The Hawaiian gazette., 1904-10-18

| Further examination snoWeu lnHt H.
and all nodules, consisted Of millions
Of bacteria and that these bacteria were
necessarily absorbing free nitrogen
from the air and converting 1t into
forms suitable for the plants diges-
ton.
For want OF better term. We Will
call the germs nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
Careful examination of the earth
showed that all soil where legumes
| grow contain these nitrogen-fiXing bac-
| terra In greater or less quantities. that
these organisms settle on the plants
| and form the colonies or tubercles on
! the roots. If the soil contains none
| of these organisms to settle on the
roots, the legumes will not grow at
all. Each tubercle acts as a feeder to
| the plant. The more numerous and
| larger tubercles, the more prosperous Is
| the plant. one might thus define a tu-
bercle as a little factory where millions
of tireless, inhnitesimal workers are
separating the nitrogen in the air and
converting it into plant-food. cele-
brated German, Professor Noble of
III -andt, realized that If he could put
into barren ground some of these or
sent the seeds with power to develop
tubercles of themselves, he could make
| legumes grow in the most hopeless soil.
/ After much labor he isolated the
nitrogen-fixing bacteria. He succeeded
| in breeding and colonizing the germs,
/ and then proceeded to put them on the
market. He advertised them widely as
! able to make legumes grow in the poor
J 1. .,,,,
made a great sensation, and farmers
| from all quarters of the globe wrote
him for sample bacteria. He sold diff
! ferent preparations for different crops,
| putting them up in bottles and calling
| them Nitragin. But the bacteria did
not work the miracles promised. Seeds
| inoculated with them failed to develop
tubercles. a few persons, to be sure,
obtained wonderful results, but the vast
majority of cases We're complete fail
ures. The bacteria burned themselves
out and disappeared without producing
| single nodule on the plants. They
lacked permanence. The Nitragin was
withdrawn from the market.
These two men had done a great SER
| vice to mankind: one had solved the
problem of why certain plants enriched
| instead of drained the soil-he had iso
lated the microscopic agents, the myri
ads of organisms which carry back to
mother earth what others had stolen;
| the other had shown that man could
| breed as many of these little helpers
as he desired, but he had not been able
to give them permanence, so that men
could get service from them.
At this point the inventive genius of
an American, DIR. George 7. Moore,
came to the rescue, and saved the dis
covery by giving it just the practical
value it had lacked DR.. Moore is in
charge of the Laboratory of Plant
Physiology of the Department of Agri-
culture, and widely known practical
| botanist. He had been watching DIR.
Nobbe's experiments and had come to
the conclusion that DR.. Noble did not
cultivate his nitrogen fixing bacteria
in the right way. The Germans meth
cd of rearing his germ colonies resem-
bled that of n rich father who gives his
son everything he asks for without
making the boy work for anything. AS
result, when the youth Is thrown on
his own resources, he proves unable to
earn his own living, and collapses.
Similarly, Dr. Noble, instead of de-
veloping the natural inclination and
ability of his bacteria to hunt out
nitrogen for themselves, dulled and de-
stroyed this ability by giving them
large quantities of nitrogen food, in
| what We might call e-digested form;
he so satiated them with nitrogen that
they lost their ability to hunt for 1t
themselves and, when turned out OF
the laboratory, We're helpless. They
| soon consumed the store of nitrogen
which they had received, but could not
by themselves get any more Their
| nitrogen fixing ability was gone, and
they persisted.
DIR. Moore decided not to dun the APP
petite Of the nitrogen-fiNing bacteria by
giving them all the nitrogen they want
ed; he thought he would whet their
! appetite, he would strengthen their nj
trogen-fNing power, by exercise, by
giving them In their food just enough
nitrogen to make them want more and
to make them strive 10 get more by
their own efforts. By following this
principle of feeding he developed a
permanent type OF bacteria IN his la
bOratory possessing five or ten times
| Uhit lhMrl 10 llA lltt nitrogen llhh
the original germs had possessed. The
bacteria had gained strength, yigor.
and self-reliance, and, when turned
out Of the laboratory prospored ike an
healthy bacteria, LeFumes inoculated
with the bacteria developed great tuh-
circles and grew 90 great slze even IN
thr poorest s1ll
The uiirHRru-hNing power of the bac-
tTiH irl "lurrd uy pr Moore Is so cx-
! uHo tImrg lhHi r.0ir sotkei ln ihe
solution H'I -UI1ur ana produce luk-
Hf.HHa plants .U uuIrif wul hlHh hlH
wu previously .HuUul iH rri heat
M .Hi.r Ia duE, uui $40 n.lHhs
llHlHH suu rH IA fFur uf bacteria
I. urH.u-nkIHF Inhrr ~ NhiHn NHH
\ mont iha n.sl rifp $3.50 ~ ab.
|H lHpIU Wr.Hr Hf HIHif.nuuHH
I' &. ItIrHrH 800. l.-..I M .HHH.
#T IHHi ltIUIHrI# sHHe
t.fuIH rhrH fHHH HnH H.iIH
W.IIH nII uI..n lH.I H.Ei
HH ~ laHF l'Ua d nem.3