272 
tried experiments with liquid manure, and prefer it mixed 
with an absorbent previously. A large landholder would 
find it difficult to water his farm with liquid manure. If he 
places the manure in tanks, he can apply absorbents to it, 
which is much better than watering the surface of the land, 
and there is less evaporation. 
Professor Johnston I have to congratulate the Geolo_ 
gical Society of the West Riding upon the able paper which 
has been read by Mr. Thorp. It is impossible for me to do 
more than simply to express my general opinion upon that 
paper. It is by the accumulation of such observations as 
those which Mr. Thorp has made, in regard to the different 
districts of Yorkshire, and to the practical methods adopted 
in the cultivat'.cn of different parts, geologically considered, of 
this great county, that something like principle is ulti- 
mately to be arrived at. I agree with Mr. Thorp in a great 
degree, in so far as it was possible for any person to follow 
the paper which he read over in so cursory a manner. I 
shall, hov/ever, make one or two observations, which I hope 
Mr. Thorp will consider with that attention which he shows 
he is capable of applying to this subject, and, if he finds 
that they really have any weight in them, will adopt in so 
far as he thinks reasonable from what I shall mention. In 
regard to the quantity of carbon absorbed by plants from 
the atmosphere, Mr. Thorp's wish, I am sure, is to discover 
the truth : it is also my own. I have no opinions, on the one 
side or the other, to advance, except such as I believe in my 
conscience to be consistent with truth: and although Mr. 
Thorp has mis-stated the views which I have advanced 
in my published lectures, he has not done so intentionally 
I beheve, but has taken the first parts of the views which 
I have stated, without giving due weight to the latter 
portion of them. My opinion is directly the reverse of 
that which Mr. Thorp has stated as having been brought 
