326 BXPEEIMENT STATION EECOED. 



nitrate these plants disengage oxygen. They are able to assimilate nitric acid. 

 showing normal development on this source of combined nitrogen. 



How legTime plants get their nitrogen, A. L. Whiting ( Trans. III. Bort. Soc, 

 n. ser., Jf6 (1912), pp. 7^-76). — This is a brief report on experiments carried 

 out with inoculated cowpeas showing nodules on the roots, one lot having been 

 exposed to a mixture of oxygen and carbon dioxid, the other to ordinai-y air. 



The results are said to indicate by the gi-owth of the plants that the legumes 

 take their nitrogen from the soil and not through the leaves. Later reports 

 are promised on the results of analyses as to ^ the nitrogen content of each 

 group. 



Instmctions regarding inoculation by the Koyal Institute of Agricultural 

 Botany (Prakt. Bl. Pflanzenbau u. Schutz, n. ser., 11 {1913), No. S, pp. 35-38).— 

 Along with a report on the percentages of soccess obtained from some experi- 

 ments caiTied out, instructions are given for the preparation and use of the 

 bacterial infection material, and also for fungicidal treatment, as applying to 

 grains, beets, clovers, and other legumes. 



Chemical treatment of seeds for slow imbibition, B. Vebschaffelt (Rec. 

 Trav. Bot. N^erland., 9 (1912), No. 4, pp. 401-435). — Experiments by the author 

 are said to show that seeds of various species of plants, including nearly all 

 those of the Csesalpiniaceae and the Mimosaceae, which ordinarily offer great 

 resistance to imbibition of water, take up this liquid readily after a prelimi- 

 nary immersion in alcohol or one of certain other organic liquids. This effect 

 is said not to be produced (in a large majority of cases at least) by the extrac- 

 tion of a water-proofing substance. It is thought to be due to the facts that the 

 alcohol, etc., is able to enter the integument through interstices which water 

 can not ordinarily pass, and that in case such substance is miscible with water, 

 the latter will be taken up by it, thus finding access to all parts of the seed. 



The influence of radio-activity on germination, G. Petit and R. Ancelin 

 (Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. [Paris], 156 (1913), No. 11, pp. 903-905) .—The 

 authors carried out experiments similar to those of J. Stoklasa (E. S. R., 29, 

 p. 130), eliminating, however, the effects of substances dissolved in the water 

 used. They sprouted seeds of rye grass, wheat, and corn between thick sheets 

 of blotting paper, moistened regularly with pure water of known radio-activity 

 obtained by simple exposure in a x'adio-active fountain. The plants moistened 

 with the radio-active water, after a period varying from 8 to 12 days, showed 

 greater rapidity of growth than did the controls, also in some cases from 2 to 4 

 times as many rootlets. 



The occurrence of callose in root hairs, C. S. Ridgway (Plant World, 16 

 (1913), No. 4, PP- 116-122, figs. 12). — Having observed thickening in root hairs, 

 the author made a micro-scopical examination of a number of plants and found 

 callose-thickened root hairs present on three species of Panicum grown in 

 ordinary soil, on young plants of maize and oats, and on the newly formed roots 

 of old plants of Bermuda grass. In addition a number of dicotyledonous plants 

 were examined and callose in the root hairs in varying degrees was found in 

 Pisum sativum, Eupatorium capilli folium, Oxalis stricta, Vigna catjang, and 

 Ipomoea quinquifolia. 



Fungi and bacteria were found closely associated with the root hairs of some 

 of the plants examined, but there seems to be no, relation between their presence 

 and the callose formation. It is believed that the phenomenon has its causative 

 agent in certain soil conditions, which are to be investigated further. 



The vitality of pollen, C. S. Cbandall (Proc. Soc. Hort. Sci., 9 (1912), pp. 

 121-130). — In connection with plant breeding work carried on at the Illinois 

 Station, the author has reported studies on apples, strawberries, and sweet 

 peas in which observations were made on the vitality of the pollen of these 



