BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION xxix 



laboratory and experimental fields were leased to Sir John 

 Lubbock, William Wells, Esq., and Sir John Evans, as 

 trustees, for ninety-nine years at a peppercorn rent. To the same 

 trustees he covenanted to pay the sum of 100,000, the interest 

 on which was to be applied to the maintenance of agricultural 

 investigations under the direction of a Committee of nine 

 persons, of whom four were to be nominated by the Royal 

 Society, two by the Royal Agricultural Society, one by the 

 Linnean Society, and one by the Chemical Society, the owner 

 of Rothamsted being always a member of the Committee. 

 The appointment of new trustees when required was vested in 

 the Royal Society. The Managing Committee were at once 

 appointed. They consisted of Sir John Evans, Dr Hugo 

 Miiller, Sir Michael Foster, and Sir W. T. Thiselton Dyer, 

 nominated by the Royal Society ; Sir John H. Thorold, and 

 Charles Whitehead, Esq., nominated by the Royal Agricultural 

 Society ; William Carruthers, Esq., nominated by the Linnean 

 Society ; Prof. H. E. Armstrong, nominated by the Chemical 

 Society ; with Sir John Bennet Lawes. Under this Committee, 

 with but few alterations in their constitution, the direction of 

 the work at Rothamsted has since proceeded. 



The Jubilee of the Rothamsted Experiments was celebrated 

 on July 29, 1893. The organisation of this celebration 

 originated with the Royal Agricultural Society. At a meeting 

 on March 1, presided over by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, it 

 was resolved : " That some public recognition should be made 

 of the invaluable services rendered to Agriculture by Sir John 

 Lawes and Dr Gilbert." A subscription list was opened, and 

 with the contributions received a large boulder of Shap granite 

 was erected in front of the laboratory, bearing the following 

 inscription : " To commemorate the completion of Fifty Years 

 of continuous experiments (the first of their kind) in agriculture, 

 conducted at Rothamsted by Sir John Bennet Lawes and 

 Joseph Henry Gilbert. A.D. MDCCCXCIII." A large and 

 distinguished gathering was held in front of the laboratory 

 on the afternoon of July 29, the Rt. Hon. Herbert Gardner, 



