. Agricultural bacteriology; a study of the relation of germ life to the farm, with laboratory experiments for students, microorganisms of soil, fertilizers, sewage, water, dairy products, miscellaneous farm products and of diseases of animals and plants. Bacteriology, Agricultural. ORGANIC NITROGEN—ITS DECOMPOSITION. 61 ((NH4)2C03). The condition in which the nitrogen actually exists in the humus has been a matter of considerable dispute. Quite a long list of complex chemical compounds have recently been isolated from it; but much of it still remains of unknown composi- tion. It is evident th
. Agricultural bacteriology; a study of the relation of germ life to the farm, with laboratory experiments for students, microorganisms of soil, fertilizers, sewage, water, dairy products, miscellaneous farm products and of diseases of animals and plants. Bacteriology, Agricultural. ORGANIC NITROGEN—ITS DECOMPOSITION. 61 ((NH4)2C03). The condition in which the nitrogen actually exists in the humus has been a matter of considerable dispute. Quite a long list of complex chemical compounds have recently been isolated from it; but much of it still remains of unknown composi- tion. It is evident that there is a long series of stages between the proteid and the final ammonia compound, and that the nitrogen in any lot of soil may be in any one of these stages. In whatever form it exists in the humus, a certain por- tion of it is being constantly reduced to the form of ammonia. This portion alone is leading toward a condition where it can again be readily utilized by plants. The rest, whether in the form of proteid or other- wise, is, for the present, largely, or possibly wholly out of the reach of plant life. The Fig. ^ i6. — Bacteria humus may thus contain a large amount fermentaSon!^™°X^B. of nitrogen and still have little of it available; 'mycoUes; b. b. stmserL , within the reach of plants. Self-ptirificatioii of the Soil.—The universal occurrence of such a decomposition of organic bodies is no new discovery. It has long been known and its extreme significance is now recog- nized, since it is the first step necessary to bring the nitrogen locked up in the proteid back again within reach of plants. But its value in producing what has been called the self-purification of the soil, has been only recently appreciated. As we have seen, the final end-products are largely gaseous (NH3, C02> N, etc.), and these will tend to pass off from the soil into the air. A little thought win show tis that without the existence of some such process the soil would rapidly b
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbacteriologyagricult
