The Gardeners' chronicle : a weekly illustrated journal of horticulture and allied subjects . is now ready for inoculating withthe nitrogen-fixing bacteria. For this purposemixed cultures of two nitrogen-fixing bacteria,Azutobacter chroococcum and Bacillus radicicola,are employed. It was found that when peat sotreated is mixed with ordinary soil the nitrogencontent of the latter rises considerably. Thus amixture of 9 ozs. of soil (from Rothamsted) and1 oz. of inoculated peat incubated for 28 days at26° C. (79° F.) gave the following result :— The bacterised peat—as Professor Bottom-leys finish
The Gardeners' chronicle : a weekly illustrated journal of horticulture and allied subjects . is now ready for inoculating withthe nitrogen-fixing bacteria. For this purposemixed cultures of two nitrogen-fixing bacteria,Azutobacter chroococcum and Bacillus radicicola,are employed. It was found that when peat sotreated is mixed with ordinary soil the nitrogencontent of the latter rises considerably. Thus amixture of 9 ozs. of soil (from Rothamsted) and1 oz. of inoculated peat incubated for 28 days at26° C. (79° F.) gave the following result :— The bacterised peat—as Professor Bottom-leys finished article may be called—in additionto its power of speeding up nitrogen-fixation,possesses remarkable manurial properties. Thestriking results which are obtained by the use ofbacterised peat were demonstrated by specimensshown at the lecture. Trials made withnumerous plants, Radishes, Fuchsias, MaidenHair Fern, Hippeastrum and others, some ofwhich are illustrated in figs. 107, 108, and 109,prove beyond doubt that the addition of bac-terised peat stimulates growth and development. Fig. 108.—effect of bacterised peat on cereals, as shown in the increased vigourand tillering of the treated as compared with the untreated plants. Soil + peat treated and inoculated contained421 mg. N. per 100 g. of soil, and soil + peattreated but not inoculated contained 367 mg. 100 g. of soil. In other words, the inocula-tion with nitrogen-fixing organisms brought abouta gain of 54 millegrams of nitrogen. This remarkable effect may be described as anew method of intensive cultivation—an inten-sive cultivation of the nitrogen-fixing bacteria ofthe soil. The treated peat supplies a suitablemedium for the growth and activity of thesebeneficent micro-organisms, and hence the productof that actively-combined nitrogen accumulatesin the soil. to a remarkable degree. The plants exhibitedhad been grown, some at Kings College, othersat Kew, under the supervision of Mr. Watson,at Eton Schoo
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Keywords: ., bo, bookdecade1870, booksubjectgardening, booksubjecthorticulture
