The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-10-22
A Triumph Of Science.

: Lue sbOIy OF LIZ. GEORGE l.. moore s
discovery, termed inoculating the
SOIL" as told by Gilbert II. Grosvenor
in the October Century, is more won
derful than a fairy tale. The greatest
wonder is that it. is true, and that the
mystery DR.. Moore has unfolded can
be used with enormous practical results.
Franklin brought Lightning from the
clouds; Morse and Edison harnessed it
for human use. DR.. Moore has taught
how to draw nitrogen from the impal-
pab1e air, stimulating plant life and
enriching worn land. BY his discov-
cry, dead' soil has been made to
produce abundant crops. There have
,0een so many practical demonstrations
that doubt is impossible, and agricul-
ture has been reYolutionized. Any in
telligent man can avail himself of the
new discovery at trifing expense, and
the farmer who takes advantage of it
never needs to fear soil exhaustion
+ Most marvellous of all, DR.. Moore,
who is chief of the laboratory Of plant
physiology at Washington, has refused
to make any selfish use of his discov-
cry. He took out patent and decided
it. to the department of agriculture, in
trust for the American people. The
Importance of this act cannot be over
estimated, and may not fully be under
stood for years to come.
To state the substance of the dis
covery briefly, it may be explained
that nitrogen, in combination with other
elements, is an essential to plant life.
Soil that has been worn out by long
tiling lacks heterogeneous elements, and
these are supplied by fertilizers which
are either: expensive or laborious.
Free nitrogen is seven-tenths Of the
air we breathe. To capture it and
return quantities of it to the ground
is a problem which has engaged the
attention of many. tt has been we'll
known that certain leguminous plants,
like peas, beans, clover and alfalfa, OBJ
tain nitrogen from the air in some man
ner, and will grow with some success
on sandy and wornout soils. A Ger
man scientist found how this was done.
On the roots of these plants are Jumps
called nodules, which are covered with
bacteria. These particular bacteria
seize the nitrogen from the air and
transmit it to the lifeblood of the
plant, where it comes in chemical com
bination with other elements. Another
German learned to make cultures of
these bacteria.
It remained for the American scien-
fist to supply the link which gave these
facts practical value. DR.. Moore sue
ceeded in growing these bacteria, and in
growing them especially hungry, so that
when put into the soil they would work
far more actively than the "scrub -
bacteria that are already present in the
soil. AS a browning practical stroke, he
worked out simple method Of distrib-
of putting them to work in worn-out
land. Farmers who apply for them re-
ceive free supply, shipped in dry
state. 1t is only necessary to make
cheap solution of chemicals, drop into it
the cotton which carries the bacteria,
and propagate them for a few days. This
solution can be applied directly to the
!
ing. Either method brings results. Crops
of clover or alfalfa can be raised in this
way on WORKOUT uplands, several times
heavier than the same crop on fertile
bottom land near by. Two or three
such crops enrich the WORKOUT land, SO
that it can again be planted successfully
in corn, oats, cotton or any other crop
DR.. Moore IS discovery is of no benefit
to lands already rich. What it is de-
signed to do, and what it is doing, is tc
restore abandoned acres to cultivation
Minnesota has very little need of the
new bacteria at the present time. How
ever, there are large tracts Of cut-ove1
land in the northern part Of the state
where the soil is light and sandy. II
will now raise good clover, which means
that the bacteria native in the soil are
assisting the plant growth by drawing
nitrogen from the air. A trial of DR.
Moore's government method would
double or treble the clover crops, and
soon add greatly to the fertility of the
soil. Wisconsin has great Tracts OF
such land, stripped of timber and now
POoSc
which could soon be reclaimed by the
1 new, discovery. Wideawake farmers
with a little capital can now pick III
such land for song, and make in few
years good farms.
In the days when scientific farming
was scoffed at, DR.. Moore's discovery
would have made slow Roadway. Tha
time has gone by. The young men edu
;. Gated in new methods have proved thei
, financial value. The Moore discover
has been accepted and used by a. mum
Der Of practical farmers, and no doub
will come into general use, making
}. abandoned lands to blossom as the rose
: and greatly increasing the natural re
sources Of the world. ..-.-,
AS the women voters Of the western