618 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



ciilU'tl putrifying forms accompanying these processes of decomposition 

 aiul disintogration with wliich avc arc so familiar. Were it not for them 

 all organized matter, tliat ceasi'd to remain alive, would, practically uu- 

 ciianged, cmnlier our earth. The forests would be impassable from the 

 accumulated vegetation of ages, and our paths and highways would be 

 stiewn with the wrecks of bygone plants and animals, never changing, 

 ami only remaining to remind their survivors of the inhabitants of other 

 days. The work of the putrifying bacteria is to make this useless mass 

 .•i\ a liable by converting it into usable products resulting from decom- 

 liosition. fertilizing the soil, and again appearing in plants that contribute 

 to our comfort and pleasures. 



Fermentation forms are doubtless next in importance, and to them Ave 

 owe the possibilities of making wine, beer, sauerkraut, etc. Some are 

 concerned in the production of indigo, from the indigo plant. Others are 

 necessary for the proper ripening of teas and tobacco; still others separate 

 flax and hemp from the plants producing them, and a patent covering 

 this latter operation has been taken out in this country and bacteria are 

 nmde to minister to our daily needs. The process of steeping skins before 

 tanning is to remove the hair by the action of fermenting bacteria. Hay 

 and silage are ripened as a result of the action of these forms of life. 



Other bacteria produce acids that cause the souring of milk, the rip- 

 ening of cream, the curing of cheese and butter. None of these pro- 

 cesses could be carried on without such agents, and whenever any dele- 

 terious changes take place in any of these articles it is because of the 

 insufficient growth of the proper bacillus or the too luxuriant development 

 of a foreign one. Perfectly reliable results could always be obtained if 

 tlie right Ijacteria were used, and in those localities now famous for 

 the high (luality of their dairy products the foreign bacteria are killed 

 before they become disturliing factors, and the proper ones introduced 

 from a convenient source. 



Some bacterial diseases of insects and animals are made to con- 

 tiibute to our prottt. In Greece and Hungary a few years ago the fields 

 were overrtm with mice and the loss to the crops was something enor- 

 mous. The introduction of a bacterial disease among the mice has 

 caused their almost complete disappearance. This same method has 

 afforded some relief from the cabbage butterfly, the lioll w^orm and the 

 cliiiicli l)ng. 



Last, but not least, we owe to certain nitrogen-forming bacteria a 

 large share of the credit for maintaining the fertility of our land. With- 

 out these forms the soil would in time become exhausted. The culti- 

 \ation of clover, on the roots of which plant tubercles containing these 

 l)acteria are most abundant, is simply to enable these microbes to enrich 

 the soil with nitrogen so essential to its fertility. And so I might continue 

 the enumeration of the good things Ave enjoy as a direct result of the 

 action of liacteria, Imt time Avill not permit. One other suggestion and I 



