No. 4.] NITKOGEN AKD FEKTILHT. 189 



in the future much more prominence than in the past. No 

 rotation on the farm should be planned which does not in- 

 clude one or more crops of this family of plants. 



If the proper organisms are not present in the soil, or if 

 the root tubercles formed are not large and vigorous, the 

 soil must be inoculated with the proper organism, in order 

 to take advantage of the property of leguminous crops of 

 acquiring atmospheric nitrogen. The announcement given 

 out by the United States Department of Agriculture, that 

 they had discovered a process whereby cultures containing 

 the proper organisms could be readily distributed in the dry 

 state, seems to have been premature. While experiments 

 with the cultures sent directly from the department prior to 

 1905 seem to have been successful, the cultures of the de- 

 partment and of the commercial companies were not relialjle 

 in 1905. While experimenters are still at work upon this 

 problem, a-nd there is every reason to hope for the ultimate 

 success, one cannot at present depend upon the artificial 

 cultures either of the department or of the commercial com- 

 panies for the inoculation of soil. There will be no diffi- 

 culty in New England in obtaining sufficient soil from 

 near-by fields to inoculate such plants as clover^ peas and 

 beans. If it is desired to orow alfalfa or other leguminous 

 plants not commonly grown in this section, recourse must 

 be had to applying soil obtained, usually at a distance, from 

 fields that grow the desi^'ed kind of plant with an abundance 

 of root tubercles. 



In growing legumes when the proper organism is present 

 in the soil, nitrogenous fertilizers should not be applied. 

 Phosphoric acid and potash should as a rule be supplied 

 quite liberalh'. 



As most beneficial bacteria do not grow in an acid soil, 

 the addition of lime is often very helpful in growing clover 

 on clover-sick soil. The experiments at the Rhode Island 

 Agricultural Experiment Station show that lime is fre- 

 quently of great benefit on soils that are usually not con- 

 sidered in need of lime. It is so cheaply and readily 

 applied that one not having success in gi'owing legumes 

 should apply it, at least experimentally. 



