354 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
May 18 
THE SOIL. 
Part IV. 
Before we proceed to go into details 
about the vegetable matter or humus in 
the soil, we wish you to read the follow¬ 
ing article on the work of bacteria. By 
and by, we shall have a special series of 
articles on bacteria; but now we shall 
just glance at the subject. It is of great 
importance, because, as you see, these 
bacteria have much to do with preparing 
the nitrogen in the soil so that it will 
make food for plants. 
The Work of Bacteria. 
A farmer has for his primary business, 
the cultivation and growing of plants. 
By the latter term is meant those mem¬ 
bers of the vegetable kingdom which 
serve as food for man, and for the do¬ 
mesticated animals, or which are useful 
for man’s comfort in other ways. These 
species are members of the order known 
as “ the flowering plants,” because they 
produce flowers, and from these the 
seeds. These plants constitute the high¬ 
est order of the vegetable kingdom, as 
they are the most complex and highest 
developed of all vegetable organisms. 
But this great division has many other 
representatives besides the ‘“flowering” 
plants. Passing from these downward, 
there are to be found the mosses, the 
ferns, the lichens, the molds, the fungi, 
and at the extreme bottom or tail end of 
the class, are found an extremely large 
order of organisms, which are known by 
the name of bacteria. They are placed 
at the foot of the class, because they 
are the simplest in their structure, and 
have the least development of any of 
the members which form the vegetable 
kingdom. 
In this large order are to be found as 
many . different characters as can be 
seen in the order of flowering plants. 
This can be seen from the fact that all 
of our contagious diseases are produced 
by bacteria. So, also, the souring of 
milk, the ripening of cream, the curing 
of cheese, are produced by the bacteria ; 
likewise, many of the blights of the cul¬ 
tivated fruits and grains, are caused by 
the same class of micro-organisms. Thus 
it may be seen that they are to be found 
in a multitude of places. They are 
present in the earth, the air, the water; 
in plants, in animals, and, in fact, in 
immense numbers everywhere. Some of 
them are harmless, while some are in¬ 
jurious. Some seek their homes in the 
living animals or plants, and such as 
these are, as a general rule, of consider¬ 
able damage to the farmer. Those, 
however, that lead a saprophitic life, in 
other words, feed upon the dead organic 
matter, animal or vegetable, are either 
harmless, or are of very great benefit 
to the farmer. It is of some of these 
bacteria that the following discussion 
treats. 
Like all members of this class, they 
are very small in size, from 3,000 to 15,000 
of them -when placed end to end, being 
required to measure an inch. This neces¬ 
sitates a microscope in order to study 
their operations. The abiding place of 
these bacteria, is the soil of the earth, 
and their food is the organic matter, both 
animal and vegetable, which is found in 
all soils used for agricultural purposes. 
All plants and animals, when through 
with their existence on the earth, find 
their way back to the soil whence 
they came. In the condition they are 
when they first reach the earth, they are 
of but very little use to the future gen¬ 
erations of plants. The plant food con¬ 
tained in them is in such a complex and 
insoluble condition, that the young liv¬ 
ing plant cannot use it, and before it can 
be of use to growing vegetation, it must 
first be broken down, or reduced to the 
simple compounds of ammonia and car¬ 
bonic acid. This transformation is ac¬ 
complished by certain classes of the 
saprophitic bacteria. By their presence 
and action, the highly complicated tis¬ 
sues of the dead animals and plants are 
converted into the simpler forms, prin¬ 
cipally carbonic acid and ammonia. This 
carbonic acid gas is the proper form of 
carbon for the plant’s use. From it the 
growing plant, by means of the green 
coloring matter found in living plants, 
combines it with the water, which comes 
up through the stem of the plant from 
the soil, and there is formed, in the 
leaves, by the action of the sun’s heat, 
the starch and sugar, or what is termed 
the “carbohydrates.” 
The breath of animals, and the com¬ 
bustion of wood and coal, are two other 
sources of this carbonic acid. But this 
supply is far from being adequate for 
the needs of vegetation, and here is seen 
the very important part played by these 
bacteria. Were it not for this enormous 
supply, which they furnish by their 
growth and action on the decaying mat¬ 
ter of the soil, all vegetation would 
soon come to a standstill. 
The compounds of nitrogen, as they 
exist in the decaying animals and plants, 
are also unfit for the growing plant, and 
they must be changed to a simpler form 
before they are available. This change, 
as stated above, is accomplished by the 
bacteria, at the same time that the car¬ 
bonic acid is formed. The ammonia 
which is now the form in which the 
nitrogen exists, can as yet be of but lit¬ 
tle use to the plant. For it is probable 
that more than 90 per cent of the nitrogen 
used by plants, is absorbed as nitrates. 
The ammonia seems to be a common 
stage through which all forms of ni¬ 
trogen must pass before they are in the 
proper form for plant food. The ten¬ 
dency of all forms of nitrogen in the 
soil, is toward conversion into nitrates, 
first passing to the form of ammonia, 
and from this to nitric acid or nitrates. 
This may be illustrated by a more com 
mon example : In the manufacture of 
plows, the beginning is made at the scrap 
heap of iron, in which are to be found 
all sorts, sizes, shapes and conditions of 
iron. In the form in which it exists, it 
is comparatively worthless. Before it 
can be of any use again to mankind, it 
must pass first, into the form of melted 
iron, and from this condition it can 
easily be changed to the form of the 
finished article, which, in this case, is 
the plow. So in the soil, is to be found 
a scrap heap of nitrogen. Some exists 
in the form of stubble and roots of last 
year’s crop ; some as straw or coarse 
manure ; some as animal excrement and 
many other forms including animal mat¬ 
ter, and the various forms of commercial 
fertilizers. In these forms, there is but 
little which the plant can use. The 
form of ammonia represents the same 
stage or intermediate step, as the melted 
iron did in the instance cited above. The 
final stage of the nitrogen of the soil, is 
the nitrate, which may be said to repre¬ 
sent the finished article, for the use of 
the plants, the same as the plow is for 
the use of the farmer. 
The change from ammonia to nitrates, 
is produced by two distinct species of 
bacteria, other than those that trans¬ 
formed the organic nitrogen to ammonia. 
These two species have been separated 
and carefully studied. The change from 
ammonia to nitrates, which they produce, 
is known as “nitrification.” Chemically 
speaking, it is the substitution of the 
atoms of oxygen for those of hydrogen. 
Thus ammonia contains nitrogen and 
hydrogen, while nitrates contain nitro¬ 
gen and oxygen. 
There area few practical points to be 
learned from this knowledge of the bac¬ 
teria. They require for their growth, 
a certain amount of heat and moisture, 
and plenty of air. This would teach us 
to allow no surplus water to remain in 
the soil, to make it too cold for them, 
which also would exclude the air. The 
ground ought to be cultivated whenever 
possible, so as to allow the oxygen to 
penetrate the organic matter, where the 
bacteria are at work. This cultivation 
forms a mulch on the surface, which 
tends to conserve the moisture which is 
required for their growth. In the warm 
months of the year, this formation of 
nitrates is constantly going on, and as 
this form of nitrogen is very soluble and 
readily leached away, it behooves the 
farmer to have a growing plant always 
present to take up this valuable form of 
plant food. 
It ought readily to be seen, from what 
has been said, wherein one great value 
of commercial fertilizers lies, especially 
in those instances where readily avail¬ 
able plant food is desired. If it contains 
nitrates, the plant can at once use this 
form of nitrogen. If the nitrogen exists 
in the shape of ammonium sulphate or 
chloride, it can quickly pass to the ni¬ 
trate. But if the only form of nitrogen 
present is that of organic compounds, 
the plant must wait for warm weather, 
in case of spring time, before the bac¬ 
teria can transform the food for plants 
into a condition that the plant can use 
it. It also explains why vegetation 
progresses so rapidly in hot weather. 
II. w. SMITH. 
Cornell University Ex. Station. 
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