204 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



for the education of his child can lake hold of these new lads thai 

 the scientist works out and convert them into that dollar. And do you 

 know, I would not exchange the opportunities that you and I have 

 to-day in the translation of these scientific facts, into the terms of 

 the farmer, who has not had the opportunity to study, I would not 

 exchange the opportunities for usefulness that you have, gentlemen, 

 and that I have to-day, for the work of any other man on the face of 

 the earth, unless it be the work of the farmer himself. It is not a 

 matter of popularizing agricultural education, nor is it a matter of 

 popularizing science; I do not care for those things specially. It is 

 for the results that we are going to get in better country life, better 

 rural life and by helping the man who is endeavoring to-day to se- 

 cure another dollar that he can expend usefully and helpfully for his 

 children and for his family. 



Now that is where we believe there is another reason to con- 

 gratulate Pennsylvania, that there is a Director of Institutes here 

 who brings together in these normal meetings working associates 

 from the State College, from the Department of Agriculture at Wash- 

 ington, who meet with us and impart their knowledge so that we can 

 think over it and study it, and weigh it and then carry it back to 

 the men who will make the institute audiences the coming winter. 



I thank you for your attention and the privilege of saying these 

 few words to you. If I have just one criticism of our Director, it is 

 that he should have called upon me at all and that he said that I 

 am an outsider, because I like to think that I am a Pennsylvanian 

 and you can't get rid of me that way. A gentleman in Ohio lost his 

 wife a few months ago and he met a friend in Pittsburg on the street, 

 and he said to his friend that it was hard for one to lose his wife. 

 The Pittsburger said, "Yes, it is; it is almost impossible." 



The CHAIR: We will now proceed with our regular program. 

 The first number on the program is, "Soil Bacteria and Cultures — 

 Their Relation to Leguminous Plants," by Prof. T. R. Robinson of 

 the Bureau of Plant Industry, Department of Agriculture, Washing- 

 ton, D. C. 



The paper of Prof. Robinson is as follows: 



SOIL BACTERIA AND CULTURES— THEIR RELATION TO 



LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. 



BY Prof. T. K ROBINSON, Bureau of Plant Industry, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D V. 



The topic assigned me to discuss, "Soil Bacteria and Cultures," 

 though comparatively new, has doubtless come to your attention 

 through the press and magazine articles, numerous times within the 



