JOHN BULL'S OTHER ISLAND. 201 



The farmer had yet to be convinced as to 

 the advantages of tillage over growing grass. 

 Even though an efficient implement had been 

 made for him, a practical and sceptical, though 

 a visionary race, wanted something more 

 materialistic than lectures to show that tillage 

 paid better than growing grass for hay or 

 pasture. 



In England we have one experimental 

 agricultural station — Rothamsted — of which 

 we are justly proud — one ; and yet agriculture 

 is still our greatest industry ! In Ireland an ex- 

 perimental plot may be found in every district. 

 If the instructor cannot persuade the farmers 

 in his district to try tillage in the place of 

 growing grass, or what is more common, to 

 try his methods of scientific tillage in the 

 production of potatoes, oats, and roots, instead 

 of antiquated ones, he will say to the most 

 sceptical of the farmers : " Let me have a 

 rood of your land and I will give you the seed 

 potatoes, the superphosphates, or other fer- 

 tilisers, then you must follow my instructions, 

 do the work, and compare the crop from this 

 rood with the crops you obtain by following 

 your own methods." 



These valuable practical experiments, now 



