Abstract
IN vol. v., part i. (October, 1912) of The Journal of Agricultural Science, Messrs. Russell and Pether-bridge state that “partial sterilisation appears to be the proper method of dealing with ‘sick soils’” (p. 91). I venture to think that the theory of partial sterilisation—which is indeed very attractive—will not stand examination. According to this theory the fertility of a soil depends largely on its bacterial population, the enemies of which are destroyed by partial sterilisation, which the bacterial spores survive.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
FLETCHER, F. The Bacterial Theory of Soil Fertility. Nature 90, 541–542 (1913). https://doi.org/10.1038/090541a0
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/090541a0
This article is cited by
-
Die Mikrofauna des Bodens, ihr Verh�ltnis zu anderen Mikroorganismen und ihre Rolle bei den mikrobiologischen Vorg�ngen im Boden
Archiv f�r Mikrobiologie (1934)
