SOME MODERN ASPECTS OF APPLIED BOTANY 37 
research carried out in connection with pathogenic forms. The 
importance of this department of applied botany is too obvious to 
require more than a passing comment. Although the layman may 
be accustomed to think of all bacteria as harmful, still the great 
dependence of the higher forms of plant life on those lower organisms 
is being made clearer every day. As I have already said, as man 
becomes more exacting upon the natural resources, so must he in 
turn endeavour to help Nature by artificial means. As cultivation 
becomes more intensive, the more must man employ scientific 
methods to conserve and improve the fertility of the soil, and, in 
this connection, valuable service has been rendered to agriculture, 
forestry, and horticulture by the botanist and chemist. The study 
of plant chemistry and plant physiology has opened up a wide field 
of research, in which already great progress has been made, many 
valuable results achieved, and probably nowhere with greater success 
than in the study of the soil bacteria. The rdle played by the 
nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria is becoming better understood every 
day. Successful experiments have been carried out in artificially 
inoculating the soil with these important organisms. In other words, 
the soil may be sown with these useful organisms, and upon the 
success of the development of this invisible soil flora depends the 
success of crops of higher plants. As we find almost always in 
Nature, these useful soil organisms have their enemies in other soil 
micro-organisms, and it has been found that by partially sterilising 
the soil, crops are improved, the improvement being due to the 
removal of those organisms inimical to the useful ones. In other 
words, methods of plant protection may be applied to protect these 
invisible plants, and thereby improve the quality of the soil and 
sustain its fertility. 
During the last twelve years it is estimated that the agricultural 
produce of America has amounted to £16,000,000,000. The area 
of land under cultivation has not increased anything like so rapidly 
as the value of the agricultural produce ; for example, ten years ago 
the farm products were valued at £800,000,000, now they amount to 
41,800,000,000. The increase is attributed entirely to the better 
and more up-to-date scientific methods generally employed by the 
farmers, and the change has been brought about by the Agricultural 
Department. 
Recently, on the recommendation of the Development Commis- 
sioners, the Treasury has sanctioned the allocation of funds to be 
administered by the Board of Agriculture in initiating and organising 
schemes for systematic research in agriculture. The sum to be 
expended when these schemes are in full working order will be about 
4#,50,000 per annum. 
Grants will be made for research in various groups of subjects, 
among which we note plant physiology, plant pathology, and my- 
cology, plant breeding, and fruit growing, including the practical 
treatment of plant diseases, plant nutrition, and soil problems. 
A fund not exceeding £3000 per annum will be available for 
