SYMBIOTIC NITROGEN FIXATION 167 



The case of soil inoculations is quite similar to a condition which 

 too often exists in the industrial world. The farmer crops his 

 soil year after year giving little or no attention to its physical or 

 chemical properties. Conditions within it become unfit for micro- 

 bial growth. The beneficial bacteria "go on a strike." This is 

 brought to the attention of the farmer by decreased yields and, 

 if he be an experienced hand, by the appearance of his crops. But 

 in place of using his knowledge and time to make conditions in 

 the soil fit for the life of his tiny toilers, he too often rushes in 

 strikebreakers in the form of commercial cultures. When this 

 is done, what a sorry spectacle we have — one or two strikebreakers 

 pitted against billions and billions of strikers! The newcomers in 

 a strange unnatural surrounding, the normal microbe in an abode 

 in which they have lived for many generations. Hence, it does 

 not require great prophetic instinct to foretell which will be vic- 

 torious. The vendor of commercial cultures understands this; 

 therefore, he furnishes the farmer with directions as to how his 

 soil should be treated before the strikebreakers are added. When 

 these directions are carefully followed, the conditions in the soil 

 are made acceptable to the natural inhabitants thereof with the re- 

 sult that they resume their labors. The crops increase and the 

 farmer goes about singing praises of the new panacea which he 

 recommends to all his neighbors, and so the trade goes on. 



Numerous concerns claim to have produced cultures which have 

 been bred up to a high efficiency. This may be true as long as the 

 organisms are grown under artificial conditions, but when thrown 

 into competition with the natural hordes of the soil it is doubtful 

 if they can ever get the upper hand. The logical procedure, 

 therefore, is to make conditions within the soil ideal for plant 

 growth after which if the requisite organisms are not present in- 

 oculation may be resorted to. 



How Inoculate? — Successful seed inoculation can be per- 

 formed with fresh, properly prepared artificial cultures, but in 

 many cases this has not proved successful, and in the majority of 

 cases inoculation with soil known to be infected is to be pre- 

 ferred. The method suggested by the Illinois Experiment Station 



