The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1891-10-16
CHEMISTRY OF THE SOIL.
important wacts Of Science for Farmers
Plants That Fix the Atmospheric Nitrogen.

Important wacts Of Science for Farmers
Plants That Fix the Atmospheric Nitrogen
For long time the part played by the free
nitrogen Of the air In the development OF
plants has been problem In agricultural
chemistry. BY repeated experiments 1t has
been demonstrated beyond doubt that legu'
minous plants. such ~ peas and clover, can
assimilate free atmospheric nitrogen, and
that gramineous plants, such as wheat, do
not. Later researches have shown how legu'
mnous plants assimilate free nitrogen OF the
air. In the article entitled "Chemistry To-
day and its Problems" by Prof. William IL.
Crookes, we find the following
"Much doubt has existed concerning the
ultimate source of the combined nitrogen
that exists In plants and forms necessary
item In theirufood. Some chemists Of the
highest eminence have maintained that.
plants are capable of absorbing and fixing In
their tissues the ammonia and oxides Of nj
trogen present In the atmosphere, they are
utterly incapable Of utilizing the free nitro
gen that exists In such vast quantities In the
air. This question Is not merely OF deep
theoretical interest 40 relating to the balance
of life upon the globe, but 1t IL OF supreme
Importance to man on account Of Its reference
to the fertility Of the soil and to our future
supply Of food. 1t has been fully demon.
strated that, at least in Europe, the yearly
amount of combined nitrogen brought down
upon an acre Of soil by the agency OF rain
and dew does not make up for the quantity |
taken away In the various crops. ii
Silence. even II we return to the land all
the animal and vegetable refuse into which (
It's products are ultimately converted the fer
tility of any given plot must In the long run
decline. unless, in some manner or other,
cortion of the free nitrogen in the atmoe.
)bere Ia absorbed and rendered available for
he nutrition of plants. Source after source
las been suggested as probable, and finally
declared to be inefficient. At last one has
,een found In most unlookedfor quarter.
Practical agriculturists have long since reach
ID the conclusion that certain green crops.
UGH az peas, beans, lentils and vetches, are I
lot so exhaustive to the soil as wheat, maize,
urnips and potatoes. Now, II we examine |
he rootlets, say, OF kidney-beans, we find 1
hem studded more or less thckly with small ,
nots, or tubercles. which are the abode Of {
ertaIn kinds of bacteria. These bacteria t
ave the power Of fixing the free atmospher- ]
nitrogen In such a manner that 1t may be
s food for the plant. Accordingly. II we
ow field with such vegetables, and rlow '
1em into the soil at the end of the season, /
1ey prove efficient fertilizers. On the other +
and II the formation of these tubercles on a
le roots has been prevented, the plants do e
Of flourish and the soil is not enriched" 1
1t has been demonstrated. eXperimentallv. r
lat these bacteria are not produced naturally e
= the plant, but that they enter the roots t
ON the outside, and that the tubercles are s
rmed by them. 1t Is also known that or n
mic matter favors the nutrition OF these b
cteria. N