250 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 April, 1916. 



" What we then wanted," Professor Bottomley said, " was a source 

 of soluble humus, and we discovered it in peat. We found that by treat- 

 ing peat with special bacteria it was rendered soluble and formed an 

 excellent medium for the growth of nitrogen-fixation organisms." 



An important question is whether the discovery can be used for 

 greatly increasing our home-grown food supply. We have seen what it 

 does for vegetables. Will it do as much for wheat? 



" There is no reason why it should not," was Professor Bottomley 's 

 reply to this question, " if the discovery is taken up and organized on a 

 sufficiently large and authoritative basis. With a definite agricultural 

 policy on the part of the Government, for example, home-grown crops 

 would reap an enormous benefit. 



" The whole point is this," he explained. " There are thousands ot 

 acres of poor land which could produce plentifully if provided wivn 

 plant food, and there are, in Yorkshire, in Somersetshire, in Devonshire, 

 and in Ireland, thousands of acres of peat now practically useless, which, 

 by bacterial treatment,, could be converted into a rich manure, capable 

 as experiments have shown, at least of doubling the productiveness of 

 the soil. 



" Incidentally, it would give Ireland a new industry, for with its 

 practically inexhausfible supplies of peat that country could provide all 

 that would be required for the whole of the rest of the United Kingdom. 

 I am told of one bog alone ol 800 acres, where the annual charge is only 

 £20, from which as much peat as one wanted could be obtained. 



" Besides the value of peat that has been shown by these experiments 

 there is the fact that ordinary stable manure has been trebled in price 

 in the last two years, and that it is difficult to obtain." 



The Government, it is interesting to add, are apparently alive to 

 the importance of the discovery, for they have made a grant to King's 

 College for the purpose of further investigation. Time, however, will 

 be lost if the years are allowed to pass in experiment. The present is 

 the moment for definite action. — The Farmer's Gazette. 



PROTECTING GUARDS FOR WATERING STOCK. 



After trying most kinds of guards for protecting troughing for water- 

 ing stock, the following has been found to be the most effective and least 

 dangerous: — Put in a row of posts (if split, trim off the splinters) 2 feet 

 in the ground and 10 feet apart, as close as possible alongside the side 

 of the troughing, with a strainer 3 feet in the ground at each end. 

 Have the posts high enough to allow a No. 6 galvanised wire to be run 

 through, so that the wire will be 16 inches above the top of the trough- 

 ing. Place a good stay at each end, and morticed into the strainer, 

 and strain tightly. The wire so placed will allow sheep to drink under 

 and big stock over the wire. If stock are to drink on each side of the 

 troughing, have the guard on each side. — A^icJdand Weekly News. 



