1909.] Summary of Agricultural Experiments. 495 



ordinary soil, even if it is not in a high state of cultivation, there is 

 little benefit to be derived from the use of either preparation. 



Inoculation Experiments (University College, Reading, Results of 

 Expts. at the College Farm, 1908). — Beans were inoculated with a pure 

 culture of nodule organisms and with " Nitro-Bacterine." The yields 

 were as follows : — Not inoculated, 3035 lb. ; inoculated with pure 

 culture, 284 lb.; inoculated with " Nitro-Bacterine," 345 lb. 



Inoculation Experiments (Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, 

 Vol. 69, 1908). — An experiment was carried out with the inoculating 

 material known as " Nitro-Bacterine," applied to white clover and 

 lucerne. The white clover was of two varieties, ordinary Dutch white 

 and a new variety, " Mammoth White." The lucerne seed was obtained 

 direct from Argentina. Twelve plots were sown, each divided into 

 halves, one-half being sown with inoculated seed, and the other half with 

 seed not inoculated. In no instance was there any gain by inoculation of 

 the seed in the case of the lucerne, but with white clover there was a 

 small increase in each case. This experiment will be continued in 

 1909. 



Inoculation Experiments (Rothamsted Experimental Station, Annual 

 Supplement, 1908). — Figures are given of the produce of red clover hay 

 in 1907 on soil inoculated with Hiltner's and Moore's preparations, and 

 also with the soil of a field which had carried red clover in 1904. All 

 three methods gave a better result than the uninoculated plots. 



Inoculation Experiments (Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, 

 Vol. XXXIV., Part II.). — An exhaustive account is given of experi- 

 ments which were conducted at the Royal Horticultural Society's 

 Gardens at Wisley by Mr. F. J. Chittenden, Director of the Research 

 Station and Laboratory, with the inoculating material known as 

 "Nitro-Bacterine." It is prefaced by a note giving the history of the 

 researches into the fixation of nitrogen by bacteria in the nodules of 

 leguminous plants. (Information on the subject will be found in this 

 Journal, September, 1904, p. 348; February, 1905, p. 669; March, 1905, 

 p. 725 ; August, 1905, p. 282 ; February, 1906, p. 641 ; March, 1906, 

 P- 759-) 



Mr. Chittenden gives the following summary of the investigation : — 

 The soil of the Wisley Garden is one more likely to respond to such 

 inoculation than the majority of garden soils, and it has been shown 

 that the Wisley soil is lacking in none of the chemical elements necessary 

 for the successful growth and development of the nodule-forming 

 bacteria. 



The experimental area was divided into twenty-four equal plots, 

 twelve being on well-worked soil, and twelve on soil that had been 

 fallowed in 1907. One of each pair of plots had seed which had been 

 inoculated sown upon it, the other seed which had not been inoculated. 

 One row of each of four varieties of peas was sown upon each plot, 

 the same varieu'es being used throughout. 



Seven out of the twelve plots on which inoculated seed was sown 

 gave smaller crops than the corresponding uninoculated plots, and one 

 gave an equal crop. In none of the cases was there any consistent 

 increase in the crop due to inoculation. 



The total weight of the crop from the whole of the plots receiving 

 inoculated seed was 450 lb., while the total from the plots in which 



