REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 
BACTERIOLOGY, 
THE QUALITY OF COMMERCIAL CULTURES 
FOR LEGUMES IN 1906.* 
H. A. HARDING anv M. J. PRUCHA, 
SUMMARY. 
Cultures of legume bacteria dried upon cotton according to 
Moore’s method have been tested by sixteen Agricultural Experi- 
ment Stations in 1904-5 and all have found such cultures to be of 
little or no practical value. 
Metal containers have been recently put forth as a means of pro- 
tecting such cultures and it was claimed that cultures packed in 
this way would remain active for long periods. 
A careful examination of fourteen such cultures showed that the 
claims made for the metal container were not borne out in practice. 
The results from the examinations of twenty commercial cultures 
indicate that the goods upon the market for 1906 were little if any 
better than those offered in 1905. 
In neither year was there any evidence that the purchaser had 
had more than the remotest chance of receiving the worth of his 
money from the use of such cultures. 
INTRODUCTION. 
During the years 1904-5 great interest was manifested through- 
out the country in the artificial inoculation of legumes with their 
appropriate bacteria in order to stimulate the fixation of nitrogen 
from the air. This interest was due to the sensational manner in 
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