EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



391 



It is claiiiu'd by the iiuuiuraclun'rs that '•Lime-Fertile'- is inoculated 

 with '-all-ero]) nitrogen-fixing bacteria." All three samples were referred 

 1() (lie Bacteriological Department for examination as to bacterial content 

 and their report follows : 



"Asld)_v's Nitrogen-poor Agar was used for jtlating tlie samples of 'Lime- 

 Fertih'" with the following results: 



A I'ns.") — Contained rougldy an average of ^m.-jOO bacteria per grain, 

 only 1000 colonies of which niiglit be designated as the ni- 

 trogen-iixing type. 

 A l'.")!:! — Contained an average of ."iJlOO bacteria per gram, none of 



whicli were B. radicicola. 

 A 2()l*0 — Contained roughly an average of 284,700 bacteria per gram, 

 12.5,000 colonies of which might be designated as the ni- 

 trogen-fixing type. 

 "Fertile soils contain, instead of a few hundred thousand, many million 

 bacteria per gram, from one to ^several hundred thousand per grain of 

 which are organisms of the nitrogen-fixing type. Data compiled in our 

 own laboratory show that poor sandy soils having from one to five million 

 l»acteria per gram contain from 23,000 to 424.000 l)acteria per gram of the 

 nitrogen-fixing type. 



"This shows tliat sample A-2r520 of 'Lime-Fertile' contained a little over 

 half as many organisms of the nitrogen-fixing type as did the most fertile 

 of the samples of poor sandy soil analyzed, while sample A-25S5, although 

 it had a comparatively large bacterial count, contained but very few col- 

 onies of the nitrogen-fixing tvpe, while sample A-2573 contained none at 

 all. 



"Thus it is evident that none of these samples would add any consider- 

 able numbers of bacteria of any type, especially nitrogen-fixing bacteria, 

 to soil." 



Several misleading statements were noted on the packages of "Lime- 

 Fertile" and also in an advertising circular put out by the company. One 

 of the most glaring statements is the following, taken from page 4 of the 

 circular : "What it does. Lime-Fertile does the work of a complete fer- 

 tilizer ])lus liming. Two hundred p(ninds of Lime-Fertile can be used in- 

 stead of two hundred pounds of ordinary commercial fertilizer plus one 

 ton of lime or two tons of ground limestone." 



The only comment that is necessary is a comparison of the amounts of 

 plant-food and lime furnished in the two cases. 



*As.>nininu- tlir liniestoTie f\> contain 93 p(>r cent falciiun and niasnosinin carbona tos. 



Many other misleading statements were brought to the attention of the 

 manufacturers. 



