154 - LOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



came to me first was, "What shall I talk about?" I have 

 talked around in Connecticut so much that I have said over 

 and over again all I know, and to come here before this Board 

 and talk over some old subject which would neither be of 

 interest to the audience nor to the speaker was not pleasant. 

 Just at that time I was considering the matter of purchasing 

 commercial fertilizer for our use at the College. I was just 

 getting prices on nitrate, and it seemed to me that there was a 

 subject which would be of immediate and practical importance 

 to every farmer in Connecticut who purchases commercial 

 fertilizer, and I think that class includes a very large propor- 

 tion of the farmers of the state. Probably a majority of the 

 men before me, before the next spring arrives, will begin to 

 think about this problem of, the most economical sources of 

 nitrogen as plant food. I am thinking about it, yet, and as I 

 told my class the day before I left home, when I announced to 

 them that I was to speak before this meeting of the State 

 Board on the most economical sources of nitrogen, I did not 

 know what the most economical source was and do not know 

 at the present time, yet in spite of that, I have come here to 

 discuss that problem with you. 



For many years the subject of nitrogen in its relation to 

 agriculture has occupied a prominent part in all agricultural 

 discussions. It has even been figured out just the time when 

 the human race shall face starvation because of the fact that 

 the nitrogen supply of the world has been used up. No subject 

 has received more attention from the agricultural press, from 

 the experiment stations and from the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture than the subject of nitrogen. For the 

 past two years the subject of inoculation has occupied first 

 place, and it is doubtful if there is a farmer who has not 

 thought that it may be possible by inoculation to reduce his 

 fertilizer bill, at least by the amount that he has been paying 

 for nitrogen. So wild have been the notions with reference 

 to soil inoculation that I have had requests for information as 

 to how to inoculate for potatoes, for corn and for the various 

 other farm crops. It has not been universally understood that 

 inoculation was designed only for leguminous crops and that 

 it was through the growth of these legumes that inoculation 

 was to prove of value to our farm crops. 



