SOIL INOCULATION 



about us in that they have no chlorophyl — 

 the green material which gives color to the 

 plants. 



At the Kansas Experiment Station, in con- 

 nection with the State Agricultural College, 

 it was found that there were as many as 

 one billion, six hundred and eighteen million, 

 six hundred and eighty-one thousand, eight 

 hundred and ten bacteria in a gram of soil from 

 a field under examination, while another field 

 had only a few over a million. They rapidly 

 decline in numbers as you go down in the soil, 

 to a point where none is ever found. In 

 a single gram in one soil six hundred and 

 fifty thousand were found at eight inches, 

 five hundred thousand at nineteen inches, five 

 thousand, six hundred at fifty-five inches and 

 none at sixty-five inches. Another test made 

 in Europe showed one million, six hundred 

 and eighty thousand at the surface and four 

 hundred and ten at a distance of six feet below 

 the surface. 



Many different families of these bacteria live 

 in the earth, making their homes in the soil. 

 They help to decompose it, thus transforming 

 it into food. They draw vast stores of food 



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