553 



Soil inoculation for yellow lupine, Salfeld {Dcuf. Jandw. Presse, 

 IS'Jl, J). 1033). — The author states that in experiments in soil inocula- 

 tion it is important that the inoculating soil should contain in abun- 

 dance the bacteria Avanted and tliat attention should be paid to its 

 mechanical condition, its application at the proper time, and its thorough 

 admixture with the ground soil. lie reports experiments with yellow 

 lupine on a light sandy soil, poor in humus, which had long been under 

 cultivation, but never with leguminous plants, so far as known. Kainit 

 and Thomas slag were used on all the plats, and half received lupine 

 soil at the rate of about 3,000 pounds jier acre. The uninoculated as 

 well as the inoculated plats produced good cro])S of lupine, but the 

 plants developed better and had a much darker color on the inoculated 

 plats. 



Another series of experiments on a sandy soil previously unculti- 

 vated gave more marked results. The land was in the midst of an 

 uncultivated heath remote from cultivated land, and the soil was very 

 poor, being almost devoid of clay and humus. A piece containing 

 about 0.4 of an acre was spaded in the fall of 1890, and in November 

 800 i)ounds of kainit and 200 pounds of Thomas slag (with 20 per 

 cent phosphoric acid) per acre were applied. The following May 900 

 pounds i)er acre of sand from a field where lupine had been grown 

 was applied to a strip (about a third) running through the center of 

 the field; then the whole field was hari"¥)wed and seeded to yellow lui^ine. 



About a week after the first leaves appeared tubercles were found in 

 large numbers on the roots where the soil had been inoculated, but 

 elsewhere the roots were mostly free from tubercles. A week later dif- 

 ferences between the inoculated and uninoculated plats were apparent 

 in the jdants themselves, both in growth and color. While the plants 

 on the inoculated plat grew luxuriantly, were of a dark green color, and 

 sent out numerous branches, those on the uninoculated plats generally 

 formed no chlorophyll, made a stunted growth with no branches, and 

 hardly produced fiowers. 



The whole field was cut September 14, when the inoculated plants 

 were in bloom. The yield of green material from the untreated soil 

 was many times that from the inoculated soil. 



Conditions most favorable to the beneficial action of fluorides 

 on yeast fermentation, J. EfFront {Bull. Soc. Chim., 8 ser., 6 [1891)^ 

 pp. 7sfi-7fJ3). — As the author previously showed, hydrofluoric acid and 

 fluorides, besides exerting an autisei»tic action upon yeast, act at the 

 same time directly upon the protoplasm of the cells. Further experi- 

 ments have shown that the favorable a('ti(m of fluorides is dependent on 

 certain conditions. The antiseptic action depends largely on the acidity 

 of the wort, being only very slight in a neutral wort and increasing 

 with the degree of acidity. The acidity likewise coutrols in a measure 

 the action of fluorides on the protoplasm. One of the most important 



