Show inoculating ALFALFA SEED sole cole duty of bacteria la Is in Ga gathering catherin therin nitrogen from air and turning over to plants cy by JOHN F NICHOLSON NIC nOLSON idaho ex pediment perl Peri ment Bt 4 atlon tation the correspondence recently received by tho the idaho experiment station would indicate that some farmers have a wrong idea as to the use of inoculation material for alfalfa and other legumes these theae bacteria applied to the seed beed have no power tc assist in the germination of the seed in increasing the stand or in correcting detrimental influences that may be ba operating in the tha soil their sole eole duty Is in gathering nitrogen from the air and turning it over to the plants on whose roots they grow it if the soil Is deficient in nitrogenous fertilizers therefore they will enable tile the legume to make a good growth and yield it if the soli soil on the other hand Is sour or contains alkali then these there bacteria will bo be of little use again if poor seed Is used or too much or too little seed la Is sown tile the bacteria will not remedy those these troubles b I 1 e B these bacteria need not be used it the legumes already growing in any particular soil boll show the nodules on the roots this can be determined by careful examination of the roots for the nodules on them new ground Is frequently deficient in these bacteria and they should be applied artificially fici ally the idaho experiment station will furnish any farmer of idaho the proper bac bacteria teia at five cents per aero acre which represents about the tha cost of production |