Fanning Notes.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXII, Issue 42791, 14 October 1905, Page 2

Fanning Notes.

[Specially wiitten for the Te Aroha News.] As the Agricultural Department is now distributing samples of nitrogenfixing bacteria, a few notes on the history, value, and method of use tray not be amiss, Agriculturists have long been aware that a certain family of plants, the legumes, or pod-bearers, contain a large amount of nitrogen, although experiment proved that this

nitrogen was not obtained from the soil, as applications of nitrogenous manures made no effect on the amount of nitrogen contained in the crop and analysis showed that the soil was richer in nitrogen after the removal of the crop than it was before, It has been found that the legumes obtain their B&Rqgen from the atmosphere, an illimitable sogrse • this is dove by the aid of minute bacteria, which are found in all good soils in greater or less abundance. These bacteriac> ? gregate on the roots of leguminous plaf*s» W k a & like enlargements called tub.eisJ.e§, ajnd assist the plant iu extracting th,e pifr.ogpn fro $ the air. Tbps legumes cgn thrive ip il where e her pfepts Starve, and the refuse from the jpgpmihous crop leaves the lftttd rich in nitrogen and humus for the.next cr6p. Most farmers have experienced this, especially with .cfover crops, afier which very heavy cropj? qI wheat are obta’ned. Observing these and knowing that nitrogen is one of .the most valuable

ingredients in manures, Jjofch artificial and general, scientists have’‘beep. I experimenting with the object of i these valuable bacteria, so 1 that they supply them directly the crops an as jla,rge $ c uantity as 1 could be utilised. A German scientist, Professor Nobble, was successful in/ breeding ithena, bpt it was left io Dr! ! Moore ef to make a commercial success .of thp jESs preparations of the cultures are m#de • up ia 4-cent cakes, each cake beipg j estimated to be equal in value to 40 dollars worth of manure. Some starts ling results have been obtained by using the c iltures, leguminous crops—clover and vetphes inoculated with the cultures, showed $$ increase in yield as follows, clover, 3721 be to s292lbs - vetches, 68llbs to 45011b5. In Isi@ f plots where theabove experiments were carried out, other than leguminous crops were then grown, with the folo lowing results the fowjgdated plots

gave a yield of from 409 per fibqt to 40 per cent more than the un inoculated, The greatest increase was shown by the cereals—rye # 409 per cent, opts. 300 per cent, while potass gaye ap increase of 40 per cent, which aft hough modest when compared with the increase of rye, is a very substantial addition. To make the above facts more realistic I would point out that the in putting down a clover crop with the cultures would be two pence instead of £8 6s c®nt cake of culture brings equal to 40 dollars spent in manure), the crop is over H times as heavy; that means •that (the carrying capacity of a field would be increased from, say 10 cows to ,160 cowp, fEf ,th<J clover were fob I 'lowed hy potatoes, the farmer would get HO tops where only jpo tons expected. Jf instead of potatoes, rye or O.ats were jfcafen, from 300 to 400 torus would be reaped of ,100 1 tons. JSsprimentJrs should that it is o®ly legumes that ,c&u rpas:e use of these ,cultures, indirectly by the store of plant food left behind in the decayed roots, stubble, refuse of the leguminous crop.