292 HENRY HILL GOODELL 



afterwards upon plants in the field. Led by the striking 

 results obtained to carry on the same line of investigation 

 on a broader scale, nine years later he associated with him- 

 self Dr. Gilbert, turned a barn into a laboratory, and com- 

 menced that series of patient and exhaustive experiments 

 which have won for him and his work a world-wide reputa- 

 tion. From the few experiments with potted plants of 1835 

 and 1836, and from a single associate working in a barn 

 used for chemical purposes in 1843, his station has risen 

 in staff and equipment to one of national importance, with 

 its sixty or more broad acres permanently set aside for 

 agricultural experiment; its trained staff of workers, chem- 

 ists, botanists, veterinarians, computers, and recorders; 

 its laboratory, presented by interested agriculturists in 

 recognition of the importance of his work; its munificent 

 endowment; its collection of over 40,000 bottles, contain- 

 ing the results of thousands of analyses, samples of the 

 various animal and vegetable products, ashes, soils, etc., 

 connected with the various experiments ; and last, its manu- 

 script library, a marvel in itself — thousands of pages, 

 classified and indexed, containing a complete record of 

 every ascertained fact; a life-history, if we may so term 

 it, of every experiment undertaken; a mass of all conceiv- 

 able data on a great variety of subjects, tabulated and 

 arranged for ready reference. 



Rothamsted has from the outset — and for nearly half a 

 century — voluntarily placed itself at the disposition of 

 the advocates and practitioners of advanced agriculture. 

 Scientific and practical problems, as offered, have been 

 accepted and faithfully and exhaustively worked out, re- 

 gardless of expense either in time or money. Practical 



