I30 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



2. The plants from the inoculated soil bore an abundant sup- 

 ply of tubercles while the others bore none. 



3. The average height of plants from inoculated soil was 2 

 feet 2 inches; from the other plot, 1 foot 11 inches. 



4. The average number of pods per plant from inoculated 

 soil was 81, from the other plot 74. 



Our results are confirmed and emphasized by the experience 

 of Professor J. F. Duggar of the Alabama Experiment Station. 

 In his work with the hairy vetch (Vicia villosa), Duggar found 

 that plants from seed dipped in water into which there had been 

 stirred earth in which the common vetch had formerly grown, 

 were vastly superior to those from seed not treated. "With 

 inoculation the yield was over ten times as great as without 

 inoculation, the increase in hay being 995 per cent.* 



A Trial of Nitragin — In April, the W. H. Bowker Fertilizer 

 Company sent a bottle of nitragin for the common pea for trial. 

 The material was used in accordance with the directions sent, i. 

 e., the nitragin was warmed and diluted with water after which 

 it was poured over the seed and allowed to stand for an hour. 

 The peas were then planted in the field and in adjacent rows 

 seeds not treated were planted. 



There was no appreciable effect from the inoculation. 

 Tubercles developed abundantly on both lots, a result which is 

 not strange, since peas have been grown freely in the vicinity 

 for man}' - years and the necessary germs have been carried by the 

 wind in all directions. 



A series of green-house experiments conducted by Duggarf 

 at the Alabama Experiment Station yielded very different 

 results from our own and indicate that on some soils nitragin 

 may give a very marked increase in the yields of leguminous 

 plants. 



Duggar's work included experiments with hairy vetch, Can- 

 ada field peas, and crimson clover, and it was found that in each 

 case the yield was greatly increased as a result of the inocula- 

 tion. 



"The increase in weight of inoculated plants after thoroughly 

 drying was as follows: 



*Bul. 87 Alabama Expt. Sta. 466. 

 fl.c. 



