The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-10-15
MIGHT RAISE GIGANTIC
SUGAR CANE IN HAWAII
The New Soil Vaccination Is Producing Great
Crops of Other Things--Bacteria Which
lnvigorates Seeds Without Fertilization.

Further examination showed that 1t,
and all nodules. consisted of millions
of bacteria and that these bacteria We're
necessarily absorbing free nitrogen
from the air and converting it into
forms suitable for the plants diges-
ton.
For want of a 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 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 Iegumes will not grow at
all. Each tubercle acts as feeder to
the plant. The more numerous and
larger tubercles, the more prosperous is
the plant. One might thus define tu-
bercle as a little factory where millions
of tireless, infinitesimal workers are
separating the nitrogen in the air and
converting it into plant-food. A cele-
brated German, Professor Noble of
W "andt, realized that if he could put
into barren ground some of these or
ganisms, or if he could artifcially pre-
sent the seeds with power to develop
tubercIes of themselves, he could make
legumes grow in the most hopeless soil.
After much labor he isolated the
nitrogen-ffXing 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
est soil Naturally the announcement
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. few persons, to be sure,
obtained wonderful results, but the vast
majority of cases were complete fail
ures. The bacteria burned themselves
out and disappeared without producing
a 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withdrawn from the market.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, DR.. George T. 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 a widely known practical
hotanist. He had been watching DR..
Nobbe's experiments and had come to
the conclusion that DR.. Noble did not
cultivate his nitrogen-fxing bacteria
in the right way. The Germans meth
cd of rearing his germ colonies resem-
bled that of a rich father who gives his
son everything he asks for without
ma kira the boy work for anything. AS
a 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
stroyed this ability by giving them
large quantities of nitrogen food, in
what we might call pre-digested form;
he so satiated them with nitrogen that
they lost their ability to hunt for it
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-ffxing ability was gone, and
they perished.
DR.. Moore decided not to dull the APP
petite of the nitrogen fixing bacteria by
giving them all the nitrogen they want
ed; he thought he would whet their
appetite, he would strengthen their nj
power, by exercise, by
giving them in their food just enough
nitrogen to make them want more and
to make them strive to get more by
their own efforts. BY following this
of feeding he developed a
permanent type of bacteria in his la
Ooratory, possessing five or ten times
more power to fix free nitrogen than
he original germs had possessed. The
bacteria had gained strength, vigor.
md self-reliance, and, when turned
,ut of the Ia borat tory. proSpered like all