Crossville chronicle. [volume] (Crossville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1916-02-09
.PURE CULTURES FOR
.LEGUMES BY STATE
Cost Only SI.00 an Acre and the Best
to Be Had, But Order Must Be
Sent Some Weeks Ahead
to Insure Delivery

j
to Insure Delivery.
: There is little doubt that there /.
hardly farmer in Tennessee who at
: tempts to grow alfalfa. clover, peas OF
: any of the leguminous crops who has
. not at some time found that his efforts
were not bringing success, and that his
crops were either complete failure,
or far below what they should have
been. There are several common
causes to which these failures could be
attributed-such as poor seed, bad
season, bad mechanical condition of
the soil, acldlty, or lack of lime. etc.
But we find farmers who Will tell US
that none OF these Objectionable condi-
tlons existed, and still their legume
crop was failure.
Scientific experiments and tests car
rled on IN various parts Of the coun-
try. have proven beyond doubt. that
1t is possible for all OF the usual condl-
tons to be Just Right, and yet the
legume crop failure. unless there is
present certain micro organisms, or
soil bacteria which are peculiar to the
different legumes.
Plot and pot experiments on the
various legumes have been carried
out, in which all conditions were iden-
tical, except that one was inoculateu
and the other not inocuIated. In the
inoculated plots and puts, the growth
|, was luxuriant, w..av m sAe -qnlnocua
lated plots and pots, 1t amounted to al
most nothing.
INOCULATION NECESSARY
Experiments like the above, and ac-
taul field tests by farmers all over the
country, have established beyond ques-
ton. the fact that INOCULATION IS
ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO
THE SUCCESSFUL GROWTH OF
LEGUMES.
TWO WAYS OF lNOCULATING
There are two common methods of
incubation; one is by the use of soil
from fields known to be inoculated with
the desired bacteria, the other Is by
treatment of the Pure Culture soIu-
tlons.
On account of several detrimental
factors, the first method is not to be gen.
orally recommended. This method has
tendency to spread Objectionable |
weed seeds, 1t Is disagreeble to handle,
and hard to get uniform distribution OF
the bacteria, and IN addition it is likely
to prove rather expensive.
The incubation OF the seed with
pure cultures eliminates all of the
above objections, and is to be recon-
provided the cultures used are
pure.
The demand tor lnoculating materl-
ais has grown to such dlmensloi4s that
for their manufacture have
sprung up all over the country, and
are putting out products of more or
less reliability, under various names,
such as Farm-o-germ, "Nitragin,"
etc. Some of these products are of
lndoubted value, but there are also
,ome objections to their use. :
The first is their high price-$2. 90
per acre usually being charged. Second
The farmer has no way OF distinguish
ng the good from the bad. and the I
State has no inspection laws covering
,uch materials, therefore cannot help !
he farmer in that way. ;
Third, these bacteria are active for
,nly limited time after they are iso- {
ated and prepared for use, and if part
# a shipment should not be sold this
eason and held over until the next, {
he chances are that what was origin s
lily reliable preparation, Will be ab- l
olutely worthless, containing only :
lead bacteria. Neither can the state i
'roteet the farmer against this kind of /
IMPOSITION.
STATE WILL FURNISH h
The Department of Agrlculture has =
AIKEN steps toward the establishment
f a laboratory for the preparation and '
of Pure Cultures for Le- I