and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society. 



87 



chief factory, which carries on the manufacture, 

 is Notoddon, where the power is supplied by the 

 Tinnfos Waterfall. A similar factory is being 

 erected in Italy. The quality of the Nitrate 

 produced is said to be equal to that of Chili 

 Saltpetre, and the cost of production abuut half 

 that of placing the latter on the market in 

 Christiania. 



Another method of fixing atmospheric nitro- 

 gen is the electric heating of calcium carbide 

 in a stream of atmospheric nitrogen which 

 results in tlie manufacture of calcium cyana- 

 mide. This fertiliser is found in the market 

 under the name of "Nitrolm" or "lime 

 nitrogen." The industry was first started at 

 Piano d'Orta in Italy, other factories fol- ' 

 lowing in Austria, France, Germany, America 

 and Norway. The Thwaite System of Electro- 

 culture— consisting of the direct application of 

 the rays of electric light— has the sume object 

 in view. The method is under trial at the Royal 

 Botanic Gardens in London. 



Still another scientific aid towards the pro- 

 duction of improved crops is what is known as 

 radio-culture. By the employment of coloured 

 glass it has been found possible not only to 

 influence the development and growth of plants, 

 but also bring about changes in form of both 

 flowers and leaves. Radio-culture has, however, 

 still to emerge from the experimental stage. 



Reference has already been made to Lem- 

 shonvs experiments in Electro-culture. In place 

 of Thwaites' operations under glass, Lemshorn 

 works entirely in the open with the use of a 

 wire net stretched above the field, so that a 

 current can be made to traverse the net from 

 a building outside the field. The real value of 

 the process has yet to be demonstrated, though 

 the effect is probably the generation of o/.oue 

 and nitric acid and the stimulation of the 

 growth by the drawing up of the sap from 

 the roots upwards, in France, the question of 

 utilisiug atmospheric electricity has received 

 considerable attention, and by the setting-up of a 

 kind of lightning conductor (geomagneiifere) in 

 the centre of a field, and connecting it with 

 wires running through the soil, very successful 

 results are reported to have been obtained. 

 Such are some of the means by which science 

 has attempted, and with a considerable measure 

 of success in many cases, to come to the aid of 

 Agriculture and keep up the supply of nitro- 

 genous plant food which is so liable to ex- 

 haustion in the soil. 



SOIL INOCULATION. 



As the results of experiments conducted at 

 Rothamsted, it has for some time been estab- 

 lished that the cultivation of plants of the legu- 

 minous order can be greatly facilitated by the 

 process of "soil inoculation" 



WITH NITROGEN-FIXING BACTERIA. 



As is now generally known by those 

 interested in the application of chemistry 

 to agriculture this is rendered possible by the 



fact that the leguminous plants, which include 

 clovers, vetches, peas and beans among import- 

 ant farm and garden crops, are provided with 

 nodes upon their roots by means of which the 

 bacteria supply the free nitrates in a form which 

 the growing plant can take up. In a lecture on 

 this subject delivered on Thursday, in the rooms 

 of the Royal Botanic Society in Regent's-park, 

 under the title of "Plants and their Allies," Mr 

 W B Bottomley, f.c.s., Professor of Botany at 

 King's College, described the results which he 

 has so far gained from experiments timing at 

 establishing the possibility of similar methods of 

 treatment in the case of plants not of the legu- 

 minous order. So far, these experiments have • 

 been chiefly on a laboratory scale, and it has yet 

 to be completely demonstrated how far soil in- 

 oculation can be practised on a paying com- 

 mercial basis in the case of field and garden 

 crops not of the leguminous class. It was 

 noted that four non-leguminous plants, one of 

 which is the common alder, are provided with 

 nodes upon the roots resembling those of 

 the leguminosae in outward appearance, and, as 

 it appears, in function, though their structure 

 is distinctly different. Young alders responded 

 by increased growth to the process of inocu- 

 lation in the same way as clovers or vetches. 

 Further experiments in the inoculation of many 

 widely different plants have been of a very 

 interesting and encouraging character. It is 

 claimed that plants of such varied nature as 

 oats, onions, turnips, roses, peach trees, and 

 even ferns have all shown a remarkable increase 

 of vigour in growth when subjected to soil 

 inoculation. Specimens and photographs were 

 exhibited illustrating the results obtained. 

 There is thus a strong indication that the prac- 

 tical benefits of soil inoculation may not be con- 

 fined to the leguminous crops. In order to 

 show what plants respond to this method of 

 treatment sufficiently well to admit of its being 

 generally adopted, it is now necessary for the 

 experiments to be extended more generally 

 from the laboratory to the field and garden. For 

 this purpose the collaboration of farmers and 

 gardeners who are interested in the subject is 

 much desired by the prosecutors of the experi- 

 ments. — London Times, Dec. 5. 



TO MAKE GUAVA JELLY. 



Sandwich Islands Method. 



Honolulu, Hawaii, Nov. 20. — Several of the 

 pineapple canneries of the territory are experi- 

 menting in a small way in making guava jelly, 

 and other fruit preserves, the idea being to find 

 something on which the plants may be kept 

 running between the seasons of the principal 

 fruit. In some districts of the Territory the 

 guava fruit grows wild over hundreds of acres, 

 and fruits continuously. The expense for the 

 raw product would consequently be limited to 

 the cost of gathering it. Jelly from this fruit is 

 already well known in main land and European 

 markets, and it is believed that all that could 

 be produced here would find a ready sale. — 

 Hawaii Promotion Committee Press News Bureau. 



