INTEODUCTION 



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

 amsted 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 of Rothamsted in 1834. In 

 1843 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. 



For many years the Rothamsted Experimental Station was not con- 

 nected with any external organisation, but was maintained entirely at 

 the cost of 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. 



In 1906 Mr J. F. Mason, M.P., presented the Committee with £1000 

 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 £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 £2000 to the endowment. 

 The Society for extending the Rothamsted Experiments, founded in 

 1904, has also collected donations amounting to £3400 and annual 

 subscriptions of over £130. This Society was in 1909 incorporated 

 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 Experi- 

 mental Station is recognised as the Institute for dealing with Soil and 



