12 



INTRODUCTION 



The Rothamsted Experimental Station was founded in 1843 

 by the late Sir J. B. Lawes, with whom was associated Sir J. H. 

 Gilbert for a period of nearly 60 years. Lawes died in 1900 and 

 Gilbert in 1901 ; they were succeeded by Sir A. D. Hall from 

 1902 to 1912, when the present Director, Sir E. J. Russell, was 

 appointed. 



For many years the work was maintained entirely at the 

 expense of Sir J. B. Lawes, at first by direct payment, and from 

 1889 onwards out of an income of £2,400, arising from the 

 endowment fund of £100,000 given by him to the Lawes Agri- 

 cultural Trust. In 1904 the Society for extending the Rothamsted 

 Experiments was instituted for the purpose of providing funds 

 for expansion. In 1906 Mr. J. F. Mason built the Bacteriological 

 Laboratory; in 1907 the Goldsmiths' Company generously pro- 

 vided a further endowment of £10,000, the income of which is 

 to be devoted to the investigation of the soil, thus raising the 

 total income of the Station to £2,800. In 1911 the Development 

 Commissioners made their first grant to the Station. Since then 

 Government grants have been made annually, and for the year 

 1924-25 the Ministry of Agriculture has made a grant of £26,480 

 for the work of the Station. Viscount Elveden, M.P., has 

 generously borne the cost of a chemist for studying farmyard 

 manure since 1913 and has recently provided funds for the fitting 

 up of a laboratory workshop, while Lady Ludlow, Sir Otto Beit, 

 Mr. Robert Mond, Mr. T. H. Riches, 'Mr. and Mrs. D. Mac- 

 Alister. and other donors have from time to time generously 

 provided funds for special apparatus and equipment. The Sul- 

 phate of Ammonia Federation and the Fertiliser Manufacturers' 

 Association jointly defray the cost of a Guide Demonstrator for 

 the field plots and the Potash Syndicate, Messrs. Brunner Mond 

 & Co. and other firms have given substantial assistance. 



The laboratories have been entirely rebuilt. The main block 

 was opened in 1919, and is devoted to the study of soil and plant 

 nutrition problems; a new block has been erected for plant 

 pathology at a cost of £21,135 provided by the Ministry of 

 Agriculture out of the Development Fund. The library has been 

 much expanded and now contains some 20,000 volumes dealing 

 with agriculture and cognate subjects. The catalogue of agri- 

 cultural books is now being printed. 



The most important development of recent years has been the 

 reorganisation of the work of the Station so as to bring it into 

 touch with modern conditions of agriculture on the one side and 

 of science on the other. So far as the laboratories are concerned 

 this w.-is completed in 1922; the reorganisation of the farm under 



