SOIL INOCULATION 



That which wrought the wonderful change 

 was a colony of bacteria, low in the scale 

 of life, undistinguishable save by a powerful 

 microscope, but living, moving things, as truly 

 alive as the waving trees or the green meadows, 

 or, in a deep and solemn sense, as man himself. 



On a much larger scale than was possible in 

 the chemist's laboratory, similar tests have been 

 made at the Kansas Agricultural College 

 referred to. Here soil from another state has 

 been used to inoculate the Kansas soil in field 

 tests. As in the case of the chemist's pots of 

 grain, the only thing done out of the ordinary 

 was to place the soil known to contain the 

 bacteria around the seeds at planting. The 

 results on the larger scale were even more 

 wonderful. 



The Kansas investigators were working with 

 the soy bean, which is a fine feeding crop. 

 Long ago it was discovered that certain plants, 

 as the beans, clovers, peas, vetch, alfalfa and 

 the like, form upon their roots little bunches, 

 or tubercles, as they are called. Nobody knew 

 what these bunches were good for, and a good 

 many thought they were harmful excrescences 

 which should be cut away. 



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