Preface to the First Edition 
With the present day tendency in our agricultural colleges to crowd much 
into the limitations of the curriculum, the problem of what to give and what 
not to give in a general course becomes a perplexing one. 
More than ten years of experience teaching agricultural, home economics, 
science and engineering students have contributed to the development of the 
present edition of the Laboratory Manual of General Agricultural Bacteriology. 
Many of the changes that have been made from time to time have come as 
the result of class room experience and the need for more economical utiliza¬ 
tion of the time of both instructor and student. 
No attempt is made to cover completely and in detail all phases of mor¬ 
phology, cultural characters and physiology of. bacteria. Enough of each 
of these is included in connection with practical exercises to give the student 
a general conception of the relation of bacteria to agricultural processes. 
For those who wish more detailed information the advanced courses are 
available; while the students going into other lines of agriculture taking it 
as a required course find themselves broadened by a general knowledge of 
the relation of bacteria to practical things. 
The exercises as outlined have been planned for local use. No effort has 
been made to arrange them for all kinds of conditions. On this account their 
use elsewhere may require some slight modifications. The number and 
variety of the exercises offer considerable latitude in the choice of work for 
a course. This is desirable where the type of the students in the course 
changes from semester to semester. 
THE AUTHORS. 
