INOCULATION AND NITROGEN. 231 
for sowing. Do not let the sun strike it even for 
a moment; sunlight destroys these bacteria. When 
you have it fine enough for sowing you can either 
mix it with the seed and sow both together, say 100 
pounds of soil and 15 or 20 pounds of seed, sowing 
them on an acre, or you can sow the seed and soil 
separately. If you have only a small field or plot to 
sow, do it late in the day after the sun has ceased 
to shine, and then harrow it at once. If you must 
spread it while the sun is shining let the harrow 
follow immediately behind the soil sower. 
One can put the soil in a fertilizer drill and drill 
it into the land. That is an excellent way. Anyway 
will do so that the inoculating soil is not exposed to 
sunlight, but is covered up in the ground. 
Coating Seed with Earth—The Illinois experi- 
ment station has developed a very successful way of 
inoculating alfalfa seed, requiring comparatively 
little soil for its complete success. Water is heated 
and enough glue dissolved in it to make the water a 
trifle sticky. It is then cooled and the seed is well 
wetted with this water. Earth taken from a good al- 
falfa field or sweet clover patch is made fine and run 
through a sieve to take out lumps, roots and stones. 
It is better if the earth is dry, but it ought to be dried 
in a dark place, at least not exposed to sunlight. The 
earth and seed are mixed together till each seed is 
coated with a film of this dry and inoculated earth. 
No surplus earth need be used, so each seed is coated. 
The seed is immediately sown and covered as fast as 
sown in some manner. Perfect inoculation seems to 
