Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-10-03
THE NEW FARMING.
Bacteria to BE Used to Fertilixe the
Soil Cheaply.

Bacteria to BE Used to Fertilixe the
Soil Cheaply.
E. p. Powell in the New York Independept
New discoveries tread close on each other
in the realm of microscopic organisms. 1t
is but a few years since the words microbe
and bacteria were made part Of our Ian
suage. 1t will not be long before farmers
will say my microbes as freely as they say
my pigs or my hens or my cows. For it is
no longer the injurious bacteria that are
studied. but the advantageous; and it is
known that no phase of plant life can go
on successfully without the intervention of
these microscopic aids. So 1t is to mi
crobes again that owe the chemical
changes that characterize the dairy. The
changes from fresh milk to butter are due
to the acti, n of useful bacteria. To steril-
ize milk will keep it fresh for weeks; to
expose il to bacteria will hasten it's
changes of form and quality. Milk is Pas
teurized or demicrobed by heating it up to
about $50 degrees Fahrenheit. This kills
the bacteria, after which they must be ex-
Guided by tight bottlng.
The air is simply an ever-full laboratory
of these minute chemists: they operate on
everything. ourselves included. Health, as
well as disease, is due to invisible neigh
bors. In our gardens We are learning that
cultivation consists not simply in stirring
and in feeding the soil, but in adding to
it or in removing from it those bacteria
long before every farmer will have what
he may call his bacteria stable, as much
as he has his horse stable. In fact
We are likely to lose our horses, but not
be able to get on at all without microbes
Such stable or room will hold not only
apparatus and substances for destroying
! fungoid attacks that destroy the right vital
processes of plants, but it will hold "cul-
| tures'' Of ereficial microbes. These can
be preserved and put in disable conditions,
| as yeast is prepared for the kitchen or
pure cultures of bacteria for the dairy
man.
The most recent discovery along this line
| is that of the famous Prof. Noble of Sax
| ony. He has made it his specially to pre-
| pare what we might call farmers yeasts.
| or bacteria, useful for plant growth, in
such fern that a farmer may SOW it in his
| field, or otherwise bring 1t into contact
| with the seed that he places in the ground.
| 1t Is only few years since it was found
that the leguminouS plants by some means
! could directly extract nitrogen from the air.
| On the roots of clover you will find small
| and very beautiful nodules. These, 1t was
suspected. had something to do with the
| nitrogen. but 1t was long while before 1t
| was found out that these nodues were the
| work of bacteria: that at first they are
parasitic growths, which later became pas
| sive, and that then the bacteria permeated
| the clover or the bean plant and give new
| faculty-that of nitrogen-fxation But it is
| not the same bacteria that aids the clover
| and the beans. 1t was clear that if this
|
just as we inoculate flour with yeast 1t
| would be of great value to agriculture A
| new field of experiment was opened. Here
| after 1t would be sought not only to de-
| stroy mischievous bacteria, but to multiply
| and transplant the useful 1t was found
| that where bacteria had worked in Coop
| Grafton with beans and clover the soil was
| richer in nitrogen rather than poorer. and
| that such soil could be sowed upon and
| worked into other soil poor in nitrogen to
| give it power to extract nitrogen from the
| air. This was to cultivate and SOW the
| nitrogen-feeding bacteria. But it took from
| 800 to 1000 pounds of such prepared soil
| to fertiliZe an acre. This was expensive
| and practically nullified the utility of the
| discovery.
Prof. Noble set about endeavoring to Sc
cure culture. that is, pure product OF
bacteria, or what you might call bac-
terrain yeast. which could be bottled, and
carried about, and stored, and planted in
| any soil where it might be wanted. The
| news now comes that he has succeeded
| and that what he calls "nitragin'' is now
| for sale. 1t can be had for very small
sum indeed-enough to nitrageniZe an acre
for less than 81. This pure culture is
| placed in contact with the seed before the
| latter is sown, or is itself sown and work
| ed into the soil to depth of three inches
| The culture, which we might just vel
| call yeast, is kept in bottles. and must MOI
be exposed to light or to heat above 50 de-
| grees Fahrenheit.