26 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



who are not satisfied with a return of $100 per acre, as the Western 

 farmer is, but demand and actually receive $500, $1,000, and if 

 covered with glass, fully $10,000 net per acre. These progressive 

 gardeners, like the Paris gardener, also defy climate and soil. 



We will not attempt to detail the steps which have led up to this 

 satisfactory condition for both producer and consumer. Suffice it 

 to say that it is partly due to intensive methods which have been 

 worked out by practical, hard-headed men, and partly to scientific 

 research. It is a splendid example of science and practice going 

 hand in hand, of the selection and breeding of seeds and plants, of 

 successfully combating plant diseases and insects, of conser%ing 

 and distributing the needed moisture, and finally, of utilizing all the 

 sources and forces of fertility, of Avhich the "yeast of the soil," 

 though unseen, is not the least. 



Discussion. 



INIr. Howard inquired how deep in the soil the bacterial action 

 extended. The Lecturer replied that he should say from three to 

 six inches, or to a depth in which the necessary warmth permeates. 

 The bacteria multiply faster in warm weather. There are some that 

 build up and others that tear down. Under normal conditions, that 

 is, when the conditions are all healthy, they never work at cross 

 purposes. 



Wm. P. Rich asked concerning the success of the experiments of 

 the U. S. Department of Agriculture made a few years ago in intro- 

 ducing nitrogen-fixing bacteria as aids in the growing of leguminous 

 crops. 



The Lecturer replied that these experiments had not met with 

 much success. We can inoculate the soil with these bacteria by 

 transferring portions of it from one piece of land where they grow 

 to another piece of land in need of them and thus encourage their 

 development. If we could grow alfalfa in this climate as they 

 grow it in the West we could solve the nitrogen problem here. 



Wilfrid Wheeler asked as to the effect of lime on untreated soils, 

 that is, soils that had not been manured or fertilized. 



The Lecturer stated in reply to this question that lime did not 



