Scientific Agriculture. 



532 



[December, 1909. 



cnlated rows, 240 plants giving an 

 average of 103'9 grammes. Here, again, 

 there is a diminished average yield of 

 6 per cent, from the inoculated plants, 

 and four out of the six rows showed a 

 decrease. On the fallow ground, six 

 uninoculated rows of Ne Plus Ultra 

 contained 297 plants, giving an average 

 of 82 "5 grames to the plant, and the six 

 corresponding inoculated rows contain- 

 ed 291 plants, and gave an average of 

 80 - 8 grammes. In this case there was a 

 diminished average yield of 3 per cent, 

 from the inoculated plants, and four 

 out of the six rows showed a lower 

 average than the uninoculated. 



The six, uninoculated rows of Main- 

 crop, on the same soil, contained 266 

 plants, which gave an average of 52'5 

 grammes ; while the inoculated rows 

 contained 204 plants, and gave an aver- 

 age of 61*7 grammes to the plant. In 

 this variety, therefore, there was an 

 average increase of 17 per cent, from the 

 inoculated plants, but only three out of 

 the six rows showed an increase. 



In all, out of 24 rows of inoculated 

 seed, only seven produced a greater 

 average yield!; than the corresponding 



uninoculated rows, and there was one 

 giving an equal yield. 



Like many other experiments of this na- 

 ture, this has suggested the desirability 

 of further investigation. The results 

 obtained are far from showing that the 

 decreased yield in these many cases is 

 actually due to the inoculation with 

 nitro-bacterine ; but the results given in 

 the report certainly suggest the question 

 whether certain races of Pseudomonas 

 radicicola may not induce a smaller yield 

 than that obtained when the races of 

 Pseudomonas native to a particular soil 

 are present therein, and the results out- 

 lined above emphasise this question, and, 

 at the same time, give a very interesting 

 corroboration of the results, upon which 

 the conclusion that " the inoculation of 

 leguminous crops with nitro-bacterine in 

 ordinary garden soil, is not likely to 

 prove beneficial " was primarily based. 



Finally, it should be emphasised that 

 the experiment and the conclusion refer 

 only to ordinary garden soil, and do not 

 in any way show what may or may not be 

 the result of using nitro-bacterine on 

 newly-reclaimed land when such is 

 brought under cultivation by means of 

 leguminous crops. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



PERSONAL NOTE. 



(From " Science," October 15, 1909.) 

 On the occasion of the inauguration of 

 Dr. A. Lawrence Lowell as President of 

 Harvard University, honorary degrees 

 were conferred on thirty delegates. 

 Those on whom the degree of Doctor of 

 Science were conferred and the charac- 

 terizations of President Lowell were as 

 follows: — 



* & * * " *■ * 



John Christopher Willis, also a dele- 

 gate from the University of Cambridge ; 

 an eminent botanist, remarkable for 

 his knowledge of tropical vegetation ; 

 Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens 

 in Ceylon ; who has done a great work 

 in improving the varieties useful to man. 



and p. 520, 

 Dr. John C. Willis, Director of the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens of Ceylon, will 

 give a course of four lectures on 

 '•Tropical Agriculture, with special 

 reference to Economic Problems," at 

 Harvard University on October, 12, 14, 

 16, and 19. 



LITERATURE OF ECONOMIC 

 BOTANY AND AGRICULTURE, 



By J. C. Willis. 



Coivpea : — 



Cowpeas. Nielson. U. S. Dept. of 

 Agri. Bull. B. P. I., "T.A." Sept. 

 1908, p. 249, Oct. 1908, p. 351, 



Cowpeas. Journ. Agric. Vict. 6, 1908, 

 p. 652. 



Cowpeas and Velvet Beans for Green 

 Manuring. Agric. News. Nov. 1908, 

 p. 375. 



Cowpeas. Lieut.-Col. J. R. Y. Gold- 

 stein. "T. A." Feb. 1909, p. 133. 



Crotalaria :— 



Crotalaria juncea. Agr. Ledger, In- 

 dust. Series, 5, 1906. 



Sunnhemp (Crotalaria Juncea) Dept. 

 of Agri. Madras, III. 59, 1908, 



Filets de peche en Crotalaria. Journ. 



d' Agr. trop., Feb. 1909, p. 64. 

 Culture du Crotalaria dans l'Inde. 



Journ. d' Agric. Trop,, June 1909, 



p. 179. 



