496 Summary of Agricultural Experiments, [sept. 



uninoculated seed was sown was 515 lb. The uninoculated seed, there- 

 fore, gave a crop 14 per cent, heavier than the inoculated in the 

 aggregate. The crop from the inoculated seed was not better in any 

 way than that from the uninoculated, nor did it reach maturity earlier. 



Mr. Chittenden concludes from these investigations that the inocula- 

 tion of leguminous crops with " Nitro-Bacterine " in ordinary garden 

 soil is not likely to prove beneficial. 



Pot-culture Experiments (Royal Agricultural Society Journal, Vol. 69, 

 1908).- — A summary is given of the experiments in progress at the Pot- 

 culture Station at Woburn. These include an investigation into the 

 influence, both on germination and crop return, of very minute quantities 

 of salts of some of the rarer bodies, such as lithium and manganese ; 

 an inquiry into the prevention of acidity in soils ; and the relation of 

 magnesia to lime in soils, and the consequent effect on crops. Another 

 set of experiments has reference to the advantage or otherwise of giving 

 nitrogenous manures to fen soils ; inoculation experiments are also 

 being conducted, and also some in regard to the eradication of the wild 

 onion. 



Miscellaneous Experiments at Rothamsted (Rothamsted Expt. 

 Station Annual Report for 1908). — This publication gives a brief account 

 of the experiments carried out in 1908, with tables in continuation of 

 the Guide to the Experimental Plots for 1906. 



Foreign and Colonial Experiments. 



The Cost of Spraying Apple Trees and the Results obtained (Nebraska 

 Agric. Expt. Sta., Bull. 106). — This Bulletin deals with the question 

 whether from the point, of view of the practical fruit grower it pays to 

 spray apple trees for apple scab and codlin moth ; that is, whether the 

 increase in the yield and the improvement in quality pay for the trouble 

 and expense of spraying. It was felt that the proper way to determine 

 the question was to spray in various orchards in many districts over 

 a series of years, so as to obtain results both when the crop was heavy 

 and light, and also when prices were high and low. Trials have so 

 far been made in two years, and spraying has given profitable results 

 in all the orchards in which it was tried. 



Two orchards were dealt with in 1907, a portion in each being left 

 unsprayed for comparison. Several sprayings were made, Bordeaux 

 mixture and Paris green being used at the beginning and arsenate 

 of lead at the end. The cost of the material used and of the labour 

 worked out to less than id. per gallon in each orchard, but in one 

 22^ gallons per tree were used in the course of five sprayings, and in 

 the other 15 gallons per tree were applied in four sprayings. The cost 

 per tree in one was 15. Sd. and in the other is. 2\&. 



In one orchard 71 sprayed trees yielded 251 bushels worth ^"42, or 

 115. lod. per tree, while 30 unsprayed trees produced 53^ bushels valued 

 at ^4 125., or 35. id. per tree. In the other orchard 20 sprayed trees 

 yielded 8o| bushels worth £16 35., or 165. 2d. per tree, while 10 

 unsprayed trees yielded 19 bushels worth £2 2s. qd., or 45. 3d. per tree. 



Spraying not only increased the yield of fruit, but improved the 

 quality. Thus, in one orchard, fruit of No. 1 grade constituted 44-9 

 per cent., and in the other 618 per cent, of the entire crop, on the 



