Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1895-10-10
MlCROBE THAT AIDS ptAATS TO GROW.
Said TO Enable Than to Absorb Nitro
gen, Their chief Food.

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Said to Enable Than to Absorb Nitro
gen, Their chief Food.
Washington star.
The most important subject dis
cussed last week at tho meeting Of the
Association of Official Agricultural
Chemists in this city was new dis
covery which may fairly be formed SEN
sational.
This discovery relates to species of
microbe which actually makes plants
grow. In it. has been found the mys-
FERROUS agent by whose aid all things
vegetable are enabled to absorb nitro
gen, which is their chief food. With
out its assistants, plantl life would dis
appear entirely from the earth, and,
in consequence, animal life, including
mankind, would perish likewise. Yet
| this benilicent micro. organism is SO
small that it can only be seen when
magnified 800 diameters. 1t is hac-
terium and micro coccus--that is to
say, shaped like little ball.
An experiment issnow being made in
| the breeding OF those microbes by
Prof. Wiley Of the chemistry division
OF the Department of Agriculture.
They multiply at an enormous rate
when furnished with proper food, and
to produce them in indefinite quanti-
| ties is easy. Their business in life is
to absorb nitrogen from the soil and
from the air, and TO transform ii into
nitric acid. In this shape it is taken
up by the tissues Of the plants, which
are not able TO consume the nitrogen
in the crude. Recently trial was
made with field of several acres in
Florida on which nothing would grow.
Analyses proved that the soil was very
rich in nitrogen, but none of the
micro-cocci was present. So small
amount of stable manure was applied
thinly to the surface of the ground,
and lol wonderful crop was the
result
The secret of il was that stable ma
nure is full Of these peculiar bacteria.
The latter went 10 work at once upon
the nitrogen lying idle in the hitherto
barren soil and transformed it into
available plant food. 1t has long been
known that stable manure contained
very little plant food, and so until now
its great efficacy as fertilizer has
been mystery. The day may yet
arrive when the farmer will apply a
solution of microbes instead of fer
tilizer to his soil Obviously, such a
method would only be tried in cases
! where the bacteria were found TO be
lacking.
without the help of microbes of this
species, plants will die in the richest
soil. With their assistance certain
kinds of plants are able to absorb and
utilize the nitrogen in the atmosphere.
! This is more particularly true of peas,
beans, clover, and other leguminous
plants. Farmers have long known that
there was no better way to enrich a
field than to plant il with clover, OIL
beans, or peas, The reason why is
simply that micro organisms of the
sort described infest these plants in
great numbers. Living in the rootlets,
they ply the trade of agricultural
chemists on small scale, but most
7 efficiently. Their colonies are marked
by little excrescences or pimples OF
| the roots. They are manufacturers Of
i nitric acid. They do not live in the
roots of cereals--hence the desirability
of rotating corn with clover.
, In furnishing nitrogen to the soil the
, farmer is supplying stuff for the mi
G crobes to work on. 1t has been stated
! already that nitrogen is the most valu
able of plant foods. 1t is also thu
most expensive costing from 16 to Il
: cents a pound. Sometimes it is ap
:, piled to the land in the shape of waste
from packing establishments and abat
toirs, scraps Of intestines, &C., which
are boiled to get out tho oil and final.
Q dried and ground. At the slaughte
. houses nothing is wasted. Every drol
, of blood is saved, to be dried ant
: ground. Dried blood is the best of al
materials for yielding nitrogen. l
+ may DO said in rough way that nitro
g gen makes the flesh Of plants, Will
l phosphoric acid makes the fat