fie;ld e;xperiments. 29 



announcing this discovery and giving the results of a large num- 

 ber of co-operative experiments which seemed to confirm the 

 great claims made for these cultures. Because the soil in New 

 England, where peas and clover have been grown for genera- 

 tions, is very generally inoculated with the nodule forming 

 bacteria, the Station cautioned farmers against the purchase of 

 cultures other than in an experimental way. It seems now that 

 the method itself is unsatisfactory. 



Cultures for ordinary legumes were obtained by this Station 

 from the Department at Washington and from the Nitro-Culture 

 Company of West Chester, Pa. The cultures furnished by the 

 company were given to us and we have no reason to think but 

 that they acted in entire good faith and that they believed the 

 method and the cultures they were sending out to be all that was 

 claimed for them. Experiments were carried out by this Station 

 in the summer of 1905 on quite a number of farms in different 

 parts of the State with peas, clover and alfalfa. The results 

 were negative, and because as stated below the failures were 

 due to the culture, the results are not given in detail. While 

 taken by themselves they would not be sufficient to offset the 

 large number of favorable reports printed by the department in 

 the bulletin above cited, they accord with those obtained by many 

 practical men in New England. Why they failed is explained 

 by a very full and careful study made by the New York State 

 Station * in which it is not only shown that the cultures sent 

 out by the department and the commercial companies in 1905 

 were, so far as examined, worthless, but their studies discredit 

 the method used in the manufacture of the cultures. Their 

 conclusions are summarized as follows : 



" I. During the past two years much interest has been shown 

 in the inoculation of legumes with bacteria to enable the legumes 

 to obtain nitrogen from the air. 



II. These bacteria have been distributed in a dried condition 

 upon cotton. Before being applied to the seeds the cotton is 

 put into a solution of chemicals and the bacteria allowed to 

 multiply. 



III. These packages of treated cotton have had a wide sale 

 at a high price — two dollars for a package sufficient to treat an 

 acre — while the cost of production was less than ten cents. 



* Bui. 270, X. Y. state Expt. Sta. 



