PREFACE xi 



Throughout I have kept the teacher in view, and have 

 endeavoured to supply him with the summaries and illus- 

 trations which will be useful in his class work. 



Of course, in many respects the book covers the same 

 ground as the summary of the Rothamsted Experiments drawn 

 up by Gilbert for his lectures in America, which were published 

 both by the United States Department of Agriculture and by 

 the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland in 1895. 

 The American lectures were, however, in the main intended 

 for the reader who was already equipped with a considerable 

 knowledge of agricultural science ; on the one hand, they did 

 not deal with all the Rothamsted work, and on the other, they 

 went into much greater detail than is here attempted. In the 

 present book I have endeavoured to make matters plain to 

 the non-technical reader and to elucidate the subject by 

 diagrams and simplified tables, leaving the specialist to consult 

 the original papers for fuller information. 



By the kind permission of Mr R. Warington and the 

 Council of the Royal Society, I have been permitted to reprint 

 Mr Warington's account of Lawes and Gilbert from the Obituary 

 Notices of the Royal Society, and this forms the best intro- 

 duction to the history of the Rothamsted Experiments and the 

 personality of their founders. 



In the Appendix will be found a bibliography of all the 

 more important papers issued by Lawes and Gilbert, together 

 with others which deal with Rothamsted material by inde- 

 pendent investigators. A list will also be found of previous 

 books which have given a general account of the experiments, 

 including Dr Fream's little/ book published in 1888, which, 

 though dealing only witiTwheat, barley, and grass, has formed 

 for so many readers their introduction and guide to the 

 Rothamsted investigations. 



Although by the terms of the trust deed no teaching 

 may be done at the Station, accommodation may be provided 

 for persons capable of assisting in research ; these are 

 welcomed and are given all facilities for carrying out special 



