Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-04-13
CURES FOR WORN out SOIL
Great Demand on Department Of
Agriculture.
Tho Secretary. However. u Obliged Ia
Uisarpoiut Nost Applicauts--l;N.
rcr,s Are Making Experiments
with SOii-Inocuinting Buc.
tcrlu.

Tho Department, of agriculture hero is
d"lugcd with applications for cultures of
soil.inoculating bacteria. Letters at tho
ratio of thousand day are coming in
asking that tho department sond to the
farmers this effective agent for the re-
hahiiitation OF vurn-Out soil. at least that
which j. doNcicnt in nitrogen. says the
Washington correspondent of the Boston
Transcript.
che department has boon Obliged To dis
appoint most of these applicants Sccrc-
'arN Wilson has announced that Will"
tho department Will not cease t" pr"duc"
and distribute these cultures. it VIII not
undertake to supply them to the sol-till-
ers OF thc tinted States. Tho depart
mon; has been carving on an experiment,
and il st,li experimenting. 1t has thus
FIR distributed the cultures to ascertain
their value in practice. 1t has NOW as
.i.incd Ike same atjiii.d" toward So!-in
nouiating harterla that il originally as
sumod toward tho distribution of gar
don AMI flower seeds. 1t could not al
here to tho cNrerimon, idea there. because
s'od distribution b"ca,ue sort of gitt
ent"rpris. operated Cor The benefit Of
rural congressman. Later, they may he
Forwarding to the department requests
collection OF he1ictiti,ut hict,ria
tn interesting tn" farmers in the bac-
THEOLOGICAL experiment. In" agricultural
department reque~t"d reports from all
persons /" whom cultures wer" sent. Tn
de- tfat arranEein"ui. the department
cont out =: f"i packages at Iuocuiating
. nlatornl between Nov'mbcr. 1902, whom
tho experiment with the cultures as at
resent prepared first began. and NoNem-
h"r. 1901. whom inoculation for the corps
already grown practically ceased These
cultures wora distributed promiscuously
1" every state and Icriiory and tried
urdor all sorts of cond tious. Virginia
lead. the list of States having used /, i.;,.
Sew York used ID. ohio. 800, Indiana A.
Maryland. III Massachusetts 800. Aln-
uo-"t;. - aud Wisconsin $50.
Reports from those who lI.cd thoso cut
lures Indicate results even better than
Mcr" anticipated, Direct bcarit is rc-
ported IN more than - per cent of tn"
,us.~. Thi, j. all Che moro ronlarkahlc
ia view of the haphazard character of tn"
experiments and popular ignorance IN the
handling OF the cultures. In til" reports
=, failures there were cases where the
cultures had been placed ON ice To pro
serve tl.n. whore they had been boiled
package had been placed IN hole III
III" ground Neither boiling. refrigeration,
r,r hurVirr in an und"vclopcd state.
agrees with Tn" constitution of these ben
oG-ioni bacteria. and farmers who wish
to rcrpetuato such outrasos upon the
Nrlrlos- things may rs wen l'aV"
ih"m IN the hands, Of Farmer Wilson
whose young men J|kn"w how TO treat
them. Others hlundcr almost a. badly
h. trying 10 fortilizo crops of corn wheat.
potatoes Or onions, 10y means Of the bac-
icria: these are of direct benefit only To
l'.unc<. such As alfalfa, clover. peas and
l"dns some thrifty housewives haIe
tried the bacteria upon hoNs" plants. aud
-al,l"ncrs have proved quite as dcnSe of
conn "chcuson. This is All in The face
of III. most specific Instructions sent out
l,v tie department with each package.
# is rs u"c.ssarN that they b" followed
tu preparing bacteria for the soil a. it is
Tor Fthc to follow mothers Instructions
as to th" yoasi. if she wishes to learn
matchmaking.
Tuc department doc not claim tha, tho
cultures arc beneficial to the soil, or to
crops. under AN circumstances. Where
tn" till'r Of TN" soil is raising clover.
alfalfa, ar Other l"simnous crop the
h,ucGt * seen directly. In caseS where
ir uhi,rt * thu enrichment ~ tn" soil
fn,. other crous The bacteria may he, an
,iicd through cow noas In that way the
soil +. enriched for any crnp untu again
,Nh,u.tcd
with tho soil bnctcri:, il is not a case of
ct. him, who hath shall il h, riv,u"
l,,, t,rinlnuic;l cultures arr. most r,ucr.
ol,s t" novcriv-s,rickcn soils which need
II "'N most. They do some good to bet
ter snfl. l,ut i'm soil. rich in nitrogen
-lo, arc nf no ndyautarr Even thrrch
+lc val,to of those cultures srall. tn l4V.
,.rn demonstrated tho dopartin,nt can
,,t lud.rt,l,o tn handle tnor, .te :, tnin-
n,or,inI ,cut,irc In 10 Narch lad,
,vor, onniicant for "A culture was am
.,,e,.d favorablv. since that limo the
:,unlb,nlt is asked to look elsewhere fo,,
th.,u unless the conditions under which