164 THE SPIRIT OF THE SOIL 



good crop of potatoes from it, and we must therefore 

 conclude that the humogen was both food and 

 stimulant. 



" These results are similar to those obtained pre- 

 viously with a large number of different kinds of 

 plants grown in pots, for which humogen was used. 

 So far as we understand this peat preparation, 

 nothing is added that would be called a manure, 

 either chemical or organic, and the question we 

 would like to ask Professor Bottomley is, would any 

 kind of soil other than peat or peat -moss be similarly 

 affected by his treatment ? If by adding certain 

 bodies to peat he can change its plant food properties 

 so enormously, would it b$ possible to add these 

 bodies direct to, say, a ten-acre field or a fruit 

 orchard, applying it as guano, for example, is 

 applied ? Or is the peat an essential part of the 

 fertilizer ?" 



Gardeners' Chronicle, October 25, 1913. 



" It will be patent to everyone that if it should 

 prove possible to make peat plant food cheaply, and 

 if further trials confirm the results of those which 

 have been made at Kew and elsewhere, Professor 

 Bottomley's discovery will be of great service to 

 horticulture and agriculture." 



Gardeners* Chronicle, March 21, 1914. 



" Briefly these new facts are that extremely small 

 quantities of a watery extract of bacterized peat are 

 potent stimulators of plant growth. For example, 

 it is stated, on the authority of Dr. Rosenheim, who 

 carried out the experiments, that plants treated 

 twice with the water extract of 0*18 gramme 

 ( T ^ ounce) respond very readily to the treatment, 

 and grow away from untreated ' control ' plants. 



