Rocky Ford enterprise., 1904-10-07
THE FARM AND RANGE
vaeeinasinp the Soil.

That the soil can be vaccinated to
cure It's barrenness with the same
result that attends the vaccination OF
the human body to cure certain Ills.
would appear preposterous TO the cas-
uai mind. but this 10 exactly what II
done, according to the intensely inter
estins article entitled ''inoculAting
the Ground" by Gilbert II. Grosvenor.
in the October number OF the Century
magazine. In the most simple Ian
gua.e he described how. by . process
OF Inocuiation the nitrogen. so neces-
sary 10 fruitful land. is put back into
the soil which Is robbed of II by wheat
and many OF the other grain crops and
rendered unproductiye by reason OF the
robbery.
Even a skep,ie. reading Mr.. Grosve-
nor's article. must be- impressed by II
and at the end Of the story see regions
Of vast tracts OF now barren farm lands
In the eastern part Of this country re-
claimed and fruitful. Probably tho
most pleasing thing about the whsle
matter IL that the nitrogen germs 10
necessary to the soils productivcness.
are furnished free by the agricultural
department Of this government. tho let.
tors patent having been presented to
tho department by Prof. George 7.
Moore. In charge Of the laboratory OF
plant physiology Of the department,
who discovered how to practically util.
ixe nitrogen germs.
But DR., Moore was not the real dis.
covcrcr OF the germs. II had been
known for many years that the mir We
breathe contained all OF the nitrogen
so necessary To soil and Il was known
that certain plants. like the clovcrs.
bean and pea did not impovcrinh tho
soil N some Of the grains did. II re.
maincd for Professor Noble. q Ger.
man scientist. to discover. rs Mr.. Gros.
,enor declares. that the bean espe.
ciaiiy takes Its nitrogen from the air
and that Il absorbs more than Il needs
and actually cnrichcs the soil with the
surplus supply.
Then he found that all Of these
plants had bulbs or round tnbcS or
noduics attached to the roots. n "
an insect had bitten them. He dis.
scctcd one OF these bulbs and found
Il fiiicd with bacteria that worked In.
ccssantiy. absorbing nitrogen from the
air to feed to the plant.
Then the professor successfully culti-
waited these bacteria. and German
company was actually formed To SUP
ply them to the farmers In bottled form.
They did not live because they had
been too well fed by the professor.
says Mr.. Grcsvenor. and hence were
not used to working for themselves.
/ In the soil they died. The company
stopped manufacturing.
Professor Moore cultivated n sclf-rc-
liant disposition In his nitrogen bacie-
ria. He did not overfccd them. and
they began to seek their nitrogen food
themselves. Having obtained pcrmn-
ncnt bacteria. he found bit Of cotton
would soak up millions of them. Then
he dried II and in this form II Is sent
to the farmer. who Is directed to soak
the cotton In n solution OF wnfer.
granuiated sugar. potassium phosphate.
magnesium sulphate and ammonia
phosphate. The solution Is thcn mixed
with Ave times the quantity OF earth
and scattered over a barren field. vac
/ cinnting It with nitrogen germs that
multiply and cause bountiful crops.
One small package. II is said. will incc-
ulatc from one to four acres.