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NA TURE 



[September 13, 1900 



For the sake of clearness in our narration, we have 

 brought together in one view the principal facts relating 

 to Sir John Lawes' career as a chemical manufacturer ; 

 we have next to regard him as the founder of the Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station at Rothamsted, and as its 

 presiding genius during a period of nearly sixty years. 



We must go back again to 1842. When Sir John 

 Lawes had taken out his patent, and had determined to 

 start a factory in London, it would have seemed natural 

 if his entire energies had been transferred to this new and 

 promising sphere of labour ; but now the truly scientific 

 character of the man was made manifest. The agricul- 

 tural investigations in the fields at Rothamsted, which 

 had become so fascinating, were not to be given up, but 

 extended. This could only be done by engaging scientific 

 assistance. A young chemist, Dr. J. H. Gilbert, was 

 engaged to superintend the Rothamsted experiments ; 

 and thus, in 1843, began that partnership in labour which 

 has yielded such a rich harvest of results. 



The station thus founded at Rothamsted began its 

 work long before any of the agricultural stations now 

 existing in other countries, of which there are at present 

 several hundreds. The investigations carried out have 

 proceeded to a considerable extent on lines peculiar to 

 the place, and have generally been of a very laborious 

 character. The most striking characteristic of Roth- 

 amsted is its experimental fields, covering nearly forty 

 acres. Here the various crops of a four-course rotation 

 are grown, both separately and in their usual order of 

 succession ; the influence of different manures upon the 

 quantity and composition of the crops is studied ; the 

 alterations in the composition of the soil brought about 

 by different treatment are determined, and in some cases 

 the composition of the drainage water from the different 

 plots is ascertained. The Rothamsted investigations 

 have also included many important and laborious experi- 

 ments on farm animals. 



It is quite impossible to attempt to enumerate the 

 various investigations made at Rothamsted. The first 

 formal report appeared in 1847. The collected reports 

 now occupy nine volumes. We may, however, note some 

 stages in the development of this great enterprise. By 

 1848 most of the experimental fields had commenced their 

 work ; by 1856 the whole of the present series was in 

 operation. The chemical work required soon exceeded 

 the capacity of the old barn first used, and in 1854-5 a 

 handsome new laboratory was built and presented to Sir 

 John Lawes as a testimonial from the agriculturists of 

 England for his services to agriculture. Large additional 

 buildings for preparing and storing samples have since 

 been added. In 1889 Sir John Lawes transferred the 

 whole of the laboratories and experimental fields to 

 trustees, with an endowment of 100,000/., so that the agri- 

 cultural investigations might be permanently continued. 

 The management is now vested in a committee, nominated 

 by the Royal, the Royal Agricultural, the Chemical and 

 the Linnean Societies. The jubilee of the Rothamsted 

 Station was celebrated in 1893, ^"d on this occasion Dr. 

 J. H. Gilbert received the honour of knighthood. A full 

 account of the celebration will be found in Nature of 

 July 27 and August 3, 1893. 



But we must turn once more to the man himself. Sir 

 John Lawes received many honours. The Queen created 

 him a baronet in 1882. Universities gave him their 

 degrees ; societies bestowed upon him their medals. 

 Prosperity could not spoil him. Quite free from personal 

 ambition, he was always ready to give the credit of 

 success to his fellow-workers. Visitors to the Rothamsted 

 experiments — and they were many— were delighted when 

 Sir John himself was the pilot of the party ; the two 

 hours' talk to which they listened was a treat to be 

 remembered. In terse, vigorous sentences the practical 

 results of each trial were brought before them, while the 

 whole was illuminated by many a flash of humour. In 



NO. 161 I. VOL. 62I 



his middle life Sir John Lawes wrote a great number 

 of short articles for the agricultural press. In these he 

 excelled. His thorough knowledge of the details of 

 farming, and his practical mind, prevented him from ever 

 writing as a mere doctrinaire ; the facts ascertained by 

 investigation were presented by him in their concrete 

 aspect as things to be reckoned with by the farmer in his 

 daily life on the farm. 



Our notice would be incomplete without some refer- 

 ence to his local beneficence. As Lord of the Manor 

 he did much to maintain and increase the charms of a 

 pretty village now rapidly transforming itself into a 

 town. He was the agricultural labourers' best friend. 

 He provided them with an ample supply of allotment 

 gardens, and in 1857 built a club room for their benefit ; 

 this was visited and described by Charles Dickens in 

 1859. Sir John Lawes also tried to introduce several 

 co-operative schemes for the labourers' benefit. He was 

 always seen to great advantage on the occasion of the 

 annual allotment club dinner at which he presided, when 

 he carved a huge piece of beef provided by himself, and 

 afterwards made a humorous speech to the labourers. 

 As a generous donor to public and private charities he 

 will be long remembered. 



As he passed into old age his powers seemed to suffer 

 little diminution. A few days before his last illness he 

 went as usual to London, and thence down to the 

 factory at Millwall. He died on August 31, in his eighty- 

 sixth year, full of days and full of honours, and venerated 

 by all who knew him. R. Warington. 



THE BRADFORD MEETING OF THE 

 BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



T N the midst of the turmoil of the Association week 

 -*■ it is difificult to give any careful compression of the 

 results of the meeting ; but, from the point of view of the 

 Local Committee, the visit has been an unqualified 

 success. Apprehensions were felt, in making the pre- 

 liminary arrangements, lest there might be some incon- 

 gruity in certain cases between the guests and the hosts : 

 but, judging from the absence of rumours to that effect, 

 the fears were groundless. 



One point upon which at first some individual soreness 

 arose was due to a slight misunderstanding in the 

 matter of the excursions. These had long presented an 

 exceedingly difficult problem to the local organisers of 

 Association meetings ; so much so, that the entire 

 abandonment of all excursions has at times been con- 

 templated. It is probably inevitable that, in any scheme 

 put forward to ensure the success of the excursionists as 

 a whole, some individual hardship must be occasioned, 

 leading to a certain amount of unpleasantness. In the 

 circumstances, it is scarcely surprising that, at first, a 

 few sufferers should have complained that the excursion 

 arrangements had been planned in a new and inferior 

 manner ; but, eventually, they fell in readily with the 

 innovations. At former meetings it has been found 

 impossible to organise excursions upon any exact system, 

 owing to the fact that persons applied for tickets in a 

 vague and undecided spirit, and often failed to take them 

 up when they were allotted to them, to the consequent 

 deprivation of other persons. Accordingly, in the 

 Bradford scheme, the following regulations were 

 issued : — - 



(i) That out of the seven excursions for the day three 

 should be selected in the order of preference. (2) That 

 the fee (made practically uniform) should be handed in 

 with the application form ; and (3) that persons com- 

 plying with these requirements should in due course 

 receive a ticket for one of the trips selected, or have 

 their money returned. Those applicants who stated 

 that they would only name a single excursion were 



