PROCREDINGS OF THE COTTESWOLD CLUB II5 



Lawes and Gilbert at Rothamsted, have abundantly corrob- 

 orated the facts discovered by our experimenters, that 

 Leguminous plants by means of the symbiotic organisms 

 which form the tubercules on their roots, can and do 

 obtain a supply of Nitrogen from the atmosphere. 



What is the bearing of this great Physiological Discovery 

 on Agriculture ? Liebig said long ago : " The pole star 

 " of all progress in Agriculture is the knowledge of 

 " Natural Sources on which we can draw for the Nitrogen 

 " we want." 



Here is a demonstrated source of Nitrogen, new — so far 

 as exact knowledge goes. For when a crop of clover or 

 other Leguminous plant is taken from the land the soil is 

 left richer in Nitrogen than it was, and we now know, 

 thanks to Hellriegel and Wilfarth, how and why this is. 



It remains for our farmers to apply this great discovery 

 to the exigencies of their calling. There is a race of 

 British farmers, a steadily though slowly increasing one, 

 the true descendants in spirit of Townsend and Jethro 

 Tull, who watch for and are prepared to accept whatever 

 help may come to them from German laboratory or 

 Rothamsted plot, and who will alone maintain with success 

 amid what seems an impending chaos, the highest practises 

 of their Art modified and regulated by every new advance 

 in our knowledge of the Laws of Nature. 



18f:0Y.95 



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