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Show BACTERIA IN THE SOIL Farmer Owes Immense Debt lo Little Germs. Water-Logged Land Bt)come Worth. I' for Many Purpoaea Becaute of Inability of Organlama to D-valop D-valop Owing to Molatur. (Br Ml n o fl:TKIIH i. t.nl,.itil"ry of la. trl,,,,ary, t'tali Aarl, , iltut.il i'iiI- 1 he aviTnace fnrmer seldom renllrea to the fulleat extent the Imuienae debt he owea tn tho baa terla of Hie anil It la very often a aurprlae to him to hear that the continued fertility of tho "II la duo aim,, it wholly to theae minute nrgnnlaina which he never fooa. hut which are pioaotil In aatound-In aatound-In numhora In -very hnndfiil of ami on hla fnrin. A aull exceptionally fertile fer-tile la exceptionally rich In tiara or-gnnlama. or-gnnlama. A dead, worn ami noil la oho In which the nrannlama do not occur, or If they alo occur, refuae to Krow. Kucaeaaftil farm prnctli-e con-alata con-alata quite Inmcly tn aupplyln rondl-tlona rondl-tlona In the aoll which are favorable fnr the growth of hciicriiinl nrxnnlatua and deirlmetitnl to the growth of I harmful orKnnlauia. j C'atltl viiflnri of Iho anil la n method to aupply air to the orizianlatna which j demand nlr. The application of a cor 1 tain amount of moisture to thn aoll la a bona'llt In nno way bocniiKo nf the rmi Hint Iho hiu-teiln of the aoll demand de-mand a certnln amount of mnliiiuro for tholr beat growth. A aoll which be cornea waterlogged become worth-lean worth-lean for mnny purpoaea brrnuao of the Innblllty of tho nrgnniaiua to develop dun to the overnbundanre of niolat urn and other aecoiidrary lnltuencea. 1'ho preaenro of loo murh nlknll In a , anil or of nn arid anil la llkowiae harm- 1 fail to tho development of th organ-'aim. organ-'aim. lu other wairda, tho bmiorlii of tho aoll am an Index to Ita fertility, and every farmer, whether ho known It or not, la a bartorlnlnglat. In Hint ho la continually trying to riiltlvnlo these uuai'oii frlonda of hla by ordinary fnrin Diet Inula. Ita'cent ndvnncea In aoll bactorlail-ogy bactorlail-ogy ludlrut Hint wo tare nn Hi eve nf a new era roKiirdln our knuwivilgn nf aoll proreaaea. t'hcinlata hnve dona nnatrnted Hint certain weatern Bulla ar Immensely fertile duo to Iho pre. ence In ihctn of exceptionally laargo nunnlltlea of nltroga'n cnnipotinda. Whether thla nitrogen enrichment la largely the reault of the action of baa terlta la a ameatlon nowjefort. tb baoterlnloglat for auluiion, it la known that In t'lnh aoll a eapcrlally and almllar weatern aolla t o re la a germ culled Axolobacter wblch thrives with remarkable vigor. Thfa germ haa the leninrkahl power of drawing, directly, di-rectly, plant fond from the air and storing It In the anil without tn aid of any other plnnt. Tho mysteries of AsotobuclaT are rcmarknble. It some-tlmea some-tlmea ran be found lu large numbera In the anil, and aomellmoa aeema about to dlanppcnr. Kxnrtly what thla vnrlullon la due to la not known, but undoubtedly much of the mystery aur-rounding aur-rounding aoll fertility rnn be aoived by finding out how thoao wonderful g'irma act. It la a part of every farnier'a Information In-formation that audi crops 11s alfalfa, henna, peas, clover nnd vottii add rav mnrknhly to tho fertility of Iho aoll Th iibacrvunt nKrlculliirlat knuws alao that on tha route of thoao plants nre email nodulea or awellluga which It hna boon found nro thn brooding plana of Imclorla which feed the plant, upon which they live, directly di-rectly from the air. If those bacteria ure nlnu'iit from Ihe aoll that plant in some rimes refuaea to develop to lis full vigor. Thla anion of tho bar-tarlit bar-tarlit plarea In tho furmor'a hands a wraiHin for always keeping hla aoll al a high point of firlllliy by thai proiHvr rotitilon of crops lu order to utilize these powerful genua lo bis a l-vnningo. l-vnningo. Ilaiiorlologlnta are allomptlng to discover the exact number of genua which are linporlum lu soil fertility maintenance, nnd further mure what ones are detrimental to iho soil. They hope to be able, ultlmulely, to dliag-noae dliag-noae th aoll exactly na we now diagnose diag-nose the human toily, by Moiling what germs ar growing In It. They have already al-ready devised methods of enriching j th aoll by growing In Ihe laboratories laborator-ies hottlra full of benotliial organ-Isms, organ-Isms, and pouring thoao on the seed before It la sown. Any visitor to the bacteria laboratory of tho agricultural college run aee thoao gonna growing In mail I Masks, each tlaak rontnlnliig from three tulllluna to lour billions bacteria. 1 Fortunately most Intermountiiln Bulla coutuln theae germs In Hhiiud-unco, Hhiiud-unco, ao It may never bo neroanury tn ua them from the laboriitiiry on tho aoll. However, wo may he utile to develop de-velop genua In Ihe laborulory of nn exceptionally high power of soil enrichment. en-richment. Kven the ituuat conservative conserva-tive scientist realties that tho future of siioutlllc agriculture In very closely asfotinied with Ihe future uf soil bacteriology. bac-teriology. Along with probable methods of soil diagnosis may come methods of pro. tectum of tho soil by anlllclul Inoculation Inocu-lation with butierla and methods of aoll cure from disomies hy bacterial Inoculation. These etiitcmeuis reud like romance, but the development of bacteriology aa a science within the last two or three dorados haa thrown I open a field so Immense that the bold-j bold-j t Imeglnallun la staggered. |