3()6 EXPEKIMKNT STATION KE("ORD. 



geii, to which has been added <)0 tons of manure per hectare, furnisliinj:;' 

 300 kg. more of nitrogen, and yet they do not sn])ply enougii nitrates 

 to support a full crop of beets; but we are obliged to send around Cape 

 Horn to the Pacific coast to get nitrate of soda to reinforce the already 

 considerable sui)ply of nitrogenous matter in the soils. 



We have at our disposal in cultivated soils enormous reserves of 

 nitrogen in insoluble combinations. We know to-day that this nitrogen 

 is transformed to an assimilable condition by miero(»rganisms wliich 

 have been isolated and studied and whose requirements and conditions 

 of existence are understood. 



Is it not possible to so increase the activity of these organisms that 

 they will supply the nitric nitrogen required by our crops ;' This is the 

 problem which we should attempt to solve. 



