322 EXPERIMENT STATION BECOBD. [Vol.35 



the check plat. Molasses on fallow decreased nitrification about 25 per cent 

 . . . but the molasses-treated plat showed a little more nitrates than the plats 

 cropped to cane and oats. Manure on fallow gave a slightly higher accumula- 

 tion of nitrates than the fallow check. Waste lime on fallow caused strong 

 nitrate accumulation, being more effective in this regard than any other treat- 

 ment. In general, active nitrification did not set in until the first part of June. 

 From then until the middle of July it was strongest, and then suddenly 

 decreased and became very feeble until the end of the experiment, August 17, 

 regardless of the field treatments. . . . 



" The mustard plat contained less total nitrogen than any of the others. 

 The fallow plats receiving copper sulphate and molasses contained less total 

 nitrogen than the other fallow plats. The fallow plats with waste lime and 

 manure each contained less total nitrogen than the plat fallowed with nothing 

 added. The reverse was true as regards nitrates. In general, there seemed 

 to be an inverse relation between the amounts of nitrates and amounts of total 

 nitrogen. In the work in 1912, in the presence of a vigorously growing beet 

 crop, the only treatments which showed decided increases in nitrification were 

 cyanamid and manure plus ammonium sulphate. Aside from considerable 

 weekly variations, there was not much change in nitrification from the middle 

 of May till the latter part of July, after which the nitrifying activity was very 

 low and remained so until the end of the experiment, August 26. 



" Bone meal, superphosphate, waste lime, and dry yard manure decreased 

 the nitrifying activity. Composted manure produced a slightly higher nitrifying 

 activity than did the dry yard manure, but both these plats showed slightly 

 less nitrates than the checks. The total organic nitrogen in the first foot 

 showed a general decrease from the latter part of May to the latter part of 

 August. . . . This decrease was least from the middle of June to the middle 

 of July. There was also a slight loss of organic nitrogen from the second foot 

 during the same period. It is shown that the seasonal loss of organic nitrogen 

 could not be accounted for by the amounts removed in the crop. No correlation 

 could be established between the nitrate content and the total nitrogen. Taking 

 into account the nitrogen applied in the manures and lime, the manured plats 

 lost the most nitrogen, especially those to which ammonium sulphate was 

 added, while the limed plats showed a gain in total nitrogen. The plats 

 receiving cyanamid, phosphatic fertilizers, and nitrate showed a slight gain 

 in total nitrogen over the checks. The total nitrogen content in the second 

 foot was unaffected by the fertilizers applied in the first foot. The nitrifying 

 activity in the second foot was very low." 



The use of nodule bacteria for legnim'es, G. Kock (Die Verwendung von 

 KnoUchenhaktcrien su Leguminosen. Vienna: Mitt. Pflanzenschutz Stat., 

 [1915], pp. Jf, fig. i).— Several different experiments on the inoculation of serra- 

 della and lupine crops with nodule bacteria are briefly reviewed, the results of 

 which indicated that the serradella usually responded more markedly to treat- 

 ment than did lupines. The existence of an after-effect of inoculation of the 

 soil was not established. Differences were observed in the results obtained 

 with different types of bacterial culture. It is thought that inoculation is of 

 great importance for certain legumes under German conditions, but that much 

 depends on the condition of the soil and other environmental factors, thus 

 making tests of the process by each farmer advisable to establish its value in 

 a locality. 



Recent investigations on the production of plant food in the soil, I, E. J. 

 Russell (Jour. Roy. Hort. Soc, 41 (1915), No. 2, pp. 173-1S7, figs. 2).— This 

 lecture deals with the physical, chemical, and biological processes involved in 



