THE PREPARATION OF HUMOGEN 151 



essential considerations are, firstly, whether the use 

 of humogen will increase the yield of the crop to the 

 extent that is believed will be the case by those 

 responsible for its production, and, secondly, how 

 far the grower can rely on getting the peat in the 

 quantity he requires at a reasonable cost. The 

 preceding chapters in this book constitute the 

 answer to the first of these questions, and it is for 

 those who are not satisfied with the evidence brought 

 forward to conduct further experiments for them- 

 selves on their own land. 



To furnish an answer to the second question, I 

 have visited the factory at Greenford Green, near 

 Harrow, partly to see how the process of preparing 

 the peat is conducted in bulk and partly to deter- 

 mine how far it would be possible to increase the 

 output to meet a large demand. The factory where 

 the raw peat is changed into humogen is situated on 

 six acres of ground, and occupies the old buildings 

 used by Sir William Perkins for his dye-works. So 

 far only a fraction of the ground is employed, and 

 the old chimney-stacks are still standing as a relic 

 of the great industry which, partly as a result of the 

 attitude of the Government towards science, and 

 partly owing to the national apathy, has been 

 developed into a world-wide industry by Germany. 

 Both for rail and water transport the factory is 

 admirably situated. It is well served by the Grand 

 Junction Canal and both the Great Central and the 

 Great Western Railways. 



The peat is brought to the works in the large bales 

 most familiar to the general public as the way in 



