6o THE GARDENING WORLD. January 30, 1909. 
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6difoi?iol. 
HoculaUon of ?eas. 
The benefit or otherwise of inoculating 
garden Peas, Sweet Peas, Scarlet Run¬ 
ners or Beans is being very much dis¬ 
cussed at the present time. Some are 
bitter over their disappointments, while 
others still have great faith in the advan¬ 
tage of inoculating their various crops. 
Experiments have been made at Wisley, 
as well as in private establishments, but 
in most cases the nitrogen-fixing bacteria 
did not seem to have be~en of any particu¬ 
lar benefit to the crops for which the 
material was used. The subject has been 
under experiment since 1886 with varying 
results. 
It is as well to be prepared to admit 
that the nitrogen-fixing organisms cannot 
possibly be ot equal service in all sorts 
of soils. For instance, gardens and fields 
which have been cultivated for many years 
and had manure of different kinds applied 
to them have, no doubt, their full comple¬ 
ment of the organisms in question, and the 
plants naturally benefit from their pre¬ 
sence. It seems to us that the principal 
field in which to operate would be soils 
that are very poor, both mechanically and 
in the elements of plant food which they 
may contain. 
Recently reclaimed land is one instance 
of what we refer to, and the other would 
be land which is of a heavy nature in a 
mechanical condition unsuitable for the 
life of the organisms, for they are really 
microscopic plants which must have cer¬ 
tain conditions favourable to their well¬ 
being, just as the higher plants have. 
The duty of the cultivator in this latter 
case would be to trench or otherwise 
loosen and pulverise such a soil and after¬ 
wards sow the inoculated seed. If he 
wished to make experiments to prove the 
value of the inoculation a portion of the 
same land should be left uninoculated, al¬ 
though otherwise treated the same as the 
inoculated land. The uninoculated seed 
should be put in water for as long a 
period as that containing the inoculated 
seed, so as to put the seed on a par as 
to conditions. Experiments of this kind 
require to be carried out with great care 
and exactness to ascertain the actual dif¬ 
ference between the crops derived from 
inoculated and uninoculated seed. 
For the present most attention is paid 
For decorative purposes single Chry¬ 
santhemums are now making a bold bid 
for popularity, and no doubt if cultiva¬ 
tors gave them the proper attention a fine 
display can be kept up from September 
till well into the New Year with very little 
trouble. They could, indeed, be had 
earlier than September, but their pre¬ 
sence is unnecessary in the glass-houses 
while other flowers are still in season. 
Those who have unheated houses could 
do much with these single Chrysanthe¬ 
mums. In the absence of frost an inter¬ 
esting display could be made with these 
single Chrysanthemums under the fairly 
congenial conditions produced by the aid 
to the inoculation of plants belonging 
the Pea family, but during the last ye 
or two experiments have been tending 
show that other plants may be benefit 
by these nitrogen-fixing bacteria. t 
the whole, the experiments may still be i 
garded as in their infancy, and all tho 
concerned should exercise patience. 0: 
important item is the possibility of 0 
taining more active organisms than tho 
already being employed, and if such c. 
be found even old gardens and long ci 
tivated fields should derive benefit fro 
the presence of such a race of organism 
of glass, but particularly while tl 
weather remains mild and open as it d 
until it broke down just after Christina 
The accompanying illustration shows 
new variety bearing flowers 3 in. to a i 
in diameter according to treatment, 
size is desired this can be obtained 1 
disbudding. In our opinion, however, 
is unnecessary to disbud severely for d 
corative purposes, as a truss of flowers 
much more natural and effective than or 
large flower at the end of the shoot. F< 
exhibition purposes the case is quite d 
ferent. The blooms of this variety a 
made up of two or more rows of close 
placed and overlapping ray florets of 
New Chtgsant^emurQ ]V[eltc 
