A LIVING FROM THE LAND 



growing plants of the legume family. The actual 

 reason why such improvement was brought 

 about was not known in Washington's time, 

 but the results were apparent. Today, the value 

 of legumes as soil builders is well recognized 

 and we understand much more definitely than 

 Washington did the reasons for their being so 

 helpful in increasing crop production. 



Many soil areas do not contain the particular 

 type of bacteria necessary to the fixation of 

 atmospheric nitrogen by legumes. This is fre- 

 quently the cause of failure in growing alfalfa, 

 soybeans, cowpeas and less well known members 

 of the legume family. Each legume has its own 

 type of nodule-forming bacteria. In order to 

 assure the presence of the proper bacterial 

 family, means often must be employed to add 

 them to the soil where the specific crop is to 

 be grown. This may be accomplished by adding 

 soil from an area where the legume does well to 

 the new area, or the seed may be inoculated 

 with commercial cultures before seeding. Either 

 method is effective. If soil is used it should be 

 drilled in or spread on a cloudy day to prevent 

 the destructive action of the sun's rays on the 

 exposed minute forms of plant life we call 

 bacteria. 



If it is not known that the legume to be planted 

 has been grown successfully in a given field 



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