Experiments at Cockle Park. 119 



cannot raise the temperature of the soil as humus does. 

 It is evident then that what the farmer requires is at 

 once a chemical and a physical agent provided at the 

 lowest cost, which will act with the greatest certainty, 

 no matter what the season may be, and which will 

 continuously increase the humus of the soil, and add to 

 its depth. This he can provide, as I have abundantly 

 shown, by growing a turf of deeply-rooted, and power- 

 fully-rooted plants. The chemist with his artificial 

 manures can only provide, of course, a costly chemical 

 agent which must always be, as I have shown, at the 

 mercy of the season, and not only cannot permanently 

 ameliorate the fertility of the soil, even in the most 

 favourable seasons, but, unless supported by dnng or 

 turf, must deplete the soil. To the agriculturist who 

 has what Locke terms " Large, sound, roundabout 

 sense," the preceding statements are, of course, mere 

 truisms ; but as there are many of my readers who, to 

 use Locke's words again, " have not a full view of all 

 that relates to the question, and may be of moment to 

 decide it," it is advisable to refer them to the state- 

 ments I have made as regards the crops grown 

 without manure, and also to allude to some facts with 

 reference to th^ experiments made at Cockle Park County 

 Demonstration Farm. These, as we have seen, are made 

 on the assumption that the British farmer has done, and 

 continues to do, all he can for himself, and that it only 

 remains for the chemist to show him how, by the appli- 

 cation of artificial manures, he may derive increased 

 crops from exhausted soil. If the assumption is correct 

 then the results of the experiments are valuable to the 

 farmer, but the assumption, as I have abundantly 

 shown at Cliftbn-on-Bowmont, is not correct, and the 

 experiments are really only of value to show the farmer 

 how, with the present low price for agricultural produce, 

 he may lose his money if, after having adopted my 

 system and manured his land with turf, he chooses to 

 add artificial manures. The experiments made at Cockle 



