WHAT FORAGE CROPS ARE BEST 6l 



induce bacteria to visit his lands and to work there 

 in conjunction with the legumes, but he must make 

 the new homes so comfortable and satisfactory 

 that they will be willing to stay. You can even 

 scatter them over your lands, but if the soil is sour 

 and disagreeable they will die. A soil that is filled 

 with stagnant water is not good for them, and soils 

 that are hard, compact and dead do not attract them. 

 And then, the same legume will not do for all crops. 

 Clover bacteria have no liking for alfalfa or cowpea 

 roots, nor have the cowpea bacteria any liking for 

 the clover or alfalfa roots. 



If you have been growing clover year after year 

 and have not admitted any alfalfa bacteria you will 

 likely fail if you attempt to grow alfalfa unless the 

 land is inoculated with this special kind of bacteria. 

 This means that to grow different legumes the 

 bacteria associated with each particular legume 

 must be secured. This calls for inoculation of the 

 land, and even after the land has been inoculated 

 the bacteria may not be thoroughly acclimated 

 during the first year. When trying a legume 

 for the first time you must give it a good 

 chance. If it fails to meet your expectation, do 

 not despair. Refrain from blaming the legume, 

 and do not blame the bacteria. Just repeat the ex- 

 periment on the same land; give both time to join 

 hands, to become acquainted, to adjust their char- 

 acters to suit each other's peculiarities ; and be par- 

 ticular also to give the bacteria time to increase and 

 to multiply and to fill the land with their kind 

 then the work will be done with effectiveness and to 

 your profit and advantage. 



Three ways of introducing bacteria to the soil 

 are as follows: By introducing the soil from a 



