The bee., 1915-07-09
THE FARMER DOES NOT KNOW
HIS WEALTH.

An essential element Of plant growth
is nitrogen. Soil deficient In nitrogen
cannot be productive. and is not profit
able to cultivate. Nitrogen is often
applied directly TO exhausted soils, for
which purpose II usually costs from
Is to is cents per pound. But every
farmer has an abundance OF this ele-
ment OF fertility. A little more than
three-fourths ca per cent? of the air
is nitrogen, and II is estimated that
there is $4,000 tons of nitrogen resting
upon and floating over every acre Of,
land. This at the lowest price quoted
is worth S1O,5O0.OO. A commercially
commodity worth ten and a half mil.
lion dollars, resting upon every acre
of the farmers farm.
The reader will doubtless remember
those horrible stories Of shipwrecked
mariners who, for days sailing on
broken RATS, with the waves of the
ocean lashing over and about them,
died of thirst, because they could not
drink salt water; so we see the plant
sick and yellow, while bathed in nitro
gen, because the nitrogen with which
they are surrounded is not available
But how can this wealth be made
available? Il can't be all at once, yet
Il is there all the time, for though the
air is constantly shifting. when one
portion moves away another portion
with the same amount Of nitrogen
takes its place. But mans ingenuity
has not yet devised means OF extract
ing the nitrogen from the air In pay
ing quantities. But nature has. A
large family of plants known as le-
gumes grow small nodules on their
roots. and in these nodules live and
move and have their being" millions
Of bacteria. so small that II takes
about $4,000 OF them touching each
other TO form a procession an inch
long. These bacteria take the nitro.
gen from the air and use Il In some
way, as food or otherwise, and then
deliver II to the plants on whose roots
their home nodules form. These plants
require a great deal OF nitrogen, but
under favorable conditions the bac-
teria furnish them enough and TO
spare. the surplus being absorbed by
the soil and held there for the use OF
other plants. II the soil is too wet
the bacteria cannot do their work well
and the legumes cannot grow. II the
soil is hard the air cannot penetrate
IL, and the bacteria perish for lack OF
nitrogen. -
II you we're to ask the writer what
he considered to be the greatest dis
covery OF modern times by agriculture
he would not say the Babcock test,
the corn harvester, the silo and many
other epoch-making inventions OF mod.
ern times that have brought sunshine
and hope into the farmers life. He
would call your attention to the won
derful work Of those pod-bearing plants
known as legumes, that take the nitro
gen from the air and make II available
for plant food.
We need scarcely tell the farmers
the names Of these plants. Alfalfa
perhaps heads the list; then comes
the clovers, red, white, sweet and all
others, Next peas, beans and so forth.
Where these plants grow farmers need
not lack for nitrogen, and they will
grow almost anywhere II the soil Is
made suitable. First, II must be loose.
80 that air will reach the bacteria In
The nodules on the roots. Second. Il
must be dry enough that the bacteria
may do their work we'll; II not so.
drainage is necessary. Third, It must
lot be acid. II so, a treatment Of lime