Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1905-04-21
NEGOTIATING THE SOIL.
Interesting Facts About the Government
Experiments With Bacteria for Produe-
inn and Stnrlnn lin Nltroaen.

lnoculating bacteria. Letters at tne rate
OF a thousand a day are coming In ask
ing that the department send to farmers
this effective agent for the rehabilitation
OF worn-out soil, at least that which Is
deficient in nitrogen.
The department has been obliged to dis
appoint most OF these applicants. Secre-
tary Wilson has announced that while the ]
department will not cease to produce and
distribute these cultures, It will not UNDER
take to supply them to the soil-tillers OF |
the United States. The department has |
been carrying on an experiment, and is |
still experimenting. 1t has thus far dis
tributed the cultures to ascertain their |
value in practice 1t has now assumed |
the same attitude toward soil-inoculating |
bacteria that IL originally assumed to- !
ward the distribution Of garden and flower |
seeds. 1t could not adhere TO the expert
ment idea there, because seed distribution |
became a sort OF gift enterprise operat- |
ed for the benefit Of rural congressman. |
Later, they may be forwarding to the de-
partment requests from their constituents !
for an assorted collection Of benehcent |
bacteria.
In interesting the farmers In the bacteri-
logical experiment, the agricultural de-
partment requested reports from all per-
sons to whom the cultures were sent
Under that arrangement the department |
sent out - 400 packages of the inoculat-
ing material between November, 1907,
when the experiment with the cultures
as at present prepared first began, and
November, 1904, when incubation for the
crops already grown practically ceased.
These cultures we're distributed promis-
cuously to every state and territory and
tried under all sorts Of conditions Vir-
ginia leads the list OF states, having used
1897. New York used 754, Ohio 600,
Indiana 447, Maryland TIA. Massachusetts,
905. Minnesota IS and Wisconsin 100.
Reports from those who used these Gull
lures indicate results even better than
were anticipated. Direct benefit is report
ed in more than 70 per cent. Of the cases.
| This Is all the more remarkable in view
Of the haphazard character of the expert
ments and popular ignorance In the hand
| ling OF the cultures. In the reports OF
| failures there were cases where the cul-
| lures had been placed on Ice to preserve
them; where they had been boiled before
using; where the whole unopened package
had been placed in a hole in the ground.
| Neither boiling. refrigeration, nor bury
| ing in an undeveloped state. agrees with
| the constitutions OF these beneticent bac-
| terra. and farmers who wish to perpetrate
/ such outrages upon the helpless things
/ may as well leave them In the hands OF
Farmer Wilson whose young men know
| how to treat them. Others blunder almost
/ as badly by trying to fertilize crops of
! corn. wheat potatoes or onions, by means
| of the bacteria; these are of direct bene-
fit only to legumes, such as alfalfa, clover,
peas and beans. Some thrifty house
| wives have tried the bacteria upon house
plants, and gardeners have proved quite
/ as dense of comprehension. This Is all
| in the face of the most specific instruc-
| tions sent out by the department with
each package. 1t Is as necessary that
/ they be followed In preparing bacteria for
the soil as it is for Ethel to follow
mothers instruction as to the yeast, II she
wishes to learn breadmaking.
| The department does not claim that the
cultures are beneficial to the soil, or to
crops under all circumstances. Where
| the tiller of the soil Is raising clover.
alfalfa or other leguminous crop. the
| benefit IS seen directly. In cases where
the object is the enrichment OF the soil
| for other crops, the bacteria may be APP
piled through COW peas. In that way the
soil is enriched for any crop until again
| exhausted.
With the soil bacteria it is not case Of
ito him who hath shall be given" Bac-
THEOLOGICAL cultures are most generous to
poverty stricken soils which need them
most They do some good to better Soils
but in soils rich in nitrogen, they are Of
| no advantage. Even though the value OF
these cultures seems to have been dem
onstrated the department cannot under
take to handle them as a commercial VEN
tuTe. Up to March l. 1905. every applicant
for culture was answered favorably.
Since that time the applicant is asked to
look elsewhere for them unless the con-
ditions under which he wishes to use them
are such as to promise additional infor-
nation to the department regarding the
limitations of soil incubation.
Commercial concerns have undertaken
to supply the demand which cannot be
met by the agricultural department. A
company has established plant at West
chester, Pa. for the cultivation of soil-in-
oculating bacteria. Another plant is in
operation at Burlington, VT, and three
other companies are preparing to enter
the field. The cultures are being distrib-
uted through seedmen throughout the
country. and the business promises to de-
velop rapidly. Fortunately the agricul-
tural department has had the process
patented so that II cannot be monopolized
by private persons, All culture propa-
CATERS are free to use the process. and
, II any firm or company has the necessary
equipment, department experts Will in
struct its men in getting started. While
the department has not undertaken TO
, watch the concerns going into cultivation
of soil bacteria as a business. or to guar
antee their product II does keep a be-
nevolent eye upon them. II has bought
cultures in the open market, prepared by
these firms, and tested them. This in
, terest will be maintained. With the COM
mercialy handled cultures, 1t will be the
same with seeds, or indeed with
} any other product-by purchasing from
responsible firms good cultures can usual
ly be obtained. Putting out poor cul-
) lures will promptly put any concern out
of business for the imposition will be
made manifest the first year.
Dealers in fertilizers may have some
reason for alarm over the success Of the
meteorological process Of giving back
nitrogen to the soil. II bacteria will ferti-
lie the soil at a small cost why should
people buy phosphateS? The fertilizer
man will be Obliged to adjust himself TO
the new conditions. A Riverside. Cal,
firm Of fruit raisers has written the agri-
cultural department within the last few
days that it's bacteria cultures applied
through peas saved them $50, 900 last year
in fertilizer bills. There are other similar
cases Nitrogen, which is supplied by
bacteria, is the most costly OF fertilizing
elements.
The guano deposits which at one time
furnished so much nitrogen are now
negligible quantities. Saltpetre deposits,
limited in extent. are drawn upon at the
estimated rate of one billion tons a year.
Russia and Japan for a whole year have
been destroying bread producing elements
which might. II left to the SOIL furnish
food for millions OF human beings. Every
target practice OF our fleet limits the
power of the world to produce bread.
Sewers all over the world are teaching
nitrogen from the soil into the ocean
With this terrible waste OF nitrogen, 1t
was imperative that some new source OF