IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
179 
Relative 
Relative 
June 1st— Green Weight 
No. 
Treatment 
Growth 
Growth 
No. 
Plants 
Relative 
Weight 
May 3d. 
May 24th 
Weight 
71 
0 
100 
100 
17.15 
13 
100 
73 
Manure 
300 
240 
43.3 
13 
252 
74 
Sterilized Manure 
275 
240 
40.4 
13 
240 
These figures show that the sterilized pot was practically as good 
as the unsterilized, the slight difference being within the limits of 
error. 
These two tests, or rather five tests, for there were five pair of 
pots tried, settle beyond dispute the question of the influence of the 
bacteria brought by the manure. The bacteria in the manure have 
nothing to do with the growth of the clover, for the clover grows 
just as well without them. This also settles the question of inocula- 
tion with the especial clover nodule bacteria. It has been stated 
many times that manure was one of the ways of inoculating alfalfa 
or clover. This shows that such inoculation is not necessary. 
Further than that, care was taken to ascertain if the clover was 
inoculated on the field plots. It was found that all the clover plants 
on the untreated plots were inoculated. Also the poor, stunted 
plants in pot 37, a check pot, were pulled up March 14th and were 
found to be well inoculated with tubercles on their roots. This soil 
was undoubtedly inoculated with the clover nodule bacteria, and 
failure to produce good stand and growth had nothing to do with 
this bacteria. 
But what about the other bacteria that the manure contains? 
The following in an extract from a short article by Joseph E. Wing, 
that prince among agricultural writers, in the Breeder's Gazette 
of June 13, 1906 : “If I could use horse manure made by horses 
feeding on alfalfa hay, I would snap my fingers at purveyors of com- 
mercial cultures. And I guess that any sort of manure whatsoever 
when incorporated with the soil will put in the yeast that will start 
the ferment that we call nitrification and that bacteria will be found 
there (how they will get there we can only guess) and that alfalfa 
will thrive if only the land has lime enough in it to make it sweet, 
and is not wet.” 
Here is also an extract from an article by Dr. Chas. D. Wood, 1 
Director of the Experiment Station at Orono, Maine, on “Nitrogen 
in Relation to Soil Fertility” : “The application of farm manure 
1. Agriculture of Mass. 1905, page 185. 
