84 Report OF THE BACTERIOLOGIST OF THE 
Second test.—Through the courtesy of Johnson & Johnson, 
New Brunswick, N. J., we were furnished with a package of 
their best absorbent cotton which they assured us had not been 
exposed to any chemicals which would render it harmful to 
germ life. The media in- this test were prepared with rain- 
water. 
The details of this second experiment were the same as those 
of the first, except that no ammonium phosphate was added, 
the (1.34) bouillon culture used for inoculating the cotton was 
four days old, and two series of cotton squares were inoculated. 
One series was inoculated from the culture used in the first 
experiment, while the second series received a germ isolated in 
our laboratory from an alfalfa nodule. 
The cotton was inoculated August 19 and plates on (3.34) agar 
indicated that each square received over 1,000,000 germs. 
Two weeks later (3.34) agar plates were made from five squares 
of cotton from each series. In each case a square of cotton was 
spread evenly over the bottom of a Petri dish and agar added. 
The plates were practically sterile at the end of seven days. Ten 
more plates made in a similar manner gave similar results. Now 
and then a colony resembling Ps. radicicola would develop on 
the plates, but in no case did more than eight typical colonies 
develop from a single cotton square. It was evident that either 
the bacteria were practically all dead upon the cotton or were in 
such a weak condition that they could not grow in the (1.34) agar. 
Instead of placing the cotton directly in the agar, blocks were 
now transferred to tubes containing 10 cc. of sterile (1.384) bouil- 
lon and incubated at 26° C. (79° F.) for various intervals before 
plating. 
Five blocks were thus treated on October 5, 10, and 16, and 
plates made at the end of 4 hours, 24 hours and 2 days. In 
each case the total contents of the tube was divided among a 
number of plates so that all of the germs upon the cotton or 
developing from it should be obtained. While the results varied 
slightly with the various squares, the results from these 15 
squares of cotton may be summed up as follows: The plates 
imade after incubating four hours showed from eight to 300 
tvpical colonies from each block of cotton. Plates made at 
a 
