AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION 1 47 



preventatives. Experiments in the treatment of the early and 

 late blight of potatoes w^ere continued. 



Experiments in dairy bacteriology were carried on as time 

 would permit. 



The plants belonging to the natural order Leguminosae or the 

 pulse family, such as peas, beans, clover, etc., have on their 

 roots, little structures known as root tubercles, which are caused 

 by and contain bacteria-like organisms which are believed to 

 enable the plant in some way to make use of atmospheric 

 nitrogen as food. Cultures of these organisms are now on the 

 market to be used for the inoculation of soil on which any of the 

 legumes are to be grown with the purpose of increasing the 

 number of root tubercles and consequently the assimilation of 

 nitrogen. 



A culture, called Nitragln^ of the organism to be used for 



peas was sent to the station for trial. This was tried together 



with crushed tubercles from growing peas. The result in one 



case seemed to be in favor of the treated plots, and especially 



that treated with the crushed pea tubercles. The culture was, 



however, so old when used, and the trial on so small a scale 



that farther trial is necessary before results can be considered of 



value. The subject seems to be an interesting and profitable 



one for investigation. 



Caustic potash as a means of preventing the development of 



the horns of calves has been used with success. The details of 



the experiments will be published in a forthcoming bulletin on 



dehorning. 



H. H. Lamson, 



Ba cteriologist . 



