The Soil and its Treatment. \^ 



leguminous plants. Many cultivators take advantage of 

 this fact by growing and turning under a crop of legu- 

 minous plants as green manure and thus add to the soil not 

 only the necessary humus but also a considerable amount of 

 nitrogen. 



Nitro-Bacterine Cultures. These nitrogen-gathering bacteria 

 have been artificially cultivated in gelatine broth by scientific 

 men, and advantage has been taken of this circumstance by 

 others to extensively advertise similar preparations for inocu- 

 ulating farm and garden soil, accompanied by the statement 

 that greatly increased crops of leguminous plants would result. 

 The writer has very carefully experimented with these cultures 

 but in no case has he found that the crops have benefitted from 

 their use. Old cultivated soil already affords such a suitable 

 environment for nitro-bacteria that nature has already provided 

 them in as great numbers as the surrounding circumstances 

 can sustain. The only method of profitably increasing their 

 numbers and activity is by proper cultivation and manuring, 

 which temporarily makes their environment suitable for a rapid 

 increase, hence the improved crops following good cultivation. 

 When working of the soil ceases their numbers fall to normal. 

 Nitro-bacterine cultures are useless unless all the conditions of 

 healthy plant growth are present and with these conditions 

 they are unnecessary. 



Inoculation by bacteria cultures would no doubt be of great 

 service on barren soils, such as newly reclaimed land where 

 nitrifying bacteria are not already established. 



Soil Moisture. One of the most important conditions of 

 fertility in soils is their power of absorbing and retaining 

 sufficient moisture for the needs of the crops they bear. A 

 dry soil is a barren one no matter what the proportion of 

 plant food it may contain or how good its physical condition, 

 and it will not grow crops until moisture is present. 



It is considered by scientific investigators that very few 

 cultivated crops attain their fullest development for lack of 

 sufficient moisture, and that much larger crops would be 

 obtained if plants were supplied in the growing season with all 



