The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1903-09-04
AGRICULTURAL.
ALFALFA BACTERIA.
Lack of Them the Cause Of Din
Guilty In Growing Alfalfa.

A Lack of Them the Cause of DIM
Guilty In Growing Alfalfa.
In some parts of the country alfalfa
without any apparent reason fails to
make proper growth or a permanent
stand. The Kansas Farmer has sug-
gested that lack of the peculiar bacte-
ria to produce the root tubercles which
appropriate atmospheric nitrogen to
the use of the plant may in some cases
ct least account for the failure. Recent
experiments conducted by r. W. Clo-
thier, professor of agriculture and chem
istry, Southeast Missouri State Normal.
tend TO confirm this view. Speaking of
these experiments. Professor -Clothier,
who Is a formerly of Kansas" man,
says:
/ have long believed that the chief
reason why the farmers of the Missis-
sippi valley have had difficulty I'm grow
ing alfalfa Is lack of bacteria In their
soil. i have been experimenting some
what along this line here on the Nor
NAL grounds. and, while my work Is not
yet completed, II might be well for me
TO present TO you now for publication
the results already obtained.
The soil upon which / am working
is loess clay on top OF one Of the Mis-
sissippi river bluffs. A few years ago
the top of this hill was all scraped of,
the dirt being used TO make terraces In
other parts OF the campus. II / can
succeed In growing alfalfa upon such a
soil am confident that II can be grown
upon any other farm In southeast Mis-
souri,.
In October. 1901. I placed thirteen
loads of manure upon part OF this hill,
the plat measuring 90 by l35 feet. The
manure was plowed under and the
ground left idle till May /. 1902 I then
laid or four small plats ten feet square
adjoining each other. All OF them were
sown to alfalfa. The two farther south
Were untreated. One OF those on the
north side was treated with fifteen
pounds of unslacked lime. and the other
was untreated. with the exception that
two pounds OF dirt from an old alfalfa
field containing tubercles was spread
upon strip two feet wide on the west
side
Results Of Experiments.
The alfalfa came up nicely upon all
the plats. In about six weeks the alfal-
IA on the untreated soil began to turn
yellow and practically quit growing.
On the lined plat II continued to grow.
but did not have bright green color.
On the inoculated strip OF soil the alfal-
ia had a rich. dark green color. grew
nicely. and about the middle Of the
summer the green strip began to grow
wider. Examination Of the roots showed
them to be bountifully supplied with
nodules. At the end OF the growing sea-
son last year the green strip had grown
TO be five or six feet wide. The alfalfa
on the lined part was still good stand,
though having a pale green color. while
the alfalfa on the two plats untreated
had gradually died out till there was
practically none left. and what little
could be seen was entirely killed by the
winter.
Last spring the alfalfa on the inocu-
lated plat started out with a dark
green color. and this color showed a
decided tendency TO spread rapidly,
soon covering the remainder of the
plat and beginning to encroach upon
the lined plat. The alfalfa on the
lined plat stif1 retained its pale green
color, grew slowly and showed a tend
ency to die out. On May IS the alfal-
IA on the inoculated soil was eighteen
inches high. while that on the lined
plat. not yet reached by the bacteria.
was not over eight inches high. In
very short time the bacteria had
spread from strip two feet wide over
distance OF twenty feet and had
covered all the lined plat except about
three feet on one corner. This certain
ly demonstrates the fact that alfalfa
can be successfully grown by inoculat-
ing the fields that do not contain bac-
terra with a small quantity Of soil from
a field known to have them.-Kansas
Farmer.