I906J ' LANDRETH— THE NEW AGRICULTURE. 175 



at hand when better results will be obtained. Little benefit results to 

 any particular crop if the bacteria of that crop is already present 

 in the soil, and little benefit if the soil is already well charged with 

 nitrogen, or very deficient in potash or phosphate. Inoculation is 

 only one factor in securing a successful growth of legumes and 

 unless the soil conditions are favorable to the multiplication and 

 activity of the bacteria, inoculation will be ineffectual. 



Now as to the use of chloroform in plant culture. This is a proc- 

 ess, only a few years introduced, of forcing the blooming of plants 

 away ahead of their natural period, as for example making lilacs, 

 azaleas, lilies of the valley, hyacinths and violets burst into bloom at 

 Christmas time instead of their natural period about two or three 

 months later. This system is well established in Germany, Belgium 

 and France, and will, no doubt, be practiced in all parts of the world. 



It is not a new thought to say that all plants must undergo a 

 season of repose, a repose induced by some internal and external 

 force, the plants seemingly being dead, there being no perceptible 

 movement whatever excepting a slow increase in the size of the buds. 

 All country people have observed that after a fruit tree loses its 

 leaves unusually early in the autumn that it sometimes bursts into 

 bloom before winter ; it has had its season of repose, a short season 

 it is true, but it undertakes then to proceed with further develop- 

 ment. Now to force or intensify an early repose or sleep, chloro- 

 form is used. The susceptibility of plants chloroformed is an 

 interesting discovery, all plants being similarly effected much as in 

 the case of animals; it is even claimed chloroform puts metals to 

 sleep. A test can easily be made with a sensitive plant or mimosa, 

 placed under a bell glass with a small sponge dipped in chloroform ; 

 after a few minutes the plant will be observed to have lost all its 

 sensibility, but when exposed to the open air, the sensibility returns. 

 The exposure of plants to chloroform produces on short notice a 

 most intense and deep rest, similar to that after the autumn shed- 

 ding of their foliage, but a rest far deeper than under the ordinary 

 circumstances. It has been observed that plants which had been 

 exposed to cold and dry winds are likely to bloom early, alpine 

 plants for example, and it is observed that the action of chloroform 



