Show inoculation OF PLANTS an n In innovation in artificial I 1 method VIeth ol 01 assisting nature to it seems surprising enough to learn that dans plants lants which bear pods such as peas and beans depend largely for their healthy growth upon bacteria these little vegetable organisms attach themselves to the rootlets rootless root lets upon which they feed forming about each of their colonies a woody tubercle just as the species that engenders consumption sum eption in human beings and other an animals I 1 form tubercles tub ercles in the lungs thus the roots on which such such germs find a lodgment arc are found to bo be more or less covered with little warty excrescences until lately it had never been imagined that the tubercles tub ercles were of use to the plant or that the latter relied in any degree for its welfare upon the parasites which form them nevertheless such has been shown to be the fact plants are composed largely of nitrogen and the bacteria described absorb this element from the air indeed this Is the only way in which pod bearing vegetables can procure free nitrogen front from the atmosphere they depend for this upon their microscopic friends which get hold of the precious material and store it away in the root tubercles tub ercles from which it Is transferred to the branches and leaves taking part in building them and thus assisting development these matters have been determined by very interesting experiments it has been found that peas or beans grown in led sand which of 0 course contains no bacteria developed no tubercles tub ercles on their roots and slowly starved Ilo however wever by inoculating 9 the plant with the proper germs they we were re rendered tendered healthy and productive in oth other words they could not get along without without nitrogen of which there was none in the soil 11 but the bacteria were able to procure orom from the air enough for them to live upon it was simply a question of supplying them with small her servants to do the work a there are several ways of accomplishing this ahls one method followed for the sake 0 of f scientific accuracy was to take a tubercle from a bean rootlet cut it open extract from it a small particle of its substance and propagate from a bit of this in gel gelatini gelat atins lne a considerable quantity of the bacteria desired then some of them were squirted through a little glass pipe among the roots of the plant with which trial was being made the same results were obtained however by simply watering th the e soil slightly with a small amount of dl dissolved 8 earth taken from about a healthy bean vine be understood that each kind of pod bearing plant haa has its own species of bacteria upon which it depends tor for a supply of free nitrogen from the air T the he tubercle germs of peas do not produce tubercles tub ercles in beans and therefore are of no use to them the various forms of tubercle making bacteria are not all found in every soil in a field where beans have been cultivated tor for along a long time there may bo be no tubercle germs tor for peas at all or vice versa According lythe farmer would be likely to find a change from one crop to the other a dismal failure unless he lie knew enough to procure some earth from th the a proper place mix it with water and thus thu microbe seed the land for the new vegetable this Is the way in which the farmer of the future will inoculate his land landeor for whatever sort of pod bearing crop he lie may desire to raise raim to demonstrate how this may be do done with success narrow strips have been planted in experimental fleida fields with beans and peas some of the strips PS were treated in the manner mauner described while others wens were let alone the results were astonishing all plants which had been microbe nil crobo seeded were easily distinguishable gui guis bable eren e ren at a distance by their greener color and larger size indeed where the most assistance of this sort had bad been bestowed growth was excessive so that the plants crowded each other out the inoculation dimple and inexpensive as it rashad was had tho the banio same effect atwould as would have been secured with the aid ot 0 considerable quantities of manure containing nitro nitrogen geu washington star |