SOIL INOCULATION: HOW DONE 151 



If your soil is sandy in nature, you can expect but little 

 from clover. Cow peas and soy beans will do the work 

 a great deal better. Give these legumes a trial there. 

 On the other hand, if you want a more permanent legume 

 for loam or clay land and one that will last longer than 

 for a few months, only, then select clover. It adjusts itself 

 readily to every sort of rotation ; it is easily sown and it 

 makes a good pasture crop or a good hay crop you can 

 take your choice. But even if you use cow peas, and soy 

 beans and clover, you certainly ought not overlook alfalfa. 

 It is the best all-round crop in America: good for feed 

 and good for the land, good for consumption on the farm, 

 and good for sale : the best money crop, the best feeding 

 crop, and the best crop for the land. 



Conclusion: Points to bear in mind. I. Inoculation is 

 a good thing: 



(a) When a small amount of humus is in the soil. 



(b) If previously-grown legumes lacked nodules. 



(c) If the legume is used for the first time, and not 

 closely related to the previously-grown legume. 



2. Inoculation may help : 



(a) When the crop grows poorly, although some nod- 

 ules are found. 



(b) When the start was good, and the seed poor. 



3. Inoculation is never needed: 



(a) When an abundance of nodules are produced al- 

 ready. 



(b) When the soil is supplied already abundantly with 

 nitrogen. 



4. Bacteria are not plant food. 



Neither bacteria nor the cultures of nitrogen-fixing bac- 

 teria are to be regarded as plant food. A bacterium is 

 not nitrogen, nor is it composed of nitrogen. It renders 

 nitrogen of the air available for the legume. 



