312 The Wohurn Field Experiments, 1912. 



Inoculation of Leguminous Crops. 



The last series of small plots in Stackyard Field comprised 

 the trial of a new inoculating material emanating from America. 

 It would be more rightly described, perhaps, as the outcome of 

 a new method of preparation of inoculating materials, i-ather 

 than as a new material itself. The method — as distinct from 

 those hitherto adopted, of keeping the culture obtained from 

 the nodules of leguminous plants in air-tight receptacles, or of 

 absorbing it in cotton wool, earth, &c.— consists in allowing air 

 to enter after being filtered through cotton wool. This method 

 seems to me to possess possible advantages, as there is little 

 doubt in my mind that the practical failure of inoculating 

 cultures hitherto has been associated with some faulty step 

 in their preparation whereby their vitality has been impaired. 

 It was with the object of seeing whether the new method of 

 preparation got over some of the difficulties experienced in the 

 past, that I undertook to give it a trial. The plan of applying 

 the material — by steeping the seed in it before sowing — is just 

 the same as that generally adopted. In Stackyard Field I set 

 out six small plots, sowing, on two of them, lucerne seed, on 

 two, red clover seed, and on other two, white clover seed. In 

 one case the seed was sown direct, in the other the seed before 

 being sown was allowed to soak in the culture preparation, was 

 then air-dried and sown. This was on May 25, 1912. The 

 several lots came up quite well, and throughout the time of 

 growth did not exhibit any marked difference except possibly 

 in the case of the white clover, where the inoculated seed 

 certainly seemed to give the better crop. The crops were 

 allowed to grow until October 4, when they were cut and 

 weighed green. The results are given in Table X. 



Table X. — Inoculation of Leguminous Crops. 



Stackjard Field — Green Produce per acre, 1912. 



The differences are not great, but such as they are they tell 

 in favour of the inoculation, the crop being in each case slightly 

 increased as the result of inoculating the seed before sowing it. 



Sugar-beet. 



In 1911 there was an extensive series of experiments con- 

 ducted at the Woburn Farm on the growing of sugar-beet, 



