Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1906-03-29
A SERIES OF INTER-
ESTING EXPERIMENTS

1le experiment relates TO one or the
most remarkable scientific discoveries
of the age. A few words of explana-
tion may prove timely. In the first
place it should be stated that there is
a curious relation between the soil
and the atmosphere. Four-ffths of the
air consists Of nitrogen, which is as
milk to plant life. Wheat,
rye, oats, etc, would perish from lack
of that very element of their compost
tion, but for the fact that the roots of
the grain draw nitrogen from the soil,
not in its pure state but in the form Of
soluble compounds called nitrates In
order, therefore, that the life of the
grain may be maintained nitrogen
must pass from the air to the soil, and
there be formed into nitrates. The
soil like growing wheat cannot absorb
pure nitrogen direct from the air. The
grain draws the nitrates from the
ground and when the harvested crop
IS carried away the soil is left sterile
and another crop can be raised upon it
only after it has been artifically ferti-
lized with manures to supply the miss
ing nitrates.
1t is no secret even with the unset
entlfic farmer that crop of clover
grown up on exhausted soil will ferti-
lie it and leave it richer. This prop
erty of growing upon an exhausted soil
and supply it with nitrate belongs to
particular group Of plants called leg
luminous plants, to which clover. peas
and beans belong.
The experiments of the department
of Agriculture in the incubation of
the ground was prompted by the
question: How does the clover man
age to take its supply of nitrogen, not
from the soil as wheat and other grain,
but from the air."
The answer is that bacteria are the
agents that give to clover and other
leguminous plants the power to take
nitrogen from the air. These bacteria
are found in the roots of leguminous
plants, where in response to the irriga-
tion that they cause little modules or
tubercles are formed which swarm
with the micro organism. Plants that
possess such bacteriafi- lied tubercles
or their roots are able to live in the
sterile soil, drawing all the nitrogen
they need and more, too, from the ex-
haustless store of the atmosphere.
The surplus they leave in the ground
and thus make the soil richer with
nitrates.
By means of cultivation there have
been produced type Of nitrogen fixing
bacteria far more powerful and vigor-
Gus than their nature bred ancestors
The bacteria are dried in bits of cot
ton, which can be sent through the
mails and the department does thus
sending them together with directions
to farmers who choose to apply for
them
The progressive farmer who desires
to avail himself of the wonderful dis
covery upon receiving the bacteria
sUuHs water UUIIuarIIIug sugar,
potassium phosphate and magnesia
sulphate and then inoculates seeds that
are about to be planted by dipping
them in the solution. Or else they in
oculate the soil itself by moistening
little earth with the solution and
then spreading it upon IA field as they
would spread manure.
The seeds of leguminous plants
should be chosen for the experiment.
The inOculation has no direct effect on
other plants. The treated seeds are
planted in sterile or worn out soil
where no grain, corn or the like will
grow. The clover springs up with ex-
traordinary luXuriance, ten or twenty
times as abundantly as it would have
grown from ordinary seeds. Owing to
the use of prepared bacteria a supply
OF nitrogen of such abundance is
drawn from the air that the surplus
which remains in the ground in the
form of nitrates is far greater than
that left by an ordinary clover crop
The soil having been fertilized the
next step is to SOW it with grain and
the results as reported are astonishing.
Wheat, potatoes, etc, grown on soil
fertilized by inoculated clover show
an increase of from 40 to 400 per cent.
above their ordinary yield
That the above is not i'll any way
overdrawn is we'll attested by the
splendid experiment conducted by Mrs.
Jones and her son on the Maus farm,
the detailed result of which has been
furnished the office of the News and
is as follows;
Plot No. /, an acre in extent, was
seeded to Canada peas and oats in
April The seed was treated with in
oculating material obtained from
Washington, d. c., and attained
down in the latter part of July. In a
short time a second growth came on,
which was again ploughed under when
a crop of oats came up. Crimson clov
er was sown also and was allowed to
remain on the ground as a mulch dur
ing the winter.
Plot No. 3, One-half an acre in ex-
tent, without any fertilizer of any
kind was seeded to SOFA beans in July
and the growth was exceedingly. rank,
and strong This was cut down and
mown into hay for experimental pur-
poses. The one-half of an acre pro-
duced u tons of feed which when
fed to cows caused an increase in milk
owing to the protein contained in the |
beans
A Pleasant Event.