90 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
ported and spread with the soil; and, if so, whether that is the only way, or 
whether the seed from plants with tubercles will produce tubercles when grown 
in soil devoid of the organism adapted to that particular plant. To test some of 
these questions, and others connected with them, experiments were carried on 
with the soy-bean, Glycine hispida Maxim. 
EXPERIMENTS IN THE FIELD. 
Meruops oF [nocuLaTion.—Since 1890 soy-beans have been grown at the 
Kansas Experiment Station, but frequent and numerous examinations of the 
roots failed to reveal the presence of any nodules or tubercles. Knowing that 
the Hatch Experiment Station, at Amherst, Mass., had been successful in pro- 
ducing tubercles on the soy-bean, it was proposed that an attempt be made to 
inoculate the Kansas beans with Massachusetts soil. Two quarts of the soil in 
which beans had been grown the previous year was ordered by express for im- 
mediate use, and a half bushel by freight for additional experiments in the green- 
house. In both cases the soil arrived in a dry, pulverized condition, not unlike 
the dust in our roads during a dry season. The field experiment was situated on 
a sandy loam soil with a western exposure, and consisted of two series of three 
plats each. Series I was planted with yellow soy-beans, in which the plats were 
treated as follows: Plat A was inoculated with soil, plat B with extract, and 
plat C was not treated. Series II was a repetition of series I with the exception 
that the medium green bean, a variety grown at the Hatch Experiment Station, 
was used instead of the yellow soy. The object was to note whether there was 
any difference in the production of tubercles between a variety whose seed was 
obtained from plants grown in Massachusetts soil and seed obtained from plants 
growo in Kansas soil. Both series were seeded May 29, 1896. Each plat con- 
tained three rows, two and one-half feet apart, and each row contained eight 
hills twenty inches apart. Between the plats was placed a guard row in which 
the beans were not treated and were planted in drills from two to three inches 
apart. The arrangement of the series and the plats is shown in the plan on the 
following page. 
On plats A and D about 2l¢* (25 grams) of the pulverized Massachusetts 
soil was placed in the bottom of each hill and the beans placed on top of this. 
Plats B and E were treated with an extract of the Massachusetts soil. This ex- 
tract was obtained by mixing a quantity of soil with about seven times its bulk 
of water, stirring thoroughly, and allowing to settle, after which the water was 
poured off and used for the inoculation. The aim was to use about the same 
quantity of soil in obtaining the extract as was used on the same number of 
plants where the soil was applied direct. Rows 1 and 4 of plats B and E respect- 
ively were inoculated at the time of planting, 7. ¢., about 170¢¢ (168 grams.) 
of the extract was poured in the bottom of each hill just previous to planting the 
“beans. Rows 2 and 5, 3 and 6, were inoculated June 13, seven days after the 
plants were up, and rows 3 and 6 were again inoculated on July 2 and on July 
17, or twenty-six and forty-one days respectively after the plants appeared above 
ground. The extract reached the roots through a round hole made with a 
pointed stick. Plats C and F were planted in the same manner as the others 
except the inoculation. The purpose of these plats was to serve as a check on 
the others and at the same time as a means of comparison with the inoculated 
plats as regards growth and general appearance. 
CuLturE anp GrowtTH.—The season was favorable to the growth of the 
beans. A heavy rain fell the next day after planting, and subsequent rains fell 
at intervals sufficiently close together to supply the plants with the necessary 
moisture. The beans were up June 6and on June 13 all the plats received a 
