BACTERIZED PEAT 93 



have flourished in sterilized moss that has had no 

 other treatment than watering with the water 

 extract of treated peat. It would seem possible 

 that these substances are brought into solution, it 

 may be as the result of the action of the Carbon 

 dioxide liberated during the breaking down of the 

 peat, and that they are held or adsorbed by the 

 humate molecules in such a form as to be readily 

 utilizable when they are required by the plant. This 

 result was, of course, quite unexpected, and is a 

 side issue to the main object of the research; but 

 the value of peat is obviously greatly increased if a 

 result of its action is to render available to the 

 plants grown in soil so treated two substances 

 that are only second in importance to nitrogenous 

 food material, phosphate and potash, which were 

 previously present in unavailable form. While the 

 exact mechanism of the change remains uncertain, 

 the fact is that during the process of decomposition 

 the organic matter of the soil combines with such 

 bases as Potassium and Calcium to form humates. 

 In the words of Mr. Alfred Machen: " The practical 

 importance of this change lies in the fact that by 

 adding animal or vegetable matter to the soil we 

 not only improve the mechanical texture, but by 

 providing the necessary bacterial food and stimulus 

 we unlock and make available the insoluble potash 

 and phosphates of the soil, and give them to the 

 plants in the form required viz., potassic humate 

 and phospho-humates. The fact that (i) plants 

 feed on humate compounds, and (2) that organic 

 matter broken down by bacterial activity in the soil 



