FIXATION OF NITROGEN 55 



ments and under agricultural conditions." The 

 summing up of the report was as follows : 



" As a result of all the reported experiments, it 

 seems evident that the cultures used were not 

 uniform; it is not possible, however, to determine 

 the extent to which the failures are to be attributed 

 to this cause. It seems, however, from the positive 

 results recorded, that not only are these cultures 

 sometimes able to produce nodules on the roots of 

 plants new to a neighbourhood, but that even in 

 cases where the leguminous crop had been grown in 

 the previous year benefit may be derived from 

 inoculation. 



"It is quite evident that the subject of plant 

 inoculation in this country has not yet passed the 

 experimental stage, and more work is required before 

 one can feel at all justified in recommending either 

 method for adoption on a field scale; nevertheless, 

 the positive results obtained may lead farmers to 

 hope that in the future benefit may be derived in 

 some instances at least from the treatment of the 

 soil, or the seed before sowing, with inoculating 

 materials preparatory to growing leguminous crops." 



It is unfortunate that the Board of Agriculture 

 and Fisheries did not see its way clear to help in 

 carrying out the further work required, for the 

 results, though admittedly unsatisfactory, indicated 

 clearly that a great future lay before the method of 

 soil inoculation. Thus, in Scotland an acre of 

 inoculated beans yielded 3,070 pounds of beans, 

 against 1,800 pounds from an acre non-inoculated, a 

 gain of 70 per cent. In Leicestershire a half -acre plot 

 of treated peas yielded when threshed 108 stones ; 

 a half -acre plot untreated only 66 stones. At Woburn 



