Abstract
THE appearance of a second edition of this book affords evidence of the need that exists for a simple laboratory text-book outlining a course of work that will give students of agricultural science some grounding in microbiological methods. On the whole the book succeeds in this object. It seems a pity, however, that the new edition should include so little reference to newer methods of research. Thus, some of the microbiological methods for the estimation of plant nutrients in soil such as Winogradsky's ‘plaques mouleles’ method are eminently suitable for the student, to whom they would give some appreciation of the nutritive requirements of micro-organisms in the soil. It is also no longer true to say (p. 149) that “for the accurate determination of the numbers of micro-organisms in soil, microscopic methods are of little value”. A method has now been developed that gives estimates of numbers more reliable than can be obtained by plating methods.
Practical Bacteriology:
an Introductory Course for Students of Agriculture. By Dr. A. Cunningham. Second edition, revised and enlarged. Pp. viii + 203. (Edinburgh and London: Oliver and Boyd, 1934.) 7s. 6d. net.
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Practical Bacteriology. Nature 137, 889 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137889c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137889c0