superphosphate in Great Britain amounts at present to about 

 1,000,000 tons, while the total manufacture in the world is about six 

 times this amount. If Sir John Lawes had done nothing more than 

 introduce the manufacture of artificial manures, he would still rank 

 among the greatest benefactors to agriculture. 



The life of Sir John Lawes divides at this point into two parts. 

 He became from the date of his patent a chemical manufacturer, 

 carrying on an extensive London business, and as prosperity increased 

 he embarked in a variety of enterprises. While, however, obliged to 

 spend two days of every week in London, his devotion to agricultural 

 research continued to increase, and the profits yielded by commerce 

 were employed for the creation and maintenance of a large experiment 

 station at Kothamsted. The experiments in the fields had already, at 

 the date of his patent, reached a stage at which the continuous services 

 of a trained chemist were urgently needed. On the recommendation 

 of Dr. A. T. Thomson, Mr. Lawes engaged a young chemist who had 

 studied under Liebig Dr. J. H. Gilbert. Dr. Gilbert entered upon 

 his work at Rothamsted in June, 1843, and continued actively occupied 

 in the scientific superintendence of the agricultural experiments during 

 the whole of his long life. For fifty-seven years Lawes and Gilbert 

 worked together on a great variety of agricultural problems ; of these 

 labours and their results we shall give a brief account after completing 

 our sketch of the life of each worker. 



Mr. Lawes married, in 1842, Caroline Fountaine, daughter of 

 Andrew Fountaine, Esq., of Narford Hall, Norfolk. He enjoyed her 

 society for more than fifty years, and her artistic power was not 

 unfrequently employed in providing illustrations of the investigations 

 in progress. As the commencement of manufacturing operations made 

 great demands on his capital, Mr. Lawes at this period let Rothamsted 

 House, and for some years resided either in London or Devonshire. 



His first factory for the manufacture of superphosphate was erected at 

 Deptford Creek in 1843. The business rapidly extended, and in 1857 

 about 100 acres of land were purchased at Barking Creek, and a larger 

 factory erected, including an extensive plant for the manufacture of sul- 

 phuric acid. In 1866 Mr. Lawes purchased the tartaric and citric acid 

 factory at Millwall. The purchase was unwillingly made, but the new 

 work was taken up with his accustomed energy and enterprise, many 

 economies and improvements were introduced, and the factory became 

 the most important of its kind in this country. In 1872 he sold the 

 whole of his manure business for 300,000 ; he retained the tartaric 

 and citric acid factory till his death. Mr. Lawes had also a large 

 sugar estate in Queensland : the low price of sugar and the lack of 

 cheap labour prevented, in this instance, a commercial success. 



The investigations at Rothamsted made rapid progress. In 1843 



A2 



