240 JOURNAL OB THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



mutt**), black tnediob (MecUoago lupulina), and others, while in the 

 garden proper lupines of* various kinds, species of Lathyrus and Vicia, 

 :i ii , 1 other ornamental leguminous plants grow well, some so well that 

 t| M v arc apt t > become a nuisance unless they are constantly kept within 

 bounds. And these, growing on bo poor a soil, are abundantly provided 

 with nodules. 



The question as to whether the bacteria which are capable of pro- 

 ducing , ,o 1 , • lc- 1 1 ]> >i) one species of leguminous plant are also capable of 

 producing them upon others has been alluded to above, but it is interesting 

 to note that in every case where soil from different parts of the garden 

 was placed in carefully cloaned pots, which had never been used for 

 growing Leguminous plants, and pea or broad bean seeds sown in it, 

 noduh s were produced upon the roots of the seedlings, showing that the 

 nodule-bacteria were universally present throughout the soil of the garden, 

 even in that which, so far as all knowledge and inductive reasoning would 

 lead us to conclude, had not been disturbod for a very long period. 



Seed Used. — As past experience showed that certain types of peas did 

 not grow as well as others on the Wisley soil, for this experiment four 

 varieties were selected, representing four different types of peas. They 

 were 'No Plus Ultra,' 1 Duke of Albany,' ' Telegraph,' and 1 Maincrop.' 



The seed used was kindly presented to the Society for the purpose by 

 Mr. A. W. Sutton, V.M.H. ; and all, with the exception of 'Maincrop,' 

 which Bhowed a germination capacity of 88 per cent., gave the excellent 

 germination capacity of from UG per cent, to J)8 per cent. 



The same weight of peas (GO grammes) was sown in each row of 

 15 foot. The number of seeds that made up the lots of GO grammes of the 

 lame variety varied within rather narrow limits, and of course the number 

 of seeds required to weigh GO grammes in the different varieties varied 

 very considerably, but it was thought better to take a definite weight of 

 s. c.l rather than a definite number, for it has been shown repeatodly that 

 a heav ier seed produces a larger and better developed plant than a smaller 

 seed of the same variety. 



It may be noted that it was found later that, for one cause or another, 

 only ah, ait one- third of the seeds had produced plants that reached a full 

 development, and that in certain plots the number of plants fell far below 

 thai of the others of the same variety. Attention is drawn to this in 

 considering the results obtained. 



Inoculation* Two methods of inoculation were tried, alone and in 

 combination. In Plots 1., II., MIL, and XIV. the soil was inoculated, 

 bui in the other plots it was not inoculated, while the seed sown on Plots 

 II., III., VI., VII.. X., XL. XIV., XV., XVIII., XIX., XXII., and XXIII. 

 bad I" mi first inoculated, and that sown on the other plots was used 

 just a- it was received from Messrs. Sutton. 



The Inoculation material was kindly presented by Professor Bottomley, 

 and wa ree, i\ed directly from him on March 2, the broth being made on 

 the aim d i\. The instructions lor making the broth wore as follows: — 



" Take a bucket or tub, ( lean and scald it out thoroughly, place in 

 it one gallon <>f good pure water (preferably rain water which has 

 been well boiled and allowed to cool), add the contents of package 

 No. 1, and tn until the salts are dissolved. Then carefully open 



