Water v. Soil
Water-culture is going ahead at a surprising rate, even in England, as well as in the ¶Jnited States. Experiments on a considerable scale are being carried through at Reading University, at Swanley by Kentish authority, and at Jealots Hill under the I.C.I. It has long been proved, of course, that many plants, such as tomatoes, will grow as well in what one may call chemical water as in the best soil. It is now proved that one of the great advantages of the watery method is the saving of labour, which would chiefly consist in pouring a " nutrient solution," by hand or automatically into trays of clinker, sand or gravel. In Britain this method, which seems really likely to have a practical future, will be con- fined to cultivation in glass-houses, where the greatest trouble, sometimes insoluble, is the procuring or sterilising of soil. On a larger scale it is thought in America that some form of hydroponics may make life possible on sandy and waste spaces, as in many Pacific islands.
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