Imperial Valley press., 1913-05-01
Soil 1noculatlon

Have you ever stopped to consider
that there are "good" germs, as well as
"bad"? In the human body, for instance
there are two sets of germ life, one
striving with might and main to pois-
on the blood and destroy the tissue,
the other set battling, usually with sue
cess, to Illustrate the work OF the first.
Throughout our lives this struggle
goes on, day and night. with never a
truce or armistice. When a hostile
germ gets into our system, whether
| it be the deadly typhus or the microbe
million friendly little .bugs" to do bat
tie for our lives. The day when they
weaken and lose their fighting quail
ties marks our doom.
Within the last thirty years only,
scientists have discovered that there
are good germs in the land ready and
willing to do battle with the hostile
ones. Hellriegel OF Germany tOiled
year after year In his laboratory study
ing plants and plant life. At last he
startled the word with the announce
ment that he had discovered why le-
gumes. which is fancy name for pod
bearing plants, are good for the soil.
Their virtue lay in nothing else than
the fact that at their roots a fine
thriving family Of busy little germs was
helping the plants to grow by drawing
free nitrogen from the air. Thus spoke
Hellriegel and the agricultural world
rose up and scoffed at him and made
humorous comments on his name.
Hellriegel produced stalk Of alfalfa.
Even as Columbus one confounded his
enemies by standing an egg on end, so
Hellriegel turned the Taught on his crit
les by exhibiting this stalk OF alfalfa.
Just cast your doubling eyes on
these little nodules which grow down
near the roots" said the scientist to the
skeptics.
"NoW | will open one of these and
place ii under microscope. What do
Sou see? Germs, bacteria by the billion.
nicht wahr? Now let's all Taught to-
gether.'
Hellriegel didn't talk that way Of
course. He is scientific and hid his
triumph under a mask Of scientific
terms. But that was what he meant.
So the world came to admit that
though legumes have been planted for
centuries as a crop alternate. to renew
the land impoverished by successive
grain crops, the real henefactors were
not the legumes but the little germs
which worked with them. The coop
Grafton of the germs and the legumes Is
nerfect. according to Hellriegel. The
germs draw free nitrogen from the air
and feed it to the growing plant. Thus it
happens that the legumes do not have
10 take nitrogen from the ground but
from the air and actually have enough
to more than satisfy their own needs.
So they leave in the root what they
cannot use in the stem and leaves. He'll
riegel established this fact but he dld
| not attempt to develop it for the com
mon good. He was scientist and lived
! in a world Of theory and research.
| Having proved his proposition, he spent
no more time upon it but went on IN
| his life task of delving into the mys"
teries of the earth. But there We're
others to take up his work where he
| left off. Two practical bacteriologists
| Of worldwide fame, Noble and Hiltner,
spent several years experimenting and
studying to develop a system that
would make Hellriegel's discovery OF
practical value.
| At last they succeeded in devising
a system of soil inoculation that has
proved successful. They found that
each legume has certain germ which
is absolutely necessary for its success
| full growth. They also discovered that
some soils naturally possess these
germs while other soils are not SO
blessed. They conceived the idea, and
carried it through, Of taking cultures of
the legumes growing in naturally in
fected soil, and by developing the cul-
lures to transfer the germs to soil
which did not have them. Thereby they
have made it possible to grow alfalfa
anywhere instead of in restricted dis
tricts.
The Nobbe-H -Hiltner incubation has
been used in continental Europe for
several years but has only recently
been introduced in this country. Last
year in Germany over a million acres
were treated by this system with re
markable results. 1t is now being taken