222 THE SPIRIT OF THE SOIL 



grain-producing character of the bean crop. The average 

 return, amounting to about 4 Jbushels beans and 3 Jcwts. 

 bean straw per acre, would have formed a sufficient 

 return for a much higher expenditure. 



" But, apart from one failure, and making due allow- 

 ance for the discrepancies inseparable from field experi- 

 ments, the results on the whole tend to show that, under 

 suitable conditions and on ordinary bean soils, the 

 practice of inoculation appears likely to be beneficial 

 and profitable." 



Lucerne. At the College Experiment Station, Kil- 

 marnock, experiments on the inoculation of a growing 

 crop of lucerne have been in progress during the past 

 three years. A growing crop of lucerne was subdivided 

 into three plots. All received equal dressings of super- 

 phosphate and potash; but as regards nitrogen, A had 

 no nitrogenous manure, B was dressed with nitrate of 

 soda at the rate of 2 cwts. per acre, C was inoculated with 

 culture material from Germany. Last year the green 

 produce from each plot was carefully weighed, and gave 



Tons. Cwts. Qrs. 



A. No Nitrogen . . . . . . 7 o 3 per acre. 



B. Two cwt. Nitrate Soda . . 9 8 2 



C. Inoculated .. .. ..12 5 p ,, 



IRELAND. 



Vetches. The inoculated seed produced 23 tons of 

 vetches (cut green) per acre, while the uninoculated pro- 

 duced only ii tons 7 cwts.; showing an increase of 

 ii tons 13 cwts., or more than double, in favour of 

 inoculation. 



