Siqjjiloncnt  to  the  “ Trojncal  Agriculturist." 
[Sept.  1,  1896. 
010 
/W  I -J 
lympli.  Ill  tuberculosis  it  is  iiUo  thickened  and 
pre, seats  a warty  ai)i)oarance,  little  growths  lieiug 
found  all  over  it,  .soinelimes  in  bunches. 
Tliis  lueinbrane  should  be  looked  for  becansi  a 
dodge  called  “.stiipping”  is  practised,  that  is, 
carelully  peeling  it  off  to  liule  indications  of 
disease.  (Stripping  must  always  be  regarded  with 
suspicion,  it  is  eitlier  perfmaned  to  hide  tlie  dis- 
eases just  mentioned  or  to  remove  the  green  stain 
causeil  by  food  which  has  escaped  fnim  the 
stomach  or  intestines.  Again,  it  is  I'esorted  to,  to 
remove  the  green  colour  arising  from  putrid'action. 
The  i>ro])er  ‘‘setting'’  of  the  carcase  is  inter- 
fered with  in  disease,  and  in  warm  damp  weather, 
or  when  the  animal  has  been  exerted  or  exhausted 
before  death. 
Abnormal  Appearances  of  Flesh. 
WhitK  I'T.Esii. 
Very  white  flesh  may  be  an  evidence  of  bad 
nutrition,  dropsy,  anaemia  or  of  general  fatty 
disease.  It  may  generally  be  taken  as  an  indica- 
tion of  interference  with  the  pro]ier  oxidation 
of  the  blood,  ])rf)bably  some  chronic  lung  disease. 
A localised  white  appearance  may  be  tlie  result 
of  a muscular  strain,  and  does  not  render  the 
remainder  of  tlie  flesh  unfit  for  food. 
Pallor  of  the  flesh  is  also  seen  in  animals  that 
have  died  from  choking,  or  from  being  over-driven 
indor  to  slaughter. 
(7b  be  continued.) 
“NITRAGIN,”  OR  THE  USE  OE  PUKE 
CULTIVATION  OF  BACTERIA  FOR 
LEG  UMINO US  CROPS. 
The  last  number  of  the  “Journal  nf  the  Royal 
Agricultural  Society  of  England”  contains  an  in- 
teresting contribution  by  l)r.  Voelcker  on  tlie 
above  subject. 
How  cultivated  leguminous  crops  obtained 
their  supplies  of  nitrogenous  plant  food  and 
enriched  the  soil  in  these  constituents  for  the 
succeeding  croj),  while  themselves  apparently 
independent  of  nitrogenous  manuring,  was,  until 
the  recent  di.scovery  of  Jlellriegel,  a (piestion  that 
haflled  scientific  investigators.  While  the  earlier 
experiment's  ol  Boussingault,  conliimcd  as  they 
were  by  those  of  Lawes,  Gilbert,  and  Pugh  in  18o7, 
led  to  the  conclusion  that  jilants  could  not 
assimilate  tlie  free  nitrogen  of  the  atmosphere,  it 
remained  a fact  well-known  to  practical  men  that 
a crop  such  as  clover,  under  favourable  conditions, 
grew  well  wit  bout  nitrogenous  manuring  whatever, 
and  that  nothing  proved  such  a good  iirejiaratory 
crop  and  manuring  for  a cereal  such  as  wheat— an 
esscii  daily  nitivgon-reiiuiiing  cr)ji— as  did  a 
leguminous  crop.  As  long  ago  as  1 8t>8  1 he  late 
J)r.  Voelcker  .showed  as  the  result  of  direct 
experiments  that  during  the  growth  of  clover 
nitrogenous  organic  matter  was  stored  up  in  the 
soil ; that  this  increase  took  place  where  root  fibres 
Were  most  abundant;  and  that  the  nitrogenous 
matter  gradually  decayed  and  formed  nitrates, 
in  which  state  they  were  ready  to  be  taken  up 
bv  fbe  succeeding  cereal  crop.  He  further  indi- 
cated his  belief  that  in  some  as  yet  unexplained 
\vav  the  atmosjjhere  contributed  directly  to  the 
.accumulation  of  nitrogen  in  the  soil  in  the  case 
of  those  nitrogcMi-Mipiilying  crops.  In  188(i,  how- 
tjver  Ufllii'.‘gvl,  with  his  fellow-worker  M ilfarti), 
supplied  the  true  explanation,  viz.,  that  certain 
leguminous  crops  are  !ibh,>,  by  means  of  “ nodules  ” 
which  form  on  their  roots,  to  fix  the  free  nitrogen 
of  the  atmosphere.  The  precise  nature  of  the 
nodules  was  further  ascertiiined  by  Beyorinck, 
who  found  that  the  nodules  of  even  the  most 
widely  different  kinds  of  legnminoiis  plants  con- 
tained bacteria,  which  agreed  so  nearly  with  one 
another  in  their  external  jiroperties,  that  he  des- 
cribed them  as  belonging  all  to  one  species,  to 
which  he  gave  the  name  of  liacillus  radicola. 
(Such  a discovery  as  that  of  Hellriegel,  natu- 
rally turned  the  tlionghts  of  investigators  to  the 
coiif-iileration  of  tlie  bearing  it  would  have  upon 
the  iiractice  of  agricultuie,  and  how'  it  might  he 
utilised.  The  name  of  Dr.  Nobbe,  the  distin- 
gnisbed  scientist,  has  been  chiefly  associated  with 
this  doveloi>ment,  particularly  after  Helliregel’s 
death.  If  the  conditions  had  been  discovered 
under  which  leguminous  crojis  could  assimilate 
the  free  nitrogen  of  the  atmosphere,  was  it  not 
jiossible  to  ensure  that  these  conditions  should 
be  alway.s  jiresent,  and  that  the  atmosphere  sliould 
be,  as  it  were,  laid  under  c ntrihution  to  snpjily 
f/ratis,  for  the  benefit  nf  crops  that  nitrogen  which 
it  contains  in  such  abundance,  but  wdiich  is  practi- 
cally sealed  to  all  crops,  save  those  leguminous 
ones  which  possess  the  jiower  of  fixing  it  ? This 
was  the  question  which  Nobbe  set  himself  to  solve, 
with  the  result  that  as  recently  as  February  19th 
of  the  present  year,  at  a meeting  of  the  German 
Agricultural  Society  held  in  Berlin,  Dr.  Theil 
was  able  to  make  the  intere.sting  communication 
that  Nobbe’s  w'ork  had  culminated  in  the  produc- 
tion, on  a commercial  scale,  of  bacteria  for  ngri- 
cultual  purposes.  It  was  further  announced  that 
arrangements  had  been  entered  into  with  one  of 
the  largest  firms  of  chemical  manufacturers  in 
Germany  wdiereby  the  preparation  of  sjiecial 
inoculating  materials  for  particular  leguminous 
crops  ivas  to  be  carried  on  at  these  w'orks,  and 
that  in  a short  time  the  works  would  be  able,  as  a 
matter  of  business,  to  siqiply  the  preparations  to 
anyone  who  might  ajiply.  To  the  leguminous 
inoculating  mateii  il  the  name  “ N’i tragi n ” was 
given  and  the  designation  duly  ri'gistered.  The 
word  should  therefore  not  be  confounded  with 
the  English  word  “Nitrogen,”  since  “Nitragin" 
applies  generally  to  all  the  inoculating  materials 
emidoyed  for  sjiecial  leguminous  croqs. 
When  the  news  of  this  discovery  reached  Eng- 
land, the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  felt  much 
interested  in  it,  and  directed  Dr.  J.  A.  Voelcker 
to  investigate  the  matter  on  the  spot,  and  to 
obtain  wdiat  information  he  could  about  it. 
Accordingly,  about  tho  middle  of  April,  he  went 
to  Huchst,  and  also  subsequently  visited  Dr. 
Nobbe  and  others  wdio  had  been  at  work  on  the 
subject.  At  the  Hiichst  Fabrik  he  w’as  given 
every  facility  for  obtaining  the  required  informa- 
tion, and  there  saw  the  .actual  preparation  of  tho 
“ Nitragin,”  and  its  jirodnction  on  a commercial 
scale,  and  in  a form  in  wduch  it  could  be  put  on 
the  market  and  bo  utilised  directly  by  agricul- 
turists. The  material  had  for  only  a w'eek  or  two 
previously  been  thus  jirepared,  but  it  was  then 
obtainable  for  general  use,  and  at  one  or  two 
places  had  already  been  tried  on  ordinary  agri- 
cultural soils  and  on  a )ir.actical  farming  scale. 
In  our  next  issue  w(‘  shall  give  further  details 
with  reference  to  the  nature  and  preparation  of 
“ Nitragin," 
