ORGANIC MATTER 



centage of all the humus obtained by land whose 

 fertility is not well guarded by owners. This 

 proportion is large in some legumes, amounting 

 to 30 or 40 per cent in the case of red and mam- 

 moth clover. 



The Right Bacteria. The word " bacteria " 

 has had a grudging admission to the vocabulary of 

 practical farmers, and the reason is easily stated. 

 The knowledge of bacteria and their work is re- 

 cent and limited. They are many in kind, and 

 scientists are only in the midst of their discoveries. 

 The practical farmer does well to let bacteriologists 

 monopolize interest in the whole subject except in 

 so far as he can provide some conditions that have 

 been demonstrated to be profitable. The work 

 of bacteria must come more and more into con- 

 sideration by the farmer because nature uses them 

 to produce a vast amount of the change that is 

 going on around us. 



In consideration of the value of legumes we 

 must take into account the bacteria which they 

 have associated with them, and through which 

 they obtain the atmospheric nitrogen. This 

 would be a negligible matter, it may be, if all leg- 

 umes made use of the same kind of bacteria. It 

 is true that the bacteria must have favorable soil 



[41] 



