, 1906-06-12

The current number of the Ranch
mans Reminder has the following from
the pen of Prof. b. c. Buffum, the d.
rector of the agricultural college exper-
iment station:
Many exaggerated statements have
been made through the magazines and
agricultural papers about artificial inocu-
lation, and in view of the fact that so
much worthless material is being sold
for this purpose it is time the general
truth of the matter should be published.
Entirely ignoring the principal facts in
regard to the use of bacteria, some pa
pers speak of incubation as applicable
to all manner of crops and all kinds of
soils. Such statements would lead farm
ers to believe that one of their most
important problems has been solved and
that sufficient fertilizer for a farm can
be put up in a small package and sold
for a trifle. Many firms have put in
oculating material on the market in the
form of small packages Of cotton which
are charged with bacteria or small walls
of liquid containing the germs, and the
wide advertising which has been given
has led many farmers to purchase
worthless material. 1t is safe to say
that a very large per cent of those who
have tried commercial cultures have
been disappointed. Not that the prin-
lciple of incubation is wrong, but in its
present state of development commercial
application of germs to the soil or the
seed has so generally failed that no
farmer is justified in buying bacteria
cultures now on the market. The main
principles of soil incubation may be
stated as follows:
First-There is one great class of
plants commonly known as legumes,
which by the shape of the flower anyone
can recognize as belonging to the pea
family. Through "s~ymbiosis," or the
dependent relation of certain bacteria to
these plants which live in nodules or
tubercles on the roots, they are able to
take free nitrogen from the great ocean
of air and fix it in the soil as nitrates
or nitric acid, so it becomes available
plant food.
Second-There is no other class of
plants outside of the legumes with which
bacteria have the same relationship or
which can combine free atmospheric
nitrogen.
Third-It is important to the legumes
that the right form of bacteria are pres
ent to aid them in getting sufficient
amounts OF nitrogen so they will pro-
duce healthy, thrifty growth.
Fourth-The nitrogen which becomes
fixed in the soil through the action of
bacteria on the roots of legumes becomes
available for other crops which may be
planted in rotation.
Ffth-lf legumes are planted in soils
which do not contain the right strain of
bacteria, the living germs may be added
to the soil by some method to correct
the difficulty. Alfalfa must be supplied
with germs which have grown on alfalfa,
or on Bokhara clover-red clover with
those which have grown IN red clover,
and so on.
Sixth-These germs are minute living
plants which may be easily killed by UNI
suitable conditions, and which must find
the soil and plants in contact with which
they are placed suitable and congenial, il
order to grow and do their work.
Seventh-The first attempts to inocu'
late soils for legumes by sowing soil:
from fields where roo nodules are pres.
ent succeeded, but the earlier attempts to
~inoculate with pure cultures prepared in
the laboratory and sent out for use on
farms have failed because the bacteria
die before they are applied to the crop.
1t appears that in most parts of the
arid region where alfalfa has been
grown the nitrogen forming bacteria
have been sufficiently abundant to insure
healthy growth and great fertilizing
value to the land for the production of
other crops when the alfalfa is plowed.
With the wide culture of alfalfa and its
introduction in humid regions, or at high
attitudes, or far north, where the condi-
lions are different from those in its
native habitat, it is often found that
the right kind of ~nitrifying bacteria are
absent and the plants make small, sickly
growth unless the germs can be arti-
ficially introduced. The earlier attempts
to supply such bacteria were by applying
soil which was known to be ~inoculated to
the field, or by teaching the bacteria from
such soils and sprinkling over the seed
before planting. From one hundred
pounds to two hundred pounds of in
oculated soil per acre seem to be e~ffectual
in supplying new fields. This soil may
be taken from old alfalfa fields or from
white sweet (Bokhara) clover where the
nodules are abundant, but care should
be taken not to take soil infested with
weed seeds or where the alfalfa is in
Tested with leaf spot or other disease.
Mr.. w. H. Fairfield, who was formerly
in direct charge OF the experiment farm
at Laramie, writes of his experience at
Lethbridge, Alberta, as follows: 1--WE
carried on no real experiments from a
scientific standpoint in regard to inocula-