The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-29
MICROBES FEED MANKIND.
Micro-Organisms on which All HUI
man Life Depends.

man Life Depends.
From the New Orleans Times-Democrat
Washington, Sept 19.-The most i'm
portant subject discussed last week AZ
the meeting of the Association of Oficial
Agricultural Chemists in Washington was
new discovery which may fairly be
termed sensational.
This discovery. relates to n species OF
| microbe which actually makes planrs
grow. In 1t has been found the mysterr-
Gus agent by whose aid all things vege-
table are enabled to absorb nitrogen. which
is their chief food. Without its assist
ance plant life would disappear entirely
from the earth, and. in consequence. ann
NAL life, including mankind, would perish
likewise. Yet this benehcent miero-or-
ganism is so small that it can only be
seen when mpgnihed 500 diameters It Is
a bacterium and a micro-coccus-that Is
to say, shaped like a little ball
An experiment is now being made in the
breeding of these microbes by Prof. Wiley
of the chemistry division Of the depart
ment Of agriculture. They multiply at
an enormous rate when furnished with
proper food, and to produce them in IN
definite quantities is easy. Their bust
ness in life is to absorb nitrogen from the
soil and from the air and to transform
it into nitric acid. In this shape It Is
taken up by the tissues of the plants
which are not able to consume the nitro
gen In the crude. Recently q trial was
made with field of several acres in Flor
ida. on which nothing would grow. Anai-
ysls proved that the soil was very rich in
nitrogen, but none OF the micro-cocci were
present 20 small amount of stable
manure was applied thinly to the surface
OF the ground and lOi a wonderful crop
was the result.
The secret of 1t was that stable manure
Is fun OF these peculiar bacteria. The
latter went to work at once upon this
nitrogen lying idle in the hitherto-barrer.
soil and transformed il into available
plant food. 1t has long been known thar
stable manure contained very little plant
food and so, until now, its great efficiency
as a fertilizer has been a mystery The
day may yet arrive when the farmer will
| apply n solution of microbes instead OF q
fertilizer TO his soil. Obviously such a
method would only be tried in cases where
the bacteria We're found to be lacking.
Without the help of microbes of this
species plants win die in the richest soft.
With their assistance certain kinds OF
plants are able to absorb and utilize the
nitrogen in the atmosphere. This is most
particularly true of the peas, beans, clover
and other leguminous plants Farmers
nave Ions known tRat there was no better
way TO enrich field than to plant It with
| clover, or beans, or peas. The reason why
Is simply that amicrO-organis of the sort
described infest these plants in great
numbers. Living in the rootlets. they
ply the trade of agricultural chemists on
a small scale, but most efficiently. Their
colonies are marked by little excrescences
or pimples on the roots. They are manu-
| facturers of nitric acid. They do not
! live in the roots of cereals-hence the
/ desirabnity of rotating corn with clover.
In furnishing nitrogen to the soil the
/ farmer is supplying stun for the microbes
| to work on. 1t has been stated already
] nj &c fN4a ur.na IL
| plant foods. 1T is also the most expensive
costing from 16 to Is cents a pound
| Sometimes It is applied to the land IN
the shape of waste from packing estaD-
/ lishments and abettoirs-scraps OF intes-
/ tines, etc, which are boiled to get out
| the oil and finally dried and ground
! At the slaughter houses nothing is vast
! ed. Every drop of blood is saved, to be
! dried and ground. Dried blood is the
best of all materials for yielding nitrogen.
1t may be said in a rough way that M
trogen makes the flesh of plants, while
/ phosporic acid makes the fat.
One important object of the Association
of Oficial Agricultural Chemists is to
| teach the farmers what kinds of fertiliz-
! ers TO employ. Mr.. Hayseed may be using
! nitrogen when what he really requires
for his land is potash, which is compare
/ lively cheap All of the potash utilized
in this country comes from a single mine
at Stassfurt, in Germany. The deposits
in that locality had their origin thousands
| of years ago in a sea, the waters OF
which gradually receded, leaving lakes
ocean by small channels. AS the waters
| of these lakes evaporated thSy We're con,
stantly replenished through the channels.
This continued for long period, until
the salts of potash brought into the lakes
by streams were deposited in beds of
! great thickness. Potash deposits are
/ commonly found associated with deposits
of rock salt. OF the latter vast beds
exist in New York, Kansas, Michigan ana
other parts of the United States ana
stores of valuable fertilizer NAV Vet he
discovered on this continent, biologists
think
n All the members of the association hold
official places as chemists under the fed
eraf government or in the states The
Immediate cause of the formation of
their organization was a series of dis
putes between makers of fertilizers and
the consumers as to the quality of the
merchandise. The analyses given by the
manufacturers We're apt TO be false and
there was no authority to which such
| questions could be referred for settle
ment. Now the strife has ceased be
cause all analyses are made under con-
ditions prescribed by the official chem
list, who are attached to agricultural
experiment stations, agricultural col
leges and state boards of agriculture.
They have control over the manufac-
ture and sale of fertilizers in many states,
and the makers must have licenses If
their goods fail to come up to the mark
the dealers are excluded from the mar
ket. 1t is estimated that in this way
S50,0o0OOO annually is saved 10 the farm
The department of agriculture will ex-
/ hlbit at Atlanta a series OF three models
illustrating the ruin of farms by the wan
ton destruction of forests. The models
are ten square, and they represent a
farm-the same farm in each case
I through which runs a winding stream.
In the first model the arabic lands on the
slopes of the hills have been denuded of
soil 10 a great extent by floods, due 70
the wiping away of trees from the hill
tops. The second model shows that the
farmer has realized the cause of his
trouble and has planned new forests on
{ mn -
the forests have covered the bilitoDs
/ again, and the denuded slopes have re-
gained their covering Of soil The fields
I are laughing with a bountiful harvest.
and the increased prosperity of the farm
er in denoted by the fact that he has