104 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol. 40 



cellulose and the fixation of nitrogen from the air, so that a manure 

 was finally obtained which contained considerably more nitrogen than 

 the original components. Horse manure was found to contain some- 

 thing suitable for the process of nitrogen fixation, and also to yield an 

 organism which works in conjunction with the nitrogen fixers, so that 

 with straw and the appropriate organisms a considerable enrichment 

 of the manure in nitrogen may be obtained. 



These results are largely in the laboratory stage, but as pointed 

 out, " if the plowing up of grassland continues, the country will be 

 faced with a large production of straw for which an outlet must be 

 found; considerable quantities of bulky, organic manure will also be 

 required. If the nitrogen fixation plan prove feasible in practice it 

 will afford a convenient solution of both problems." 



In connection with study of the biochemical decomposition in the 

 soil, the relation of rain, and especially of oxygen dissolved in nun 

 water, was given attention. It is suggested that this dissolved oxygen 

 accounts for a part of the favorable influence of summer showers in 

 starting up the decomposition. Whether the depressing effect of the 

 growing crop is due to its taking up the dissolved oxygon giving out 

 carbonic acid or some other action is not yet clear. 



Accounts of these and other investigations are published elsewhere 

 in more detail, and many of them have been noted in abstract, but 

 they are briefly referred to here as showing the activity of the sta- 

 tion in (he period covered and some of its outcome. 



Reference to the future plans of the station illustrates the close 

 relation it sustains to practical problems of British agriculture. Dr. 

 Russell points out that since the farmer's task in the future will be to 

 increase his yield, the problems connected with this will necessarily 

 determine the program for future research work. Some of these 

 questions as they relate to wheat production are now being faced 

 by the station. "We must strengthen the straw, improve the tiller- 

 ing, regulate to some extent the development of grain, and control 

 the pests. Until these are all solved we can not hope to get much 

 further with increased wheat yields." 



In spite of the new and special duties which the war brought to 

 the station, time was found to prepare and publish an imposing list 

 of papers, some 50 in number, together with several books. Among 

 the latter was a revision of "The Book of the Rothamsted Experi- 

 ments," published in 1003 under the authorship of Mr. A. D. llall. 

 In the new edition, issued in 1917, Dr. Russell brought down the data 

 for a further decade and made the necessary alterations in the text. 



The hope is expressed that when conditions become more normal 

 it will be possible to arrange for a proper statistical survey of the 

 mass of available data accumulated at Rothamsted. This, it is be- 

 lieved, would yield further information of high value to science and 



