LAWES AND GILBERT 235 



life in every phase of its development. With a skill that has 

 been unprecedented, he has recorded from year to year the 

 variations in the growth of every kind of nutritious plant. He 

 has examined into the meteorological conditions, the variations 

 of climate, of soil, and of mineral agents, of drainage, and of every 

 conceivable thing affecting the production and development of 

 plant growth. These memoirs are admitted throughout the world 

 to be unique in their importance. Wherever the chemist or the 

 physiologist, the statistician or the economist has to deal with 

 these problems, he must turn to the results of the Rothamsted 

 experiments in order to understand the position of the science 

 of our time. These results will be for ever memorable ; they 

 are unique and characteristic of the indomitable perseverance 

 and energy of our venerated President, Sir Henry Gilbert." 



The close association of Lawes and Gilbert in the Rotham- 

 sted experiments makes it almost impossible to separate the 

 work of the two men. The majority of the 132 papers issued 

 from Rothamsted between 1843 ^^^ IQO^ appeared under the 

 joint names of Lawes and Gilbert, and it would be as difficult 

 as it is undesirable to attempt an analysis of this partnership. 

 It was essentially a partnership devoid of any jealousy, and 

 actuated by a feeling of mutual regard and esteem. There 

 never was a question as to the " predominant partner." The 

 two workers formed an unique combination, each supplying 

 some deficiency in the other. Lawes possessed the originating 

 mind and had a thorough knowledge of the facts and needs of 

 practical agriculture; Gilbert was the exact scientist, the man of 

 detail and method. Dr J. A. Voelcker, who speaks of Gilbert 

 as his life-long friend and teacher, says, "The partnership and 

 collaboration of 'Lawes and Gilbert' represented an excellent 

 embodiment of the motto 'Practice with Science.' Lawes was 

 essentially the practical agriculturist quick to see and grasp 

 what the farmer wanted, and to become the interpreter to him. 

 He was the man to whom the practical farmer turned, the one 

 to write a brisk article on some subject of agricultural practice 

 or economy, to answer a practical question, or to solve some 

 knotty problem. Lawes was the more versatile of the two, the 

 more inclined to introduce changes in and modifications of the 



