EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Vol. XVI. May, L905. No. 9. 



An interesting instance of agricultural experimentation under pri- 

 vate auspices is brought to light in the current volume of Tht Journal 

 oftht Royal Agricultural Society of England. It illustrates the value 

 which such work may have in bringing about an improved agriculture 

 and establishing a new system of management. The article is by 

 Director A. 1). Hall, of the Rothamsted Station, and describes the 

 agricultural experiments of the late James Mason, of Eynsham Hall, 

 Oxford. 



It appears that Mr. Mason was a successful business man, who had 

 been quick to apply the teachings of science in his processes of manu- 

 facture. Ilis experience had given him a high appreciation of what 

 science might do for industry, and hence when he came, to retire from 

 active business about 1882, and to devote himself to the management of 

 his large estate, his mind naturally turned in that direction. His lands, 

 comprising about 1,800 acres, had been operated under the tenant sys- 

 tem, lie conceived the idea that by the proper application of science 

 to the methods of agriculture, in place of the traditional rules of the 

 old farming under the tenant system, the industry might be given 

 something of the certainty of a manufacturing enterprise. 



With this end in view, Mr. Mason inaugurated an extensive series 

 of agricultural experiments which continued through the last twenty 

 years of his life. While some of the work was on a laboratory scale, 

 everything was intended to bear directly on practice, and the infor- 

 mation gained was applied to ordinary farming conditions on the 

 estate. Mr. Mason was in frequent correspondence with Lawes and 

 Gilbert regarding his experiments, and had the assistance of consult- 

 ing chemists when needed. He published little or nothing, and 

 although his system and methods have been briefly described by 

 others. Mi-. Hall's account is the first summary of his operations. 



The underlying idea in Mr. Mason's work was to utilize the resources 

 of the soil and the reserves of the subsoil to a much greater extent 

 than was done by the current system of farming; and after the dis- 

 covery by Hellriegel and Wilfarth of the fixation of nitrogen by 

 legumes through the agency of bacteria, he set about utilizing this 

 power of leguminous plants to bring up the fertility of the land. His 



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