312 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



do not peptonize milk, but upon potatoes a watery streak is formed in 

 about 5 da} .s. In liquid media, such as pea extract, a thick zooglcea- 

 like tilm forms in from 12 to 14 days. The presence or absence of 

 spores in these films is now under investigation. The organisms are 

 aerobic, and may pass through a short motile stage, but the presence of 

 cilia has not yet been demonstrated. Investigations are now in prog- 

 ress to determine whether these organisms are in themselves capalile 

 of fixing free nitrogen or of converting nitrogen in the form of 

 ammonium salts into nitrites or nitrates. 



Experiments made to determine the action of the organisms found 

 in one genus of plants on specimens of another tribe or genus suggest 

 that there is probably but one organism capable of producing tubercles 

 on leguminous plants, but that in each particular host special physio- 

 logical conditions exist to which the organisms become so especially 

 adapted as to make it difficult for successful reciprocal action to take 

 place between plants not nearly allied. 



Experimental cultures in sterilized and unsterilized media indicate 

 best results when nitrates without organisms are supplied to the plants 

 in sterilized soil. In unsterilized media a small increase in crop may 

 result from the use of Nitragin. 



An experiment with inoculating soy beans, C. B. Lane {Nev) 

 Jersey Stm. Rpt. 1899, j)p- ^^^^ '200). — An experiment with soy beans 

 was begun in 1896, in which 1 acre of wheat was followed two succeed- 

 ing seasons with soy beans. The roots of the plants were examined 

 from time to time but no tubercles found. The third season an 

 attempt w^as made to introduce the germs of the soy-l)ean tubercle ])y 

 adding soil from old soy-bean land and by adding dust from the floor 

 where soy beans had been threshed. Examinations were made of the 

 plants and abundant tubercles were found on both the inoculated plats, 

 and a few scattering ones, or frequently none at all, on the untreated 

 ones. 



The results of this experiment show the practicability of transferring 

 the tul^erch; organism through means of soil or dust. 



An annotated catalogue of the ferns and flowering plants of Oklahoma, 



K. Vj. Bixu'k ( (>Li(iho)ji<i tSI((. Bui. 45, pj>. 4^s^). — Thin ])ulU'tiii gives a list (if 750 species 

 of plants, td-xetlier witli l)rief notes on their distribution and economic importance. 



Native Oklahoma plants, E. E. Boour (Oliahoma Sta. Bui. -pt, iitijiuhir rd.^pp. 

 12). — A ])opnlar edition of Bulletin 45 of this station, giving notes ()n the distribu- 

 tion of the plants throughout the Territory. 



Notes on plants of 1899, V. L. Harvey {Maine Sin. Bui. (U, pj,. 4.;}, ,^.;). —Brief 

 Tiotes are given on a dozen species of weeds and other plants sent to this station for 

 identification. 



Root systems of farm crops, A. M. Rofle ( Teunr-^iscc Sta. Rpt. 1899, pp. 42-45, 

 Ji</.y. 4)- — Notes are given on the development and distribution of the roots of maize 

 in the soil. 



Investigations on cleistogamous flowers, Lrclkhc \n- Sablox (Rcr. Ghi. Bol., 

 12 {1900), A'o. 140, pp. 305-S18, Jiga. 75).— Studies are given on the sti-ucture and 



