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NATURE 



[August 3, 1893 



moment to recall the varied succession of agricultural pros- 

 perity and depression those two had seen during the past 

 fifty years. During that period their friends had seen wheat 

 rise as far as 78J. He thought that was in 1855 ; and, he re- 

 gretted to say, since he had had the honour to be President of 

 the Board of Agriculture, it had fallen as low as 2\s. ?id. in May 

 last, making a difference of 50;. per quarter. In a meeting like 

 the present, so interested in agricultural subjects, he might say 

 that he thought the development of steam ocean traffic had done 

 more than Free Trade to bring down the price of wheat. There 

 was one ray of hope — he admitted it was a very small one — 

 with regard to the present low and phenomenal prices of wheat. 

 There seemed little doubt, from a calculation he had made, 

 that the extremely low prices were partly due to the extraor- 

 dinary reserves of that article they had in the country since this 

 1891. The normal reserve of wheat in this country was calcu- 

 lated to be about 2,000,000 quarters, but since 1891 that reserve, 

 following upon the scare of Russian famine, rose at a bound to 

 over 6,000,000 quartets. At the present moment it had fallen 

 again by something like 2,000,000, and as there was every 

 reason to expect there would not be the same inflax of wheat 

 into our country in the present year as there had been in the 

 past, it was possible, when the reserve reached the normal 

 standard again that prices might recover. 



A memorial more enduring than the granite boulder before 

 them was furnished by the published records of the experi- 

 ments. It would always be a pleasant recollection to him to 

 know that since he had occupied his present position he had 

 been able to place some fifty memorials of Sir John Lawes and 

 Dr. Gilbert over the country amongst agricultural institu- 

 sions — he alluded to copies of their works, which, with the 

 sanction of the Treasury, he had been able to purchase at the 

 public expense. 



Mr. Gardner, in conclusion, said it was with the sincerest 

 pleasure and profoundest respect he expressed to Sir John 

 Lawes and Dr. Gilbert, in the names of the agriculturists of this 

 country, their felicitations on their jubilee, and their hopes that 

 they might long enjoy the honour and admiration of all classes 

 of their fellow-countrymen. 



The Duke of Westminster said he owed the agreeable position 

 he occupied on that occasion to the fact that he was the ex- 

 President of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, and 

 that during his year of office he had been chosen President of 

 the Rolhamsted Jubilee Fund. He had the pleasure of asking 

 Sir John Lawes to accept his own portrait, painted by Mr. Her- 

 komer, and he hoped Lady Lawes, their children, and grand- 

 children would consider it worthy alike of the subject which it 

 represented and of tiie old walls which it was destined to adorn. 

 He had further to present both to Sir John and to Dr. Gilbert 

 an illuminated address, signed on behalf of the subscribers 

 by the Prince of Wales, and couched in the following terms . — 



"To Sir John Bennet Lawes, Bart., D.C.L., LL.D., 

 F.R.S., &c. 



" On behalf of the Committee of the Rothamsted Jubilee 

 Fund and of the numerous subscribers to that fund in all parts 

 of the world, I offer you the most hearty congratulations on the 

 completion of half a century's uninterrupted investigation of 

 agricultural problems of the highest practical value and 

 interest." 



"These investigations, which originated with you, relate not 

 only to the growth of cereal and other crops under the most 

 varying conditions, but also to the economic effect of different 

 foods on the development of the animals of the farm. They 

 have embraced, moreover, most important researches con- 

 cerning the chemical constituents of soils, the rainfall, drain- 

 age waters, and the sources from which plants derive their 

 supply of nitrogen." 



" During the whole of this period of fifty years you have had 

 the zealous cooperation of your lifelong friend Dr. Joseph 

 Henry Gilbert, whose name will ever be associated with yours, 

 and whom jointly with you we desire on the present occasion to 

 congratulate.'' 



" For the continuance of the experiments and investigations 

 which have already extended over so long a period, you have 

 munificently provided by the establishment of the Lawes Agri- 

 cultural Trust, so that our successors will profit even more, if 

 possible, than we of the present day have done by your en- 

 lightened labours." 



" The Memorial which is now erected will, it is hoped, pre- 



NO. 1240, VOL. 48] 



serve your joint names in honoured remembrance for centuries 

 to come, while the portrait that is presented to you herewith 

 will hand down to future generations the likeness of one of the 

 most disinterested as well as the most scientific of our public 

 benefactors." " Albert Edward P." 



"July 29, 1893." 



"To Joseph Henry Gilbert, M.A., Ph.D., LL.D., 

 F.R.S., &c. 



" In celebrating the Jubilee of the Rothamsted Agricultural 

 Experiments, it is impossible to dissociate your name from that 

 of Sir John Lawes, and on behalf of the subscribers to the 

 Rothamsted Jubilee Fund in all parts of the world I offer you 

 the most hearty congratulations on the completion of your fifty 

 years of continuous labours in the cause of agricultural 

 science." 



" The nature txA importance of those labours are so well known 

 that it is needless to dilate upon them ; but if the institution of 

 the various investigations and experiments carried out at Rotham- 

 sted has been due to Sir John Lawes, their ultimate success 

 has been in a great measure secured by your scientific skill and 

 unremitting industry. Moreover, by your lectures and writings, 

 you have been a leading exponent in this and other countries of 

 the theoretical and practical aspects of the researches that have 

 been undertaken at Rothamsted. ' 



"A collaboration such as yours with Sir John Lawes, already 

 extending over a period of upwards of fifty years, is unexampled 

 in the annals of science. I venture to hope for an extended pro- 

 longation of these joint labours, and trust that the names of 

 Lawes and Gilbert, which for so many years have been almost 

 inseparable, may survive in happy conjunction for centuries to 

 come." 



"July 29, 1893." "Albert Edward P." 



Continuing, the Duke said it was also his pleasing duty to ask 

 Dr. Gilbert to accept, on behalf of the subscribers, the handsome 

 silver plate which was before them, and which bore the inscrip- 

 tion — " Presented by the subscribers to the Rothamsted Jubilee 

 Fund to Dr. Joseph Henry Gilbert, F.R.S., in commemoration 

 of the completion of 50 years of unremitting labour in the csiuse 

 of agricultural science, 29 July, 1893." 



M. Johannet then read an address from the Societe des Agri- 

 cultenis de France, and M. Aubin, from the same Institution, 

 followed with a congratulatory speech delivered in French. 



The Duke of Devonshire, President of the Royal Agricultural 

 Society, said they had not come there to make speeches, but to 

 do honour to the benefactors of their country. He appeared 

 that afternoon, in the name of the 1 1 ,000 members of their 

 great Society, to present to Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert the 

 illuminated addresses which were upon the table, and to offer 

 them their most hearty congratulations on the completion of 

 half a century's investigations at Rothamsted. The Rothamsted 

 experiments were a model of what all experimental inquiries 

 ought to be ; they had stimulated the carrying out on a lesser 

 scale of other experiments, as those at Woburn and those of 

 numerous local societies. "Practice with Science" was the 

 motto of their Society ; it might well be applied to Rothamsted 

 work, which had shed light on many of the vexed questions of 

 practical agriculture. For forty-five years the Society had had the 

 advantage of the personal advice and assistance of Sir John 

 Lawes as a member of its council, and it was proud to recognise 

 in Dr. Gilbert one of the most distinguished of its honorary 

 members. Their contributions to the Society's yi;«?-«a/ from 

 1847 to the present time constituted the most valuable series 

 of papers which had appeared in its pages, and they alone 

 would have made the Jourtial famous. For this and all the 

 Societyoffered to Sir John Lawes and Dr. Gilbert their hearty- 

 thanks, hoping that they might long be spared to continue their 

 labours, which, in the words of the Society's charter, were for 

 "the general advancement of agriculture." 



Prof, ilichael Foster, as senior secretary of the Royal 

 Society, presented two addresses from the Society, and 

 with their hearty congratulations, expressed the hope that the 

 Rothamsted Station might be as fruitful of scientific results in 

 the future as in the past. 



Dr. H. E. Armstrong, the President of the Chemical Society, 

 presented an address from that body. He remarked that 

 Rothamsted work was appreciated by none more than by the 

 Fellows of the Chemical Society. 



Prof. Stewart, the President of the Linnean Society, pre- 



