"THE RUKAL NKVV-VUKKKK 
619 
Soil Fertility Problems 
A TALK ON BACTERIA. 
I noted your inquiry concerning bac¬ 
teria inoculation. I am not a theorist, 
and have had but a l--\veek college course 
in general agriculture along with a young 
man’s farm life experience. In August. 
1908, we sowed about two-thirds of an 
acre of Alfalfa. Never having grown 
Alfalfa before I thought of inoculation. 
With an experiment in mind I sent for 
a trial bottle of a widely advertised com¬ 
mercial bacteria culture, but did not find 
time to use my experiment on the seed. 
In the meantime the Alfalfa was sown. 
First I took a gallon of soft spring water 
placed in a stone pot that had been thor¬ 
oughly scalded out. T<> this 1 added one 
teaspoonful of water-slaked lime, four 
grains of phosphate of potash, two grains 
of sulphate of magnesia and 100 grains 
of sugar. In that solution l put the com¬ 
mercial culture. The pot was placed in 
a warm room and covered with window 
glass. That is. I placed something un¬ 
der the glass to let the air circulate, but 
so as to keep out all dust. This I lot 
stand one day. Then I added four grains 
of phosphate <>f ammonia and kept it four 
or live days before using it. 
The one gallon of what I believed to 
be culture and still have reason to believe 
to be nitrogen-gathering bacteria, was 
added to BO gallons water, which was en¬ 
tirely too much water to expect results. 
This was sprayed on the ground as I re¬ 
member in dry weather. On practically 
all the piece we got no results. When 
we got to the end of the strip there was 
some left in the sprayer, so I took off the 
nozzle and put on the remainder of the 
solution with the idea of getting rid of 
it. The ground was somewhat wet on 
top after finishing. The strip where I' 
finished was about 20x40. 'That spot was 
the only one inoculated. The next Spring 
all the rest was yellow, but this spot was 
green and rank and had nodules on the 
roots. It had no extra manure or fertil¬ 
izer and the whole strip had been limed. 
I still believe I had a good culture. That 
patch of Alfalfa certainly looked bad for 
a short course graduate, poor sickly-look- 
ing stuff. One of the professors hap¬ 
pened to be here. I showed it to him. 
He advised to plow it up and reseed. 
This was late in the Spring. We got 
some soil for other inoculation purposes, 
and just before a rain we sowed on about 
200 pounds of inoculated soil. In a cou¬ 
ple of weeks it looked as if nitrate of 
soda had been sowed on. 
Did that Alfalfa come back? We cut 
three times a season every year since, 
18 cuttings, and I do not remember that 
it has been fertilized even once, which 
was wrong. Still I do not expect to find 
the ground poor. While last year’s crop 
was a fair one, several years some froze 
out and in places the natural grass is 
crowding it, and this year we expect to 
plant corn on it. The soil is something 
like the soil on the higher part of Hope 
Farm. 
Were we satisfied with Alfalfa? We 
have over 10 acres mowing and have used 
only soil for inoculation. Summing up 
the inoculation question I have reasons 
to believe that if the soil contains enough 
lime and vegetable matter the beneficial 
bacteria will maintain themselves indefin¬ 
itely. After once inoculated it would not 
he any great oenefil to inoculate seed 
every time the legume was grown. I be¬ 
lieve it would be some benefit, but not 
enough at the present price of pure cul¬ 
tures. The one drawback to cultures as 
I see it is that you have to inoculate each 
separately. That is. one culture for Al¬ 
falfa, one for vetch, one for cow peas, 
etc., whereas with soil within 10 miles 
there is uyually some farm, dairy or other¬ 
wise where these legumes ” n grown 
profitably. You can obtain soil from such 
a farm at a fair price and inoculate for 
several of the legumes at once, and soon 
obtain soil on your farm for future use. 
You should grow the legumes on that 
hint before you use the soil to inoculate 
such legumes as you wish to grow on 
other ground. This of course limits you 
lo the legumes formerly grown on the 
tarm where you first obtained soil. At 
present prices of commercial cultures the 
soil method is certainly the cheapest. If 
this idea of multiplying a culture, which 
need not be confined to free samples, is 
practical, it would help out a lot. The 
farmer quoted on page 404 certainly did 
blow in his 150 dollars. Personally I 
would rather put the money in lime and 
green manure. The idea of multiplying 
nitrogen-gathering bacteria is nothing 
but an experiment. I would not want 
anyone to try it <>n a large scale. I have 
but little time to experiment, so have 
never completed my idea of using it side 
and side with the original culture. 
New Jersey. o. c. N. 
Oats Before Tomatoes. 
l)o you think it would pay to sow oats 
now to plow under in June to raise toma¬ 
toes, or what would you advise me to put 
on my tomato ground? F. <i. 
Mt. IIollv. N. .T. 
I would not sow oats to be turned 
down in .Tune for tomatoes. Unless there 
should be an exceptionally heavy rainfall 
during the month of .Tune the oats would 
make the soil entirely too dry. By lying 
in the bottoms of the furrows they would 
prevent the rise of soil moisture from be¬ 
low. and this soil moisture is just what a 
tomato plant needs right after setting, 
and it needs if in bountiful supply. If I 
had it T would much rather give my toma¬ 
to ground a coat of manure which could 
be cut in or turned under now. Home 
growers sow early peas in rows in their 
tomato ground, then later set the tomato 
plants between the rows of peas. By this 
method one can got. two crops from the 
same ground tin* same year, and the early 
cultivation given the peas helps to put 
the ground in better shape for the toma¬ 
toes that are to follow. TRUCKER. .Tit. 
Facts About Manure and Spreaders. 
I have read with much interest A. II. 
De Graff’s article, “Is a Manure Spreader 
Profitable?” on page 43ft. In the Win¬ 
ter of 1910 I bought a 100 bushel return 
apron spreader, using two, three or four 
horses to draw if. depending on whether 
the ground was soft or the manure was 
wet or heavy, as I find the conditions 
vary a lot. I have been able to use ,t 
in ice, or snow so deep the horses could 
hardly break a.track through, and spread 
any kind of manure I ever had to draw. 
I believe my spreader has paid for itself 
several times over, and I have not paid 
out one dollar for repairs yet. I have re¬ 
fused several times to lend or rent it. and 
I have always used it myself, keeping it 
always under cover when not in use. 
I do not think Mr. I)e Graff is fair in 
making some of his expense charges 
against the spreader. According to his 
figures any man who owns horses, build¬ 
ings, or any kind of tools to farm with, 
would be in debt to himself at the end >f 
every year. I believe a spreader will pay 
for itself quicker than any tool on a farm. 
I like good farm machinery and intend 
to have the best if for no other reason 
than the pride and interest it gives in 
doing my work. EUGENE IT. KETCllUM. 
New York. 
Lime and Potatoes. 
Three years ago l plowed under 50 
acres of wild scrub land, that is, turned 
the brush and young trees right under the 
furrow, planted same of rye and in the 
Spring turned the rye under and planted 
potatoes. When potatoes were ting, plant¬ 
ed to rye and the following Spring turned 
the rye under and planted again to pota¬ 
toes. At digging of same planted again 
to rye which I am going to turn under 
and plant again to potatoes. The first 
year stable manure was applied, seven 
tons to the acre at planting of potatoes, 
fertilizer 5-7-7. 1,200 to acre; second 
vear stable manure seven tons to acre and 
fertilizer, same grade 1,200. I am going 
to use at planting of potatoes, 1.000 
pounds of 5-7-7, but I want to know 
whether it would be advisable, after turn¬ 
ing under the rye, to use some lime an I 
if so what kind and amount. You will 
see it has no lime since the wild brush 
was turned under, but I do not want, to 
grow scabby potatoes, and for that rea¬ 
son have kept away from lime. 
New York. t. d. l. 
No. We would not use lime when 
planting potatoes. This crop does not 
need lime as others do, and with this 
continuous planting there would be con¬ 
siderable danger from scab. Ground lime 
stone might not affect the scab particu¬ 
larly, but on general principles, we 
would not use lime on potatoes. 
The Way Autocar Delivery Vehicles 
Bring Your Market to Your Farm 
Progressive farmers, gardeners, and fruit growers are 
adopting Autocars as the most profitable and eco¬ 
nomical method of reaching their markets. J. W. De 
Baun & Son, Pine Brook Fruit Farm, Pine Brook, 
N. J., write us January 30th, 1915, as follows: 
"We have had our Autocar since March, 1914, carrying 
regular loads of garden produce, two tons or more to each 
load, to the Newark market, 15 miles distant, over two 
mountains. The car has made over 200 such trips, has never 
once hesitated on any hill or any road, and our entire repair 
cost has been only the replacement of a petcock which had 
dropped out on the road.” 
The experience of other farmers in all sections of 
the country is similar. Autocars have standardized 
delivery service in all lines of business, and are used 
by over 2400 different customers. 
Chassis price, $1650. 
Write for Illustrated Catalog to Dept. R. 
THE AUTOCAR CO., Ardmore, Pa. 
RIDDLE PATENT CULTIVATOR GANGS 
-vS& 
Approved by U. S Dept, of Apr., Aicr. 
Paper*, Agr. Colbies. Adopted by 
fanner* and imrxerymen since 1905. 
No roots cut. Moisture held through 
severest drouth by Hue dirt mulch. 
Ground kept clean. Better crops 
guaranteed. Have Increased from 20 
to 33^0 over old way. Stop cutting 
the root* the old way. Order now. 
Pit any cultivator. Price $8.50, ‘J net* 
$16.50- Onc-hoiHc $6.50. Check or 
Money Order. W. H. RI00LE, Fork, Md. 
tl C 7^ Delivered at any Station 
" ‘ East of Mississippi River, 
“Lucky Low Down” Dump Cart. 
Strong, substantial 
bard wood body. Steel 
wheels, wido tires, steel 
axle. Body 12x40x60 ins. 
i'apacity 1400 lbs. Hun¬ 
dreds in use to entire sat¬ 
isfaction of every pur¬ 
chaser. Saves its cost 
every year. 
Hobson & Co., Box47, Easton, Pa. 
The Picture Shows 
What Subsoiling Did 
This com was grown on worn out land at the Experiment 
Farm at Brookhaven, Miss. All cf it was planted and cult:- , 
vated the same way, at the same time. The ground on the ^ 
left was untreated; that on the right was subsoiled—blasted and 1 
'broken up four feet deep and thus restored to fertility. By using 
The. Safest Explosive 
you can double the productiveness 
of your fields. Under the top-soil 
is rich plant food that needs only 
to be opened up to give you 
bumper crops. You can do the 
blasting cheap 1 y and easily 
with The Safest Explosive. 
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