Homogenization and nonhomogenization techniques were compared in culturing 75 sputum specimens from patients with chronic bronchitis. In only two instances (2.7%) did the homogenized sample reveal an organism not isolated by the single-specimen technique, while on 4 occasions (5.3%), pneumococci, which were cultured by the single-specimen technique, failed to be identified by the homogenization procedure due to an overgrowth of Proteus in the homogenized sample.