728 EXPERIMENT STATION RECOED. [Vol.35 



The relation of sulphur to soil productivity, F. L. Dtjley {Jour. Amer. Soc. 

 Agron., S {1916), No. 3, pp. 154-160). — Sand and silt loam soil culture experi- 

 ments conducted at the Missouri Experiment Station to determine the influence 

 of flowers of sulphur and other sulphur compounds on corn, rape, and clover 

 and on soil with no crop are reported. Analyses of samples of nine of the more 

 important soil types of the State showed sulphur contents varying from 0.014 

 to 0.053 per cent. 



It was found that " flowers of sulphur partly took the place of a soluble sul- 

 phate in a nutrient solution when used in a sand medium and had a marked 

 effect upon the production of chlorophyll in corn plants. When used alone 

 flowers of sulphur was slightly beneficial to the growth of corn and rape, and 

 still more beneficial to the yield of red clover on the type of soil used in these 

 experiments. Flowers of sulphur very markedly increased the production of 

 nodules on the roots of red clover [and] was oxidized to sulphate in both sand 

 and soil cultures. It slightly increased soil acidity and the lime requirement 

 was directly correlated with the amount of soluble sulphate. The nitrate con- 

 tent varied inversely with the amount of soluble sulphate in the soil." 



Can lithia be a constituent of plant food? P. D. Hahn {So. African Jour. 

 Sci., 12 {1916), No. 6, pp. 227-229). — Experiments are reported which indicate 

 " that lithium compounds in the presence of potassium compounds do not influ- 

 ence the growth of wheat in water cultures during the first period of vegeta- 

 tion, whereas in the later period *he growth of the plants is rather retarded 

 and the formation of grains prevented." 



[Analyses of fertilizers and fertilizing material], R. E. Rose and F. T. 

 Wilson {Fla. Quart. Bui. Agr. Dept., 26 {1916), No. 2, pp. 98-115).— This sec- 

 lion contains the results of actual and guarantied analyses of 167 samples of 

 fertilizers and fertilizing materials offered for sale in Florida in 1916. 



Commercial fertilizers, W. J. .Tones, Jk., F. D. Fuller, E. G. Proulx, R. B. 

 Deemer, R. B. Bitler, and H. C. Mugg {Indiana Sta. Bui. 186 {1916), pp. 

 1052). — This bulletin contains the results of actual and guarantied analyses of 

 1,368 samples of fei'tilizers and fertilizing materials offered for sale in Indiana 

 during 1915. 



OfB.cial report [of Ohio] on commercial fertilizers and agricultural lime 

 licensed, inspected, and analyzed during the year 1913 {Ann. Rpt. Ohio Bd. 

 Agr., 68 {1913), pp. 401-633). — This report contains a number of brief popular 

 special articles on fertilizers and their uses, and the results of actual and guar- 

 antied analyses of 814 samples of fertilizers and fertilizing materials and of 

 agricultural lime collected for inspection in Ohio during 1913, together with a 

 list of licensed brands of fertilizers. 



AGRICULTURAL BOTANY. 



Life cycles of the bacteria, F. Lohnis and N. R. Smith {XJ. S. Dept. Agr., 

 Jour. Agr. Research, 6 {1916) No. 18, pp. 675-702, pis. 7, fig. J ) .—According 

 to the authors, under certain conditions all bacteria pass over into an amor- 

 phous or " symplastic " stage, appearing under the microscope either as an 

 unstainable or a readily stainable mass without any easily distinguishable or- 

 ganization, which, if not discarded as dead, later gives rise to new regenerated 

 forms frequently of characteristic and unusual appearance. In a study of 42 

 strains of bacteria, it was found that all lived alternately in an organized and 

 in an amorphous stage. It is also stated that bacteria multiply not only by fis- 

 sion but by the formation of gonidia, some of which are filterable and produce 

 new bacteria either directly or after having entered the symplastic stage. The 



