Seed and soil inoculation for leguminous crops / by W.B. Bottomley.

  • Bottomley, William Beecroft, 1863-1922.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Seed and soil inoculation for leguminous crops / by W.B. Bottomley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    In their tissues are stored up quantities of organic nitrogen greatly in excess of what is required by the leguminous plant. When the crop is harvested these nodules remain in the ground, and the nitrogen store of the soil is correspondingly increased. A number of careful experiments have been made in the United States and Germany to estimate the approximate amount of organic nitrogen added to the soil by a well grown leguminous crop. Averag- ing the results from sixteen different States in America, the amount of nitrogen added per acre was 125 pounds. In Germany the estimate was 175 to 200 pounds per acre. When it is considered that nitrate of soda contains only about 15 per cent, of nitrogen, it is seen that a crop of nodule-bearing legumes may add the equivalent of half a ton of nitrate of soda per acre, representing a cash value of £4 to £6. It must be remembered, however, that it is only when the roots of the legumes are plentifully supplied Avith nodules that this nitrogen is added to the soil. It is quite possible to grow good crops of legumes by tlie aid of manure witliout nodules being formed. But in this case tlie soil is being impoverished instead of enriclied for the sub- sequent cro]), and the nitrogen taken out by the leguminous crop must be restored in the form of exj)ensive manures. When, how- ever, the nodules are abundantly developed, as may be obtained bj’’ inoculation, not only is the leguminous crop largely increased, but the soil is richer and better at the end of the season than it was before the crop Avas ])lanted, and the succeeding non-leguminous crops produce a largely increased yield. Careful experiments made in America giA'e the foUoAA ing statistics :— OriKinal Yield i«er acre. Yield iK>r acre after Jiioculated Crop. Oaiii per cent. Potatoes 67.8 bushels 102.1> bushels after crimson clover 50 Oats 8.4 bushels 3S.6 bushels 1 aftiT velvet beans 3tH) Itje 4.5 bushels j 23.5 bushels alter i»eas 400 Wlieat 18.6 bushels 26.9 bushels ' after melilotus 1 46 3. Increase of Feeding Value of Crop.—It sometimes happens in inoculation experiments that there is no eA'ident differ- ence in the yield from inoculated and non-inoculated plots. Now a visual comparison is apt to be misleading, and the only accurate way of obtaining results is by weighing the produce. This is AA^ell seen in the report from GrajApenhall, Avhere a crop that shoAved