No. 4.] GRASS AND CLOVER. 133 



much more care was given to the handling of and protecting 

 the bacteria than the farmer could give under field conditions. 



Without going into further detail, let me quote a few sen- 

 tences from Bulletin No. 270 of the New York Experiment 

 Station at Geneva : — 



To make it perfectly plain that Dr. Jordan and his col- 

 leagues were not trying to prove soil inoculation a failure, he 

 says: "There is nothhig in this bulletin which should be 

 construed as opposed to the idea of inoculating legumes with 

 the Ps. radicicola. This publication concerns itself chiefly 

 with the quality of cotton cultures which have been used the 

 present season." He says, further : "Failure has followed 

 each of our attempts to develop Ps. radicicola from the com- 

 mercial cultures. . The results of our colleagues, reached in 

 widely separated laboratories, strongly support our findings." 



There is a lesson for every farmer to learn and a mistake 

 to be avoided by such findings as these. 



Our United States Department of Agriculture and certain 

 workers in it have been severely censured for much of this 

 failure, but I believe if we sift the matter down it can be 

 traced directly back to the people. The public is clamoring 

 for and demands that something new be found. To satisfy 

 this clamoring, and also to produce a better claim for in- 

 creased appropriations, on which the entire work depends, 

 new things are frequently given out as established truths in 

 a premature way, I believe this was the case with commer- 

 cial cultures, and, coupled with the skillful advertising, a 

 good many people " bit." 



Have commercial cultures failed generally under farm con- 

 ditions to produce beneficial results ? I have pretty decided 

 views of my own in the matter, but let me read extracts 

 from letters from men who have had a great deal of experi- 

 ence in the use of them. These letters were gathered to be 

 used especially at this time. It seems to me that such testi- 

 mony as this corroborates the statements and the line of 

 thought that I have brought to you. I am very sure that in 

 the fulness of time those now working and ox])erimonting 

 will bring forth methods useful and practical for the farmer. 



