What Bacteria Do 25 



wrong sort of bacteria get at them. His fence 

 posts, his timber, and even his planted seeds 

 rot; his hay heats and mildews; his water 

 tanks get foul, all through the action of 

 bacterial pests. But in the long run the 

 beneficent bacteria win out, if the farmer 

 bacteriologist knows what to do and when to 

 do it, and stands by his job. 



The folks who tan leather, those who rot 

 the flax plants to get them ready for the 

 making of linen thread, and the people who 

 cure the tobacco leaf for the smoker's delecta- 

 tion, are all jugglers on a large scale with 

 capacities and whims of special forms of living 

 bacteria. On the other hand, sugar manu- 

 facturers and bakers are often greatly pestered 

 by the presence of certain bacteria, which 

 hamper their operations or damage their pro- 

 ducts. The canning industries are engaged in 

 a ceaseless warfare with bacteria which some- 

 times destroy their stuff and disgust their 

 customers. 



So common and abundant are the bacteria 

 that we are constantly taking enormous num- 

 bers of them into our systems with all of our 



