REV. W. THORP, B.A, — AGRICULTURAL GEOLOGY, ETC. 217 
After some remarks by the chairman, Sir Francis L. Wood, and 
others, Professor Adam Sedgwick said, that having been called on, 
he should say a few words, though the immediate subject of their 
discussion was one to which he was almost a stranger, he meant the 
examination of soils and their bearing on agricultural produce. 
His pursuit of geology had been on a large scale, and he had studied 
its relations to gTeat questions both of natural history and of general 
physics, but its application to the science of Agriculture he had 
hardly ever touched upon. They were all greatly indebted to Mr. 
Thorp, for the skill with which he had drawn up his paper, and for 
the instructive facts and observations he had laid before them. 
Professor Sedgwick pointed out that a geological map might be of 
little use to an agriculturist, because the rocks which underlie the 
surface may have above them soils which have been derived from 
them by disintregation, or the soil may have come from a distance, 
and be of quite a different character. It was only by minute details 
and local investigations like those just read, that he could learn the 
nature and value of his subsoil. But this knowledge once gained, 
he was then prepared to receive the contributions of geology, and to 
turn them to profit. For geology teaches the true principles of 
irrigation, and determines the distribution of all mineral treasures, 
and such knowledge must ever have an important bearing on the 
economical labours of the agriculturist. He suggested the formation 
of experimental gardens on a large scale where every variety of seed 
might have a fair trial in combination with every variety of soil. 
Every variety of manure might in time also have its proper trial, and 
out of the combined results some practical conclusions might surely 
be arrived at. When the first series of results had given them 
experimentally the quantity of produce under given conditions of 
cultivation, the experiments might again be followed out by ascer- 
taining the successive rates of exhaustion by the repetition of the 
same crops, as well as the best succession of crops to secure permanent 
fertility. These were noble experiments, and they were of a nature 
not to be expected from the practical farmer. If made at all, at 
least if made practically, it could only be by the combined efforts 
and capital of a society of gentlemen deeply interested in agriculture, 
T 
