AN INTERESTING DISCOVERY

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10713, 24 December 1912, Page 6

AN INTERESTING DISCOVERY

iMTEOGEiVOOLLECTINC4 BACTERIA. A suggestive fact observed at Jiuakura Farm of Instruction h . that where stable manure is applied leguminous crops rapidly develop bacterial nodules, and that without inoculation; whereas on soil not so treated the nodules have been much later in appearing, and do not develop to the same extent. I n order t otes't this subject further, an experiment has been planned at Ruakura. Part of a •plot has received a dressing of farmyard manure hut no inoculation part inoculation and no .farmyard manure, and the remainder neither manure nor inoculation. A variety of leguminous plants have been sown, and each row of tlhese cross the treated as well as the untreated plot. A similar interesting fact in tins connection lias occurred with the lucerne experiments at Ruakura : that is, where stable and poultry manure have bee n applied h> cerne has grown in ia gratifying manner, notwithstanding that no inocuk-l tion took place; also the fact that dressing of even more highly nitrogenous manures often give good results would yeem to contradict Uie idea that such manures interfere with the virulence of the bacteria. On the other hand, where lucerne has been grown under ordinary field conditions, •and without the application of animal manures, the inoculated portion ushowing .splendid development, while the uninoculated part is a failure. Thia -definite response of legumes to a nitrogenous manure bears out L he experience gained at Woburn Experimental Farm. England, while a number of mamirial dressings were applied to a field of lucerne. The heaviest yield, judged by three cuttings m one season %was obtained from a plot manured with 4owt of bonedust, 4cwt of sulphate of potash, and -2cwt of nitrate of so-da per acre. The nextbest result was from a plot manured in a similar manner, exce.pt that | nitrate of soda wa« substituted ' for I Milphato of ammonia. Recently a singularly confirmative experiment was conducted in France. Portion of a lucerne field manured with, a heavy dressing of nitrate of soda gave a yield fourfold greater than the portion of the same crop which was untreated. Thesio experiences do nos imply that nitrogenous dressings are always necessary, but they certainly f?> to disprove the truth of th" state

ment that lucerne and other legumes do not require nitrogenous manure a<s they obtain -all the nitrogen they require from the air. In this matter. J however—as in ail problems affecting I manurial and soil problems—it is well j not to dogmatise. The experiences recorded here may, however, assist readers in arriving at a better understanding of a most interesting phase j of modern agriculture* I