34 Director's Report of the 



only is the acreage production of nutritive material large, but 

 the alfalfa plant has a distinct value as a soil renovator and as a 

 means of maintaining the necessary nitrogen supply of the farm. 

 There is probably no other instance that can be mentioned in 

 which scientific investigation has been of more marked benefit 

 than in the increase of alfalfa-growing areas. 



Leguminous plants, including alfalfa, sustain a peculiar re- 

 lation to bacteria. Plants of this class act as hosts to certain forms 

 of germ life and unless, for instance, numbers of this bacterium 

 are present in the soil, alfalfa does not flourish. Moreover, the 

 prosperity of this essential bacterium depends very much upon 

 the soil reaction, whether highly acid or not, and so it has been 

 found that the acidity of a particular field needs to be corrected 

 before the soil can be used successfully in alfalfa growing. 



For several years, the Bacteriological and Botanical Depart- 

 ments of the Station gave much attention to the conditions favor- 

 able to the growth of the alfalfa plant. In a bulletin published 

 in 1908, there is reported the results of experiments in the 

 inoculation of soil for alfalfa growing in 67 fields distributed 

 among 33 counties of this State. It was found that the bacteria, 

 which enable alfalfa to appropriate nitrogen from the air, were 

 almost universally present, but in sufiicient numbers in only about 

 one-fourth of the 67 fields to produce the desired inoculation. On 

 33 of the 67 fields which were tested the application of soil from an 

 old alfalfa field rich in the necessary bacteria changed alfalfa 

 growing from a failure to a success in those particular fields. On 

 15 fields, a successful crop was produced without this in- 

 oculation. This showed beyond question that in many parts of 

 the State soil inoculation is essential to the establishment of the 

 alfalfa plant. Inoculation was but part of the problem ; the 

 influence of liming, or the modification of soil acidity, was still 

 to be considered and to what extent liming Xew York soils was 

 necessary to successful alfalfa production. A bulletin published 

 in 1909 gave the results of more than 100 co-operative experi- 

 ments in growing alfalfa in about half of the counties of the State. 



