CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE WISLEY LABORATORY. 251 



TABLE 0. 



Comparison of the Produce from the Uninoculated Plots with that from 

 the Inoculated Plots. 



Variety 



Seed not inoculated 



Seed inoculated 



Percentage increase 

 or decrease 



No. of 

 pods 



Wt of 

 pods 



wt. of 

 peas 



No. of 

 pods 



wt. of 

 pods 



Wt. of 

 peas 



No. of 

 pods 



Wt. of 

 pods 



Wt. of 

 peas 



Ne Plus Ultra . 

 Duke of Albany 

 Telegraph 

 Maincrop 



3,092 

 1,531 

 3.230 

 1,902 



grs. 

 24,500 

 16,328 

 31,029 

 14,085 



grs. 

 11,650 



5,001 

 10,575 



6,414 



2,968 

 1,709 

 3,189 

 1,681 



grs. 

 23,525 

 17.853 

 32 675 

 12,589 



errs. 

 11,414 



5,764 

 11,036 



5,990 



-5 

 + 11 



-2 

 -12 



-4 

 + 9 

 + 5 

 - 11 



- 3 



+ 15 

 + 4 

 -7 



Totals . 



9,755 



85,942 



33,640 



9,547 



86,642 



34,204 



-3 



0 



+ 1 



In the aggregate there is scarcely any difference in the produce from 

 the two sets of plots, while, considering the varieties separately, two gave 

 a greater yield in weight of produce and two a less. On the whole, there- 

 fore, it cannot be said that, even on this land which had not received 

 even such good attention as an ordinary garden soil, inoculation with 

 " Nitro-Bacterine " is likely to prove of any benefit. 



If we leave out of the calculation the produce of the two plots on 

 which the soil itself was inoculated (Plots XIII. and XIV.) we find that 

 the plants from the inoculated seed bore 7,375 p:)ds, weighing 67,017 

 grammes, containing 26,016 grammes of peas, while those from the 

 uninoculated seed bore 7,708 pods, weighing 68,138 grammes, containing 

 26,465 grammes of peas. In other words, the inoculated seed gave 

 5 per cent, less in number of pods and 2 per cent, less in weight of pods 

 and seed than the uninoculated. 



The average weight of the pods from the uninoculated plots was 

 8*8 grammes, and of the peas they contained 3 4 grammes. The average 

 weight of the pods from the inoculated plots was 9 grammes, and of the 

 peas they contained 3*5 grammes. 



Effect of Inoculation on Time of Maturity of the Crop. — In certain of 

 the reports quoted in " Seed and Soil Inoculation for Leguminous Crops," 

 by Professor Bottomley, it is stated that inoculated plants matured earlier 

 than non-inoculated. Thus one says that inoculation of peas " rendered a 

 fortnight earlier marketing possible" (p. 16). "The sweet peas started 

 to blossom earlier than the non-inoculated" (p. 18). " The row treated 

 (peas) . . . certainly earlier " (p. 18). " The peas . . . inoculated were 

 ready quite two weeks before the others" (p. 21). 



It would be tedious to give the mass of figures from which the relative 

 earliness of the peas in the Wisley trial is to be arrived at, and it will 

 suffice to say, since this result is typical of the whole, that while five 

 plots in which inoculated seeds of ' Telegraph ' were sown yielded 

 36,129 grammes, the first two pickings from these plots weighed 20,464 

 grammes, or 56 per cent, of the whole; the produce of the correspond- 

 ing uninoculated plots was 38,087 grammes, of which 20,502 grammes, 

 or nearly 54 per cent., was included in the first two pickings, made on the 

 same days as those from the inoculated plots. In this trial, therefore, 

 inoculation had no influence whatever upon the earliness of the crop. 



