Show BACTERIA IN THE SOIL farmer owes Imme immense iise debt to littlee germs waterlogged water logged land becomes worthies for many purposes because of inability of organisms to develop owing to moisture by DH E 0 PETERSON PET EnSOM laboratory of bacteriology utah agricultural college I 1 the average farmer seldom realizes to the fullest extent the immense debt he be owes to the bacteria of the soil it if Is very often a surprise to him hi to lear hear that the continued fertility of the soil Is due almost wholly to those these minute organisms which he ha never sees but which are present in astounding numbers in every handful of soil on an hla his farm A soil eoll exceptionally fertile Is IB exceptionally rich in those these organisms gani sms A dead worn out soil sell Is one in which the organisms do not occur or it if they dp do occur refuse to grow successful farm practice con slots quite largely in supplying conditions in the soil which are favorable for the growth of beneficial organisms and detrimental to the growth ot of harmful organisms cultivation of tho the soil la Is a method to supply air to the organisms which demand air the application of a certain am amount aunt of moisture to the soil la Is a benefit in one way because of the fact that the bacteria of the soil demand a certain amount of mil moisture sture tor for their best beat growth A soil which becomes become s waterlogged water logged becomes worthless for many purposes because of the inability of the organisms to develop duo due to the overabundance of moisture and other secondary influences tho the presence of too much alkali la in a soil or of an acid soil is likewise harmful to the development of the organisms in other words the bacteria of tho the soil are an index to its fertility and every farmer whether he be knows it or not Is a bacteriologist in that he be Is continually trying to cultivate these unseen friends of his by ordinary farm methods recent advances in an soil ogy agy indicate that we aro are on the eve of of a now new era regarding our knowledge of soil eoll processes chemists have deny dem that certain western bolls are immensely fertile due to the presence in them of exceptionally large quantities of nitrogen compounds whether this nitrogen a enrichment la Is i larg largely ely the result of the acolon of bacteria baci Is a question now before the bacteriologists for solution tiba it Is known that in utah soils especially and similar western soils there is a germ called which thrives with remarkable vigor this germ has the remarkable power of drawing dl directly plant food from the air and storing it in the soil without the aid of any other plant the myA orles of are remarkable itsume it sometimes can be found in large numbers 1 in 16 the soil and sometimes 1 seems a bout about to io disappear exactly what this variation Is due to Is not known but undoubtedly machof much of the mystery surrounding soil fertility can be solved by finding out dut how bow these wonderful g germs or riis act ilat jt it to IB a part of every farmers information that such crops as alfalfa beans peas cl clover and vetch add remarkably markab mar kably i to the fertility of the soil to tuo observant h I 1 agriculturist knows elso dio that on the roots sf of these plants aio are mail email nodules or swellings which itshak been found are the breeding places of bacteria which feed the plant upon which they live directly from tha theair the ainz it if these theao bacteria ar are abben r the soil the ibe plant in some cases refuses to develop to its full vigor this action of the bac teja places in the farmers hands a weapon weapon for always keeping his soil ata high point of 0 fertility by ithe ahe proper rotation oi of crops in order order to A x f utilize these powerful germs to his ad yan vantage santago tago bacteriologists are ara attempting to discover the exact number of germs w which are important in soft eoll fertility maintenance and further more what ones are detrimental to the soil they hope to be able ultimately to diagnose the soil exactly as wo we now dlag ding the human bod by finding fending what germa are arc growing in it they have already devised methods of enriching tho the soil by growing in the laboratory lab orator tos les bottles full of beneficial organ and pouring these on the seed before it la Is sown any visitor to the bacteria laboratory of the agricultural college can see these germs growing in small flasks flacks each flask containing from three millions to four billions bacteria fortunately most moat intermountain inter mountain soils contain those these germs in abundance so it may never be necessary to use them from the laboratory on the soil however we may be able to develop germs germa in the laboratory of an exceptionally high power of soil enrichment rich ment even the most con conservative scientist realizes that the future of scientific agriculture Is very closely associated with the future of soil bacteriology teri along with probable methods of soil diagnosis may come methods of protection of the sell eoll by artificial inoculation with bacteria and methods of soil cure from diseases by bacterial inoculation those these statements read like romance but the development of bacteriology as aa a science within the last two or three decades has thrown open a field so immense that the boldest imagination la Is staggered |