530 Biograpldcal Sketch of 



where in the conclusions we do not agree, in fact these are dis- 

 proved. We gather further from this volume a reference to 

 Liebig's discovery, soluble-superphospate. Mr. Thompson was 

 selected to speak on the subject of thick and thin sowing of 

 wheat. The Report of the Council calls the Royal Agricultural 

 Society a " Parent of Societies," and refers to the total money 

 implement award at Oxford in 1839, which was covered by a 

 five-pound note. 



The Implement * department at York, 1848, and at Norwich in 

 1849, was reported upon by Mr. Thompson ; these two admirable 

 papers enrich the ninth and tenth volumes of the Journal. In these 

 thoroughly practical papers the practical man of business peeps 

 out everywhere ; there is forecast, there is grasp, together with 

 close reasoning on methodically arranged facts, and all brought 

 home to the reader by a style, both clear and concise ; exact me- 

 chanical laws and tests applied by the master hand of Amos 

 produced their natural results ; agricultural shows ceased to be 

 mere bazaars ; good testing made good implements, and as regards 

 them, cultivated that plant of slow growth in the agricultual 

 bosom — confidence. 



And now courteous reader, with your consent, we will make a 

 convenient digression. 



In an ancient corner of the ancient city of York, where old 

 beetle-browed houses with quaint carved beams overhang the 

 narrow foot-pavement, there lived, in the summer of 1845, a 

 chemist and druggist of capacity, a shy and retiring, but able 

 and exact member of the Society of Friends — his seal a pestle and 

 mortar, underneath the letters J. S. — Joseph Spence. He was 

 also managing partner in the York glass-works. The Thomp- 

 sons of Kirby were old customers. Spence knew nothing of 

 agriculture but what young Thompson told him ; and often he 

 came to and fro. An agricultural laboratory was fitted up-stairs. 

 Thompson suggested amongst others, an experiment, the power 

 of the soil to absorb and assimilate ammonia. A glass tube 

 to be afterwards filled was made at the glass works, it re- 

 presented down to the drain a four-foot section of earth. Spence, 

 much interested, worked early and late, he ground down turf 

 to fill the tube. The result of the percolation of a solution of 

 ammonia fairly startled them all, it was not filtration but a new 

 chemical action : Spence threw up his hands in astonishment 

 and called up Holden his assistant to see the unexpected result. 

 Friend Spence ! did it at that moment occur to thy practical 

 mind that mere money might be made of this discovery ? No, 



* " The classification in natural order of implements for trial, we are told by 

 Mr. Wren Hoskyns, was due to Mr. Pusey." — ' Journal of the Eoyal Agricultural 

 Society,' vol. xviii., p. 415. 



