xvn UTILISATION OF THE SOIL 207 



asserting that plants could take up nitrogen from 

 the air, and the majority that they could not. 

 Among the most important of the negative results 

 were those of the experiments carried out by Sir 

 John Lawes and Sir Joseph Gilbert. 



These experiments were carried out at Kotham- 

 sted, near St. Albans in Hertfordshire, a name which 

 should be known to every Englishman, for there 

 have been carried out at this place experiments 

 the value of which for English agriculture and for 

 the world can scarcely be over-estimated. 



The Eothamsted experiments, carried out very 

 carefully for a long period of time, showed that 

 there is no evidence that the members of the 

 Grass family have the power of taking free nitrogen 

 from the air ; nitrogen must be given to their roots 

 in a combined form before it is any use to them. 

 As regards the plants of the Pea family, the experi- 

 ments, like the later experiments of Boussingault, 

 showed no gain of nitrogen, but and this is an im- 

 portant point Lawes and Gilbert state definitely 

 that it did not seem to them that the plants 

 of this family grew satisfactorily during their ex- 

 periments, and they were not satisfied that, under 

 better conditions, these plants might not have 

 shown that they could take up free nitrogen. 



This important paper was published in 1860, 

 and it was generally supposed to "have settled the 



