The First Land Plants 
One form of culture of these germs, “ nitragin,” 
was actually made and sold on a commercial scale. 
This was prepared after the suggestions of Nobbe and 
Hiltner. It is no longer manufactured in bulk, though 
even in 1903 the last named declared that of 98 inocula- 
tions, 83 per cent. were successful, and only 9 per cent. 
failed.6 On gravelly sand, on clay and on peat, Dawson 
found that nitragin was of some service, but it was worse 
than useless on garden soil and on sand.’ 
The American “nitroculture” distributed by Moore 
is said to have in one case doubled the harvest of 
vetches. When cut green the inoculated crop amounted 
to 23 tons per acre, and that not inoculated to 11 tons 
7 cwt. per acre. But there seem to have been many 
failures. 
Professor Bottomley in 1906 and 1907 produced 
“nitrobacterine,” which also is a living culture of these 
germs. His efforts were very energetically assistéd by 
the newspaper press, which in scientific inventions of 
British origin is most encouraging. 
According to his own statement, he obtained himself 
yields of 50 per cent. more nitrogen from inoculated 
plants. In field experiments 12 tons 5 cwt. of fodder 
(tares) were got per acre from nitrobacterine and 9g tons 
8 cwts. per acre from nitrate of soda.® 
One could hardly imagine a better place for such 
inventions to be tested than the Royal Horticultural 
Society Gardens at Wisley and a very elaborate series 
of experiments were carried out there in 1908. The 
results were that the total weight of the crop from seed 
which had ot been inoculated was heavier by 14 per 
cent. than that got from the nitrobacterine seeds. 
In some soils the decrease due to inoculation was 
far more than this (even 27 per cent. in the weight of 
peas), and though there were instances of an increase in 
47 
