830 EXPERIMENT^ STATION EECORD. 



contained not to exceed 0.01 per cent more nitrogen than did the timothy soil. 

 When the soils were incubated, formation of nitrates proceeded more rapidly 

 in the alfalfa soil than in the timothy soil. 



" These data raise, but are not sufficiently exhaustive to answer, two questions: 

 (1) Whether there was a greater accumulation of nitrogen in the alfalfa soil 

 during the 6 years than there was in the timothy soil during the same period ; 

 ,(i'2) whether the greater productivity of the alfalfa soil was not due to the 

 more ready availability of the nitrogen in the alfalfa soil rather than to lits 

 greater quantity. 



"Plats of land that were to be sown to alfalfa were inoculated with (1) soil 

 from an old alfalfa field, (2) a culture of Bacillus radicicola in moist muck, 

 (3) the same preparation air-dried, (4) a culture of the same bacillus on the 

 seed. Yields of 3 crops were obtained from which it appears that moist muck 

 is a suitable medium for the growth of B. radicicola (the germ that forms 

 nodules on the roots of alfalfa plants), and that this material may be air-dried 

 and successfully used for the inoculation of soil on which alfalfa is to be 

 planted." 



[Wheat and rye in Turkestan], B. M. Benzin (Trudy Biuro Pnlcl. Bot. 

 (Bui. Angew. Bot.), 6 (1913), No. 1, pp. 457-495, pis. 6, figs. 6).— This gives 

 descriptions and dimension data of spikes, spikelets, and kernels for each of 2 

 varieties of wheat and rye that are cultivated in Turkestan and which were 

 found not to shatter grain readily when ripe. 



A study of statistical methods with barley, W. O. Whitcomb (Jour. Amer, 

 Soc. Agron., 5 (1913), No. 2, pp. 83-101).— The material used in this study con- 

 sisted of 2 varieties of barley, known as New Zealand and Berkeley. Each 

 variety consisted of 30 pure lines of 10 plants each or 300 plants in all. 



A comparison of the constants for the 5 characters, yield per culm, height 

 per culm, number of kernels per culm, number of spikelets per culm, and 

 weight per kernel, "when determined by using the average for the entire 

 plant as one method and the main culm of the same plant as the other method, 

 indicate the following: (a) The means and standard deviations are quite uni- 

 form and are larger in most cases when determined with the main culm; (b) 

 the coefficients of variability are slightly larger when determined by the use of 

 the whole plant; (c) the correlation coefficients are not uniformly different 

 when determined by the 2 methods, and are of approximately equal value, 

 with some exceptions, when determined by either method. 



"The general conclusion based on this study is as follows: Within certain 

 limits, the biometrical constants as determined by using the main culm of 

 barley plants are of equal value and are comparable with those obtained by 

 using the entire plant as the unit." 



Data are presented in 30 tables. 



Experiments with beans (Poroto mantecoso), F. Alvarez (Bol. Min. Agr. 

 [Buenos Aires], 15 (1913), No. 3, pp. 289-292) .—This gives results of cultural 

 tests, including cost of production, at Bella Yista. The yield was at the rate 

 of 1,752 kg. per hectare (1,559 lbs. per acre). 



Ear characters not correlated with yield in com, A. G. McCall and C. 

 Wheeler (Jour. Amer. Soc. Agron., 5 (1913), No. 2, pp. Ill, 118). — The authors 

 show by using data of complete records of ear-to-row test work furnished from 

 the Ohio Experiment Station and a test field at Forest, Ohio, covering the 

 years from 1905 to 1911 and including over 600 ears, " that so far as these 

 tests are concerned neither length, weight, circumference, nor density of ear 

 is correlated with yield." 



Corn g-rowing in Manitoba, W. C. McKillican (Canada Expt. Farms Bui. 

 U, 2. ser. (1913), pp. 22, figs. 12).— This bulletin gives directions for the pro- 



