Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1900-11-09
FARM AND GARDEN.
MATTERS OF INTEREST TO
ACRiCULTURISTS
some Up-to-Date Hints About Cultiva-
tion OF the Soil and Yields Thereof
Horticulture. yitioulturs and Floricul-
ture.
Experiment. With N,,rarir.

Within the last three years there has
appeared on the market, in New York,
commercial article called Nitragin
1t is manufactured in Germany and is
shipped from there to the agents that
handle 1t in this country. 1t is with
out doubt good thing in itself. but
Its use In this country has been at
tended with varying success. This
partial failure has been due to the fact
that Nitragin is perishable article
and can be depended on to keep only
few months, and then it must not be
exposed to high temperatures, else 1t
will heat and the fermentation that
follows will destroy every vestige Of
its value.
This Nitragin consists Of minute
germs OF clover root bacteria held in
liquid, doubtless with water for its
base. The incubation Of soil takes
place when the clover seed to be sown
is dipped in this liquid. A bottle Of
the liquid will soak enough seed to
SOW little over half an acre. AS we
have said. the results have not been
always good, as the liquid has fire.
quently spoiled before 1t reached the
man that was to use 1t. The reports
on it have therefore been often against
it, the inoculated seed doing no better
than the uninoculated seed. Wider
experiments, however, have shown
that this Nitragin is of great value
xxyha txuD nrocQnf.
namely, If the soil is sterile Of clover
bacteria germs, and II the Mira
gen is in proper condition when
1t is applied to the seed. Or
course. If the field in which the clover
Is to be sown has all the bacteria 1t
needs the addition Of more will be OF
no consequence. But in many sections
of the country the farmers are utterly
unable to grow clover. and it Is now
quite conclusivcly proven that the rea-
son is that the soil lacks entirely the
bacterial germ growths necessary.
Professor Duggar of the Alabama Ex-
pertinent Station asserts that there
has never been a plant that had dis
appointed the South more than GRIM
son clover. as 1t had widely and per-
sistently failed even where it should
have been successful. At last 1t was
discovered that the only reason for its
failure lay in the fact that the soil
on which the seed was sown had no
clover tubercle bacteria. Experiments
were undertaken at the station to dem
onstrate the fact.
Four lots of ground, each one-twen-
tieth of an acre in size. were selected.
On lots l and was sown the crimson
clover seed that had been soaked in
Nitragin. Lots and received un-
treated seed. On lots and the GRIM
son made as big a failure as it had
in most parts of the south, and much
of what little growth 1t did make, was
due to little washing Of the tubercle
bacteria from the other plots. Lots
Q and 4 produced only weak growth
Of crimson clover two to four inches
high and too weak and small to stand
cutting with scythe or mower. On
plots l and the growth was luxuri-
ant, the plants being from % to 26
inches high and well-branched. The
foliage was deep green and the blooms
were brilliant On the other plots the
plants were yellowish and the blooms
few, small and near the ground. When
the four plots were cut and weighed
the contrast was seen to be great. The
inoculated plots had borne at the rate
of 1909 pounds to the acre, and the
uninoculated plots at the rate of 1928
to the acre, or only about one-seventh
as much as the other. This was not
all. The experiment plats lay side by
side and in narrowing some of the in
oculated seed on p1ats / and was
dragged over onto the other plots.
Also there was some washing of the
seed from the inoculated to the unin-
oculated plots. So it happened on
some of the edges and in water fur
row of the . uninoculated plots the
clover grew rank and high and was
cut and weighed with the clover on the
plats on which 1t grew. It is therefore
probable that the plots that had the
treated seed produced ten times as
much as the others.
The whole subject is interesting as
pointing out the cause Of frequent fail
ures to get catches of clover. We
would also suggest that experiments at
the stations be carried out with more
care. One would naturally ask why
/ these plots were placed side by side,
when 1t Is well known that bacteria
of any kind are easily and rapidly car
ried for at least short distances. An
other criticism Is that the same har-
row was permitted to be used on the
plats, for 1t must certainly happen
that the harrow teeth would result to
some extent in making the totals Of
the experiments uncertain.
Horticultural Observations.