Section IV., 1915 [219] Trans. R.S.C. 



Nitro- Cultures and their Commercial Application. 

 By F. C. Harrison, D.Sc, F.R.S.C. 



(Read 25th May, 1915.) 



At the 1906 meeting of the Royal Society of Canada, the writer 

 and Mr. B. Barlow presented a paper on the "Nodule Organism of 

 Leguminosae, — its Isolation, Cultivation, Identification and Com- 

 mercial Application." Much of this work was of scientific interest; 

 but the economic and practical side was emphasised. The writer 

 desires, at this time, to review the commercial applications of the 

 methods originated in 1905, and give some additional data on the 

 method of growing the nodule organism for commercial purposes. 



The methods as published in the Transactions of this Society 

 were worked out in 1904 and 1905. In 1905 two hundred and forty-six 

 cultures were distributed to Experiment Stations and farmers with 

 the request that they be given a trial and a report sent as to their 

 success or failure. Sixty-seven per cent of favourable reports were 

 received, which encouraged us to publish the data we had accumu- 

 lated, and a short bulletin entitled "Co-operative Experiments with 

 Nodule Forming Bacteria." Since the introduction of these cultures 

 in 1906 a number of firms in the United States have manufactured 

 and distributed nitro-cultures according to the methods published 

 in the paper presented to the Royal Society in 1906. Some of these 

 firms are the Earp Thomas Farmogerm Company; The Standard 

 Seed and Soil Inoculation Company, Troy, N.Y.; The Standard 

 Nitrogerm Company, Glen Ridge, N.Y.; The Albert Dickenson 

 Seed Company, Chicago; and, quite recently. Prof. F. Edwards has 

 resigned his professorship at the Ontario Agricultural College and gone 

 into the business of manufacturing nitro-cultures at Lansing, Mich, 



The Ontario Agricultural College has been sending out cultures 

 for ten years; during this time about 28,000 cultures were distributed, 

 sufificient to inoculate as many bushels of seed. The average of re- 

 ported favourable results was 82-7% for alfalfa, and 76% for red 

 clover, 



A few years ago we were asked to supply cultures for the provinces 

 of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and in the last three years we 

 have supplied from the laboratory at Macdonald College about 4,000 

 cultures. 



