THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7949, 26 January 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 1906.

Tne introduction oE nitro-culture into the .Maaterton dietrion, some months ago, naturally created a good deal of discussion among the farming community. At the present timo several Masterton farmers aie making experiments, or rather giving nitro-culture a trial, and the result of their operations will certainly be interesting to local farmers, if not to many agriculturists in other parts of the Colony. When nitroculture was first drought under the notice of farmers in this district, the individual who knew "all about it," of course, immediately appeared, and, to put it shortly, and to put it mildly—for it is always well to be merciful—he ventured to argue that nitro-oulture was not at all what it was "cracked up" to bo. Such, however, is not tho opinion of many American

scientific agriculturists who for some time past have been making experiments iu the direction mentioned, and neither is it the opinion of Mr T. W. Kirk, F.L.S., of tbe Department of Agriculture. * * * * * As a matter of fact, nitro-onlfcure, although a comparatively simple discovery, is one *;hat promises to be of great advantage to the growers of leguminous plants, and the discovery, it eeems to us, is one that opens up a field of thought that may yet result in the more successful growing of plants other than legumes. An interesting little booklet, which has called forth the foregoing remarks, is to band from the Department of of Agriculture on "nitrogen-fixing bacteria," and is, of course, writton by Mr Kirk, whoso work, it may be remaiked in passing, must have been of great value to tbe agriculturists of this Colony, and would, no doubt, have been muob more appreciated were scientific farming more advanced than it is. However, the Department of Agriculture is doing good work, and it is a Department that, as a whole, reflects considerable credit upon the present Government. It hy uo means makes the Government in i*s entirety a desirable one, but, at the same time, credit should be given where credit is due; at any rate such is the view that all fair-minded persons concur in. s ***** But to refer to the leaflet under notice, Mr Kirk states that during tbe Dast year great prominence has been given to the question of nitroflxation by the nodule bacteria on the roots of leguminous plants. This is due, in the main, to the recent very successful work carried out by the United States Department of Agriculture with regard to the artificial inooulation of legumes with cultures of these bacteria. Before giving details of the work already carried out in this colony, it will not be out of place to give a general summary of the action of these haoteria from a scientflo standpoint. It has been known from time immemorial that I crops of legumes suoh as peas, beans, j vetches, clovers, etc., do not exhaust the soil in the same way as many others, such as cereals, rootcrops, etc. This knowledge has long been made use of in the ro ttlon of crops, but up till recent years its true significance was unknown. Tbe claariug-up of the whole subject came in 1886, when two investigators, Hellreigel and Wilfait, published their now classical paper. They found out that when cereals, etc., were grown id sand and fed with various mutrient solutions, they all grew orooortiouately to the amount of combined nitrogen that was supplied. If nitrogen was absent tbe young plants soon siokened and died. With plants belonging to the leguminous order, however, 'it was observed that ever; when quite uasupplied with combined nitrogen they often grew luxuriantly. In all suoh cases when t he roots were examined they were found to be covered with the little nodules which are so characteristic of this order of plants. The result of Hellreigel's examination of these nodules were at first doubted by many leading scientists, but experiments conducted by other investigators soon proved them to be correct. ***** The mechanism of the fixation of nitrogen is still incompletely understood. To fix it some expenditure of energy is required, which is, most probably, derived from tho combustion of starch or sugar supplied to the bacteria by the legume, since it has been observed tbafc_nitro-gen-fixation and general growth is stimulated by a supply of sugar to tho soil. This knowledge has been used to a great extent in tho making of artificial cultures of those bacteria. The idea of inoculating seed with artificial oulturep was suggested by the successful results that accrued from experiments which have been conducted in inoculating crops by using soil from a field which has previously grown the variety of crop it is intended to sow. A Gorman scientist, Dr Nobbe, was among the first to prepare artificial cultures, which.ho oalled "nltragin." These cultures were not as successful as was anticipated, and it is to Dr G. T. Moore, of the Department of Agriculture, United States of America, that we owe our system of manufacturing cultures. By growing tho baoteria iu a medium very poorly supplied with nitrogen it was found possible to increase tho nitrogen accumulating efficiency of the bacteria five to ten times beyond tho normal. A way was also found by whioh these pure cultures of bacteria could be sent out to farmers ia dried cotton-wool, Recognising, says Mr Kirk, the importance of this discovery, 1 wrote to Dr G. T. Moore, and last year obtained direct from him a supply of culture for the treatment of beans, peas, vetches and red-clover. Part of the culture I sent to Mr Clifton, who is in charge of the experimental station in the Auckland Provincial District, and the remainder I tested at the Wereroa Experimental Station. Three plots of each of the aoove kinds of seeds were sown—(1) no treatment, (2) soil-inocula-tion, (3) seed-inoculation. The re-

suits proved (1) that on land which will already produce a good crop of legumes the inoculation is of little benefit to the crop treated, but (2) it increases the number of nodules on the roots and consequently the quantity of nitrogen left in the soil for the benefit of a following crop, such as grain or roots, which have not the power of providing nitrogen for themselves; (3/ the inocuI lated seed invariably gave better results than the inoculated soil. ***** The following extracts from the official bulletin of the United States Department of Agriculture are interesting:—Failure with' inoculation may be expected— (1) When the directions for preparing the liquid culture are not carefully followed. Reference has already been made to the necessity for strict adherence to afewsimple but necessary instructions. In one instance, two dry cultures derired the same "stock culture" and used by the same experimenter gave widely different results in adjoining fields. The first, prepared without proDer reference to temperature and manner of application resulted in the lofs of the seed sown (afalfa), no nodules being formed. In the second experiment, with more care taken, nodules were produced inabuudauce and the stand was a cerfecfc success. The culture does not itself contain the nitrogen, but simply the organisms which potentially have the power of flying nitrogen, and which, if properly j bandied, will increase in such numbers as to be of material benefit to the plants with whioh they haro become associated. (2) When the ground is already thoroughly inoculated. (3) When the soil is so rich in nitrogen as to prevent the growth of nodule forming hacteria. (4) When the soil is too acid or too akaline to permit the development of either plants or bacteria. (5) When the soil is deficient in necessary plant-foods, such as potash and pbosphroio acid, as well as nitrogen. It should also be borne in mind that inoculation will not overcome poor results due to bad seed, improper preparation and cultivation of the land, and decidedly adverse climatic conditions. Before attempting to secure the benefits of inoculation the farmer should first thoroughly inform himself upon the general culture of the crop to be sown. Negleot to do this simply invites failure. Sowing alfalfa on hastily prepared land, on laud foul with weeds, etc., has been responsible for several hundred failures among our own experimenters, and through the country at large the per centage is certainly fully as great. * * * * * In summarising, Mr Kirk states, inter alia, that owing to the direct effect of the ncdule-forming baoteria upon legumes, these plants are supplied with a souroe of nitro-* gen not available to. most other plants. Consequently, the legumes can flourish in a soil practically devoid of nitrogen. The effect of legumes upon nuooeeding crops of <i any kind is beneficial, because of the faot that the soil is enriohed rather than impoverished by these plants. While it is desirable that artificial inooulaton be made at the time of planting, experience has shown that under certain conditions crops of several years' standing are improved by adding bacteria to the soil. Inooulaton is usually of no beyueflt to soil already containing the proper bacteria, although there may bo exceptions. It need not be practised where the soil is already rich in nitrogen, because in suoh soils nodules are formed with difficulty and are of little benefit. Furthermore, the use of suoh soils for growing legumes is generally a mistaken polioy, especially if grown for green-manuring. The inoculation of seed and soil by means of pure cultures grown and distributed aocording to methods devised by the Department of Agriculture is shown by the reports of practical farmers to be of distinct, advantage when used under circumstances that will permit benefit.