BACTERIA IN AGRICULTUEE. 333 



BACTEEIA IN MODERN ECONOMIC AGRICULTURE. 



By albert SCHNEIDER, M.D., Ph.D., 

 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 



CROPS have been cultivated for thousands of years, and from the 

 very first the agriculturist has endeavored to get from the soil 

 a maximum return for a minimum of labor expended. Yet scientific 

 progress in soil fertilization and crop improvement has been exceed- 

 ingly slow until very recent years. Now scientific methods are begin- 

 ning to be applied not only to crop and soil improvement, but also to 

 the allied branches horticulture, arboriculture, the dairying industries, 

 etc. That infant science, bacteriology, in particular, gives promise of 

 inestimable value. 



Some microorganisms work in the interests of the agriculturist, 

 while others work decidedly antagonistically to all desirable interests. 

 Much efficient work has been done in the eradication of disease-pro- 

 ducing organisms, and the farmer is given detailed and specific instruc- 

 tions how to combat organisms which are hurtful to crops, as the rusts, 

 smuts, rotting bacteria, etc. Attempts have been made to utilize even 

 essentially harmful organisms in working useful results, as in the 

 extermination of chintz bugs, potato beetles, plant lice; the extermina- 

 tion of rats, mice and other undesirable higher animals, by means of 

 germs which are capable of transmitting fatal diseases to the animals 

 referred to. The department of entomology at Washington has done 

 some very effective work of this nature in exterminating insect pests 

 of trees and plants. 



The farmer's great future problem will be to determine what bene- 

 ficial organisms may be pressed into his service and what noxious organ- 

 isms may be suppressed, and how such measures may be carried out 

 most expeditiously and with the best results. There is perhaps no 

 problem of greater interest or none which gives promise of greater bene- 

 ficial results than the one pertaining to the bacteria found in the root 

 tubercles or nodules of leguminous plants (bean family). Without 

 entering into the history of the discovery of these organisms or the 

 part they play in the economy of the host plant, or even dwelling 

 upon the many points still in dispute or under discussion, I shall 

 describe briefly some of the recent attempts at making practical agri- 

 cultural use of these organisms in Europe and in this country, and 

 outline briefly a plan of future research, pointing out the additional 

 practical possibilities which may be anticipated with reasonable cer- 

 tainty, based upon results already obtained. 



