THE TESTING OF HUMOGEN 147 



treated with the peat, were markedly superior to 

 those which had not received treatment. 



Mr. Holmes's experiments were interesting for 

 another reason. There was a single field of potatoes 

 the whole was a markedly poor crop one large 

 corner of which had been treated with humogen, but 

 had otherwise received exactly the same manure as 

 the rest of the field, and to the eye the crop on this 

 area was markedly inferior to that on the rest of the 

 field. It is the first instance that I have met with 

 personally in which apparently the treatment with 

 humogen has retarded growth. The soil is now 

 being analyzed and the other conditions studied to 

 find out why this unusual result should have been 

 obtained.* That the treated peat of itself can do 

 harm is impossible, as plants have been planted in 

 pure humogen and done well. It is possible that 

 the plot may improve before the potatoes are dug 

 up, but the fact remains and has to be faced that 

 there is a prima facie case here that there may be 

 certain rare soil conditions other than mere acidity 

 which will need correction before humogen can be 

 successfully applied. It has to be remembered that 

 the present season has been abnormal, and that the 

 lesson it teaches is that it is advisable to dig the 

 humogen into the soil early in the year at a time 

 when the chance of drought has not to be feared. 



As will be seen from Appendix B, there are many 

 other places where experiments have been made with 



* While the book was going through the press I heard from 

 Mr. Holmes that with the advent of an ample rainfall the plot 

 improved, and now (September 3) at least equals any other 

 portion. 



