir York ^tutc ^ta. Bui. 29.'f. pp. 29.3-.3S2).— 

 This bulletin gives the results of analyses by the station of samples of ferti- 

 lizers collected by the State Commissioner of Agriculture during 1<.)07. 



Analyses of commercial fertilizers, W. Freab et al. {Pgiui. Dcpt. Agr. Buls. 

 l-'i'J, pp. 79; Lj.3, pp. J.''). — These bulletins give reports on inspection of ferti- 

 lizers in Pennsylvania during 1906. 



Analyses of commercial fertilizers, B. L. Hartwell, J. F. Morgan, and 

 L. F. Whipple (Rhode Island 8ta. Bui. 125, pp. 101-122). — This bulletin is sup- 

 plementary to Bulletin 122 of the station (E. S. K., li), p. 322) and. relwrts 

 analyses of fertilizers examined during the last half of litOT, bringing the total 

 number of brands examineil during the year up to 10(5. In something over 

 two-thirds of the cases the percentages of fertilizing constituents found were 

 equal to or above the guaranties. 



Fertilizers and feeding stuffs act, 1906 {Bd. Ayr. and Fisheries [London], 

 Leaflet 196, pp. 3). — This leaflet gives the principal amendments to the act 

 of 1893. They went into effect January, 1907. 



AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. 



Botany at the British Association (Xature [London], 76 {1007), Xo. 1078, 

 'pp. o.j6-.j59). — A synoi)sis is given of the botanical papers presented before the 

 section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Among t"he 

 communications is a note by W. B. Bottomley, in which he described some re- 

 sults of his experiments on the inoculation of nitrogen-flxing bacteria in plants 

 other than the Leguminosa'. He stated that tomatoes had been made to pro- 

 duce a greatly increased crop l>y this means, the l)acteria having been first 

 cultivated for some time in tomato juice. In experiments with wheat the 

 bacteria had been induced to establish themselves in the cortex of the root, 

 although no nodules were formed, as is the case on the roots of Leguminosjp. 



The germination of see(Js of water plants, W. Crocker (Bat. Gaz., 44 {1907), 

 Xo. 5, pp. 375-380). — Attention has been called by a number of writers to the 

 peculiarities in the germination of seeds of aquatic plants, some maintaining 

 that seeds would not germinate without being dried, and others that the ger- 

 mination is due to fermentative processes. 



Tlie author caiTiedon experiments with seeds of a nuinl)er of aquatic plants, 

 and had little troulde in securing their germination, providing the seeds had 

 not completely ripened. 



In another series of experiments ripe seeds were selected and their seed coats 

 broken with sterilized instruments. When so treated the germination of nearly 

 all the species was prompt and a high percentage was secured, while lots of 

 similar seeds in which the seed coats remained entire failed to give any ger- 

 mination. This exi>eriment seems further to demonstrate the author's previous 

 conclusions (E. S. R., 18, ]). 4.33) that delayed germination or failure to germi- 

 nate is more generally due to seed coats limiting or excluding water or oxygen 

 supplies than to embryo characters. 



Effect of light upon the germination of spores and the gametophyte of 

 ferns, A. C. Lire {.Mo. Bot. Gard. Ann. Rpt., IS (1907), pp. 109-122, /i<js. 2).— 



