INTRODUCTION. 



Mr. (afterwards Sir) John Bennet Lawes was the founder of the 

 Rothamsted Experimental Station. He began experiments with 

 various manurial substances, first with plants in pots and then in the 

 field, soon after entering into possession of the estate at Rothamsted 

 in 1834. I n : ^43 more systematic field experiments were begun, and 

 the services of Dr. (afterwards Sir) J. H. Gilbert were obtained as 

 Director, thus starting the long association which only terminated 

 with the death of Sir John Lawes in 1900, followed by that of Sir 

 Henry Gilbert in 1901. 



The Rothamsted Experimental Station has never been connected 

 with any external organisation, but has been maintained entirely at 

 the cost of the late Sir John Lawes. In 1889 he constituted a Trust 

 for the continuance of the. investigations, setting apart for that 

 purpose the Laboratory (which had been built by public subscription, 

 and presented to him in 1855), certain areas of land on which the 

 experimental plots were situated, and £ 100,000. 



By the provisions of the Trust-deed, the management is 

 entrusted to a committee nominated by the Royal Society (four 

 persons), the Royal Agricultural Society (two persons), the Chemical 

 and Linnean Societies (one each), and the owner of Rothamsted. 



It has latterly been the desire of the Committee to obtain 

 additional funds for the extension of the work of the Station. In 

 1906 Mr. J. F. Mason, M.P., presented the Committee with ^*i,ooo 

 for the building and equipment of the " James Mason " Bacteriological 

 Laboratory, together with a grant towards its maintenance. In 1907 

 the Goldsmiths' Company made a grant of ^*io,ooo, the income from 

 which is to be devoted to the payment of a special assistant for the 

 investigation of the soil. The Permanent Nitrate Committee have 

 also made a grant of ^"2,000 to the endowment. The Society for 

 extending the Rothamsted Experiments, founded in 1904, has also 

 collected donations amounting to ^"500, and annual subscriptions ot 

 nearly /150. 



The field experiments, which began in 1843, have on some ot 

 the plots been continued without break or alteration up to the 

 present day ; on the Broadbalk Wheat Field certain rearrangements 

 were made in 1852, in which year also the Barley experiments on 

 the Hoos Field began. The leguminous crops on the Hoos Field 

 were started in 1848, the experiments on Roots have been continued 

 on the same field since 1843, and on the same plan since 1856. The 

 grass plots began in 1856, and the rotation experiments in 1848. 



