New YorkK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 31 
Immediately after the announcement in 1886 that the bacteria 
were a necessary part of the fixation of nitrogen by legumes and 
that they could be supplied by additions of soil, Salfeld® began an 
extensive test of the application of inoculating soil to peat lands 
upon which legumes were to be grown. The results of this applica- 
tion were highly satisfactory and opened the way to profitable re- 
turns from lands of this class, which are abundant in many parts of 
Europe. Similar favorable results in Europe from the use of 
inoculating soil were reported by Fruwirth,? Wilfarth,!? Schmitter," 
and Miller.12 When inoculation was lacking, the results were 
marked but where the desired bacteria were already present in the 
field in sufficient quantities the addition of soil from another field 
was, naturally, without any marked effect. 
While the accuracy of the work of Hellriegel and Wilfarth was 
promptly tested by Atwater and Woods the practical application of 
these discoveries to American agriculture came about very slowly. 
We are indebted to Prof. I. P. Roberts and his colleagues! for an 
account of one of the earliest successes in this line. For a number 
of seasons the attempt had been made to grow soy beans at the 
Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, and it was 
observed that their roots were devoid of nodules. Prof. Roberts 
wrote to an acquaintance in Japan in regard to the matter and re- 
ceived about four ounces of soil. Some soy beans were planted in 
pots in the greenhouses in 1896 and the inoculating soil was mixed 
with the soil in the pots after they were filled. The nodules did not 
develop on the extreme ends of the roots of the beans but only 
on the upper two-thirds of the roots, from which it might be in- 
ferred that the soil was not thoroughly mixed. In the check no 
nodules were formed while in the others the nodules were not only 
abundant but were unusually large. The next season the soil from 
®*Salfeld, A. Ueber die Verwertung der Hellriegel’ schen Versuche mit 
Leguminosen in landwirtschaftlichen Betrieb. Biedermann’s Centbl. Agr. 
Chem., 18: 239-244. 1880. 
°Fruwirth. Neue Impfverseuche mit Lupinen. Deut, landw, Presse., 
1892 & 1893. 
*Wilfarth, H. Die meueren Verseuche mit Stickstoffsammelenden 
Pflanzen und deren Verwertung ftir den landwirtschaftlichen Betrieb. Bied- 
ermann’s Centbl. Agr. Chem., 22: 181-184. 1893. 
™ Schmitter, A. Die Impfung der Lehmsboden zu Lupinen mit Bakte- 
rienreicher Erde. Biedermann’s Centbl. Agr. Chem., 23: 700-701. 18094. 
2Miller. Jour. Roy. Agr. Soc. Eng., Series IIL, 7: 236-253. 1806. 
* Through personal letters from Prof. Roberts and Prof. Stone. 
