CHAPTER XIX 



THE ROTHAMSTED EXPERIMENTS 



ROTHAMSTED is the oldest agricultural experiment station. It 

 was formally established in 1843, nine years before the first German 

 experiment station was started at Mockern (Leipzig), although 

 some experiments had been conducted at Rothamsted at least as 

 early as 1837, and more extensive fielcl experiments were begun in 

 1840. The published records report all of the crops grown on 

 Broadbalk field since 1839, and the exact yields of produce are 

 recorded since 1844, so that the records now cover about two thirds 

 of a century. 



It was in 1843 tna ^ J onn Bennet Lawes, the proprietor of the 

 Rothamsted estate and founder of the experiment station, secured 

 the services of Doctor Joseph Henry Gilbert; and this associa- 

 tion, which continued to the end of the century, made the names, 

 Lawes and Gilbert, almost synonymous with Rothamsted. 



The earlier extensive investigations of De Saussure concerning 

 the mineral constituents of plants, followed by the discussion and 

 further investigations of Sir Humphry Davy and others, and the 

 confident announcement of well-defined theories by Baron Justus 

 von Liebig, were among the important factors that influenced the 

 general plans that were adopted for the Rothamsted field experi- 

 ments. 



Lawes and Gilbert did not concur in Liebig's theory so far as 

 concerns the element nitrogen, and the central plan in most of 

 the Rothamsted field experiments is based upon this difference 

 of opinion; and, while the accumulated information showing the 

 correctness of Lawes and Gilbert's views is exceedingly full and 

 complete, some other important facts find little proof in the 

 Rothamsted data. 



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