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INTRODUCTION 



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. In 1843 more systematic field experiments were begun, and 

 the services of Joseph Henry Gilbert were obtained as Director, 

 thus starting the long association which only terminated with the 

 death of Lawes in 1900, followed by that of 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 pur- 

 pose 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 provision 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. 



Mr. A. D. Hall was appointed Director in 1902 and held the 

 position till 1912. He brought about great developments, re- 

 organising the work, increasing the staff, and considerably extending 

 the buildings and laboratories. In 1906 Mr. J. F. Mason, M.P., 

 presented the Committee with ^1,000 for the building and equip- 

 ment of the "James Mason" Bacteriological Laboratory, together 

 with a grant towards its maintenance. In 1907 the Goldsmiths' 

 Company made a grant of ^10,000, the income of which is devoted 

 exclusively to 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 /"3,400 and annual 

 subscriptions of over ;^130. This Society was in 1909 incor- 

 porated under the Board of Trade, thus giving it the power to 

 hold money in trust for the purposes of the Rothamsted Experiments. 



During the year 1911 a scheme was published from the Board 

 of Agriculture for the encouragement of agricultural research with 

 funds provided by the Development Commission, and this scheme 

 established or assisted a certain number of institutes for fundamental 

 research, each dealing with one great branch of the subject. The 

 Rothamsted Experimental Station is recognised as the Institute 

 for dealing with Soil and Plant Nutrition problems. In accordance 

 with this scheme a grant of ;^2,500 was made for the current year, 

 and it is expected that an annual grant of this amount will be made 

 to the Station in future. Certain scholarships have also been 

 instituted to provide the training in research work for men who have 

 already qualified in pure science and are desirous of taking up an 

 agricultural career. The holders of three of these scholarships are 

 now doing their work at Rothamsted. 



In addition, investigators from other institutions periodically 

 spend a certain amount of time in the laboratories studying ana- 

 lytical methods or ways of getting over difficulties that have arisen 



