Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-02-20
ASSISTANCE TO NATURE
The Inoculation of Plants with Bscteri.
and the Results.

The Inoculation of Plants with Bacteri.
and the Results
A MOST EXTRAORDINARY DIsCOvIRY
"A has recently engaged the attention Of the
Department Of Agriculture II relates 10 the
artificial incubation of growing plants with
bacteria. Sooner or later, it is claimed, this
will prove Of enormous advantage to farmers
and gardeners, who will be able to assist ma
ture in producing crops by . method never
dreamed Of hitherto.
It seems surprising enough to learn that
plants which bear pods, such as peas and
beans, depend largely for their healthy growth
upon bacteria. These little vegetable organ
isms attach themselves to the rootlets, upon
which they foed, forming about each OF their
colonies q woody tubercle just as the species
that engenders consumption in human beings
aud other animals form tuberclos in the lungs.
Thus tho roots on which such germs find
iodgment arc found to DO more or less covered
with little warty excrescences Until lately IT
mad never been imagined that the tubercles
were OF use to the plant that the latter relied
In any degree for its welfare upon the parasites
which form them.
How THE PLANTS ARH AIDED.
Nevertheless, such has been shown to be the
iact. Plants are composed largely OF nitrogen,
and the bacteria described absorb this element
from the air. Indeed, this is the only wsy in
which pod bearing vegetables can procure free
nitrogen from the atmosphere. They depend
iot TINS upon their microscopic friends, which
ger hoio OF the precious material and store it
way IN the root tubercles, from which it is
transferred TO the branches and leaves, taking
part In building them and thus assisting de-
velopment
INTERESTING KxPKRINENrs
These matters have been determined by
very interesting experiments 1t has been
found that pease or beans grown in sterilized
aud which, OF course, contains no bacteria,
developed no tubercles on their roots and
slowly starved. However. by inoculsting the
plant with the proper germs they were rem
dered healthy and productive. In other words
they could not get along without nitrogen. of
which there was none in the soil. but the bac-
terra were able to procure from the air enough
for them to live upon. 1t WAS simply q ques-
ton OF supplying them with small servants to
do the WORK.
There are several ways of accomplishing this.
One method followed, for the sake of scientific
accuracy, was TO take a tubercIe from q bean
roQtlet cut 1t open. extract from il . small
particle OF its substance and propagate from q
bit OF this in gelatine q considerable quantity
OF the bacteria desired. Then some of them
were squirted through little glass pipe among
the roots OF the plant with which trial Was
being made. The same results were obtained,
however, by simply watering the soil slightly
with small amount OF dissolved earth taken
IRON about a healthy bean vine.
EACH HAS ITS OWN BACTERIA.
It must be understood that zach kind of pod
bearing plant own species Of bacteria, upon
winch 1t depends for supply of free nitrogen
from the air. The tubercle germs OF pease do not
produce tubercles in beans, and therefore are
nsa In, -
tubercle making bacteria are not all found in
every SOIL In field where beans have been
cultivated for long time there may be no
tubercie-germs fog pease at all, or vice versa
accordingly the farmer would be likely to find
a change from one crop to the other a dismal
failure. unless he knew enough to procure some
earth from the proper place, mix 1t with water,
and thus microbe-seed the land for the new
vegetable.
INocULArINo THE LAND.
This is the way In which the farmer Of tho
future will inoculate his land for whatever sort
OF pod-bearing crop he may desire to raise.
10 demonstrate how this may be done with
success narrow strips have been planted in ex-
perimental fields with beans and pease. some
OF the strips were treated in the manner de-
scrlbed, while others were let alone. The re-
suits were astonishing. All plants which had
been nicrobe-seeded were easily distingusha-
BILE, even at . distance, by their greener color
and larger size. Indeed where the most as
sistance of this sort had been bestowed growth
was excessive, 90 that the plants crowded each
other out The incubation, simple and mex
pensive as it was, had the same effect as would
have been secured with the aid Of considerable
quantities of manure containing nitrogen.
Certainly the importance of this new discov-
ery can hardly be over estimated when ii 10
considered that in future the agriculturis, will
he enabled ny artince to derive from the at
mosphere, through the assistance OF micro
seopic organisms, greatly increasing contribu-
tions to the growth and bearing Of hts crops