378 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



fermenting substance. This was particularly marked when the 

 materials were kept alkaline with carbonate of soda or lime. 



The explanation given for this increase was that a combination of 

 nascent hydrogen evolved during the fermentation took place with 

 the free nitrogen of the air by which ammonia (N H3) was produced. 



It is known that hydrogen is a common product of putrefactive 

 fermentation, and it is highly probable that when such putrefactive 

 changes take place in the soil there is a certain fixation of atmos- 

 pheric nitrogen. 



The claim of Bertholet that micro-organisms of the soil possess the 

 power of utilizing free nitrogen led Winogradsky^"^ to test the vali- 

 dity of this assertion. Of 15 separate species of soil bacteria isolated 

 by him only one of them was able to assimilate nitrogen to any ap- 

 preciable degree. To this he gave the name Clostridium pasteu- 

 rianum. 



Cultures of the latter were made in saccharine media free from 

 combined nitrogen, in which the organism grew, apparently de- 

 pendent upon the free nitrogen of the atmosphere for their food. 

 The conclusion which the author reaches, however, is that the power 

 of fixing nitrogen is not general among micro-organisms. 



csince Winogradsky's investigations of the above, a few others 

 have been isolated which are capable of fixing free nitrogen, notably, 

 Bacillus dlenhachiensis. which is now sold in the form of cultures 

 known as alinit. 



The fact that but few species of bacteria possessing the power of 

 utilizing free nitrogen have been found is no argument that they do 

 not exist in the soil, and the fact that soils do make appreciable gains 

 in nitrogen is indication that the necessary organisms must be pres- 

 ent. 



From a practical standpoint the matter has little significance, since 

 the gains of soils from this source are in a single year inconsiderable 

 as compared with those which can be so readily brought about by 

 the growth of legumes. 



To effect results of momentous importance their action must cover 

 long periods of years such as have passed before the advent of Eu- 

 ropean agriculture on the American continent. 



8. The Use of Alinit. 



All great discoveries are likely to lead to spasmodic efforts to 

 revolutionize agriculture, and the climax has been reached in the 

 effort to seed on soils with nitrogen assimilating bacteria by the use 

 of alinit. 



Alinit is a culture of Bacillus ellenhachiensis^ which organism 



