24 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENEP 
February, 1910 
THE FARM, 
Why ES a TERS Stumble ? 
Replying to this question by a corres 
pondent, ‘ Farm and Home’ says :— 
You propound a_ most interesting 
question, but one that it will be difficult 
to answer, or do more than suggest 
pogsible causes, which may or may not 
account for any particular case. The 
subject is one that has puzzled many an 
experienced surgeon and 
practical horseman, and in the absence of 
all those defects enumerated, and which 
might reasonably be held to account for 
veterinary 
horses falling, the actual cause remains a 
mystery. You say, ‘doubtless you have 
‘met some like it.’ We have; and we once 
saw a well-bred and stylish-looking coh, 
whose behaviour so nearly resembled that 
of the animal you describe that they 
might be the same horse. In this cob 
there appeared to be absolutely no defect 
in conformation, style of 
unsoundness. 
going, or 
He would fall down any- 
where, but rarely in going down hill. He 
would do so in harness or at saddle, when 
‘going ata walk or slow trot, and then 
for weeks would be quite safe. In this 
connection the heading to your query, 
“Why do horses stumble? seems hardly 
appropriate, All sorts of theories were 
formed to account for this cob falling— 
including carelessness and temporary 
loss ef consciousness, but eventually a 
tumour was developed in the lower part 
of the shoulder, and it was decided that 
the sudden falls were due to pain caused 
by that. 
_ We have also met with casos where the 
most decrepid of old crocks, driven in the 
most eareless fashion by inexperienced 
lads, and at a rattling pace, never came 
to grief, and we can no more account for 
the one than the other. We believe, 
however, that the majority of those cases, 
where horses do not stumble, but fall 
suddenly, and concerning whose con- 
formation vo fault is 
palpably apparent, are due either to 
vertiginous seizures of brief and passing 
or soundness 
character, to ‘ speedy cut,’ or the striking 
of the splint bone with the shoe of the 
opposite foot, or to crossing the legs in 
action. 
Nitrogen as a Fertilizer. 
This important element is essential to 
plant life, and, while it is abundant in 
the elementary form, it is, nevertheless, 
the most costly material which enters 
into the 
fertilisers. 
composition of commercial 
The high cost is due to the 
fact that ordinary plants can utilise 
nitrogen, only when it is in combination 
with other elements, and there is no 
economical process known by which the 
nitrogen of the air can be combined 
directly with other elements. Fortu- 
nately we have the means of obtaining 
nitrogen, by an indirect method, from 
the atmosphere, of which this element 
constitutes about 78 per cent. This may 
be accomplished through the agency of 
bacteria. These are found in the soil, 
and under proper conditions multiply 
with amazing rapidity. They develop 
only on the roots of leguminous plants, 
such as clover, vetch, velvet 
bean, &c. Here they make use of the 
nitrogen of the air, absorbed by the soil, 
and convert it into compounds which are 
taken up by the plant. On the 
roots of the plants «are produced 
nodules that are frequently very nume- 
rous and variable in size. This method 
of restoring nitrogen to our soils is 
becoming more generally appreciated as 
it furnishes this element at the least 
possible cost. 
The effect of nitrogen on a plant is 
very marked. It promotes a rapid 
growth of leaf and stem, and tends to 
produce a large, green, succulent plant. 
While a plant is in this condition, with a 
cowpea, 
_on the kind of bacteria present. 
large supply of available nitrogen present 
in the soil, the formation of buds and 
flowers is retarded, and the flowers are 
not only diminished in numbers, but 
many of them are rendered, so that they 
produce no seed. A plant which grows 
up with an abundant supply of nitrogen 
is also less capable of withstanding a 
drought, and begins'to burn when the 
moisture supply becomes limited. 
Nitrogen does not merely act as a 
stimulating agent to the plant, forming 
albuminoid and other nitrogenous com- 
pounds. 
supplied with nitrogen are much richer 
in the above compounds than those 
Plants grown on a soil well 
grown on a poor soil. 
It is highly probable that nitrogen 
must be in the form of a nitrate before a 
plant can make use of it. In the soil 
there are a great variety of micro- 
organisms, and some of these have the 
power of converting various substances, 
containing nitrogen, iuto nitrates, so that 
most nitrogenous compounds when 
applied to the soil are acted upon by 
these bacteria, and, through this vital 
agency, are converted into nitrates. For 
the nitrogen of fertilisers we are 
dependent upon sodium nitrate, sulphate 
of ammonia, or various organic com- 
pounds, such as blood, bone, cotton seed 
meal, tankage, fish scrap, &. It will 
now appear that the source from which 
the nitrogen of a fertiliser is derived is a 
If nitrate 
of soda is used all the nitrogen is imme- 
diately available. If sulphate of ammonia 
is used it may become rapidly available 
on certain 
matter of great importance, 
available on 
others, and on still others it may exist in 
an unavailable form so long as to be 
useless to the crop for which it was 
applied. 
soils, slowly 
In the case of the organic 
substances we find the nitrogen of some 
much more converted into 
nitrates than that of others. Mueh 
depends upon the nature of the soil and 
readily 
We are 
just beginning to appreciate the imper- 
tance of the action of these baeteria, and 
we may expect far-reaching results HD 
investigations along this line. 
—H. K. Miller, in ‘ Press Bulletin, 22. 
