SECRET OF SOIL FERTILITY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10592, 22 October 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

SECRET OF SOIL FERTILITY.

The epoch-making discovery of Dr E. j J Russell and Dv H. ». Hutchinson, • who have found thai a micro-organism f destroys tlie bacteria essential to the 1 fertility oi soil, and- that its malign m- , flucnccmay he checked by the use or , antisepses, was made almost by accident. French vine-growers noticed a Ion" time ago that the" phylloxera, or vine-pest, -was checked by treating the soil with carbon disulplnde. This, fact was investigated for'many years, JJr Russell stated, hut no reason could be found. 'About five years ago it was ascertained at. the-"Wye Apricultural- College that antiseptics -like chloroform and toluene-increased the fertility- ot soil. This result-was quite unexpected, for it was" thought that-they would "kill the -beiieficient bacteria.- Further inquiries 1, showed'that something an the soil whs keeping the hacteria in. check and preventing 'them- making as much plant- food/as -they ought, and eventually it;was proved that.an organism, larger than the'bacteria, was either living on the bacteria or 'keeping them off their"food, and so' starving them. This- enabled ~Dr Russell and Dr Hutchinson to piece together the- scattered work they had done. It was ascertained that the beneficial effect ot treating soil with antiseptics and the results obtained by the French vinegrowers were due to the fact that the larger organisms were killed by the j Doisons while .the beneficent bacteria were not affected. The experiments showed that in ordinary soil plant food was not produced so quickly as it should be, and also revealed the cause. Once this cause is removed the bacteria can work better and increase the fer- . tility of the soil. It remains to discover the most economical method of treating ■ ordinary soils, and experiments with this object are now being carried out ' ' at Rothamsted.