June 1, 1898.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



141 



relation than chemistry and botany have been in the 

 Rothamsted esperimeuts. The far-seeing intelligence which 

 devised the details affords results which have completely 

 reformed the practice of agriculture, and the carrying on 

 of a single research without interruption during a period of 

 over fifty years is unexampled — a research which has 

 taught those concerned how to estimate the actual mean 

 fertility of the earth's surface, and, in the subordination 

 of permanent pasture to the practical advantage of the 

 farmer, to successfully employ readily available chemistry 

 to modify at pleasure the entire character of the vegetation. 



Sir John Lawes, apart from his acientilic researches in 

 conjunction with Sir Henry Gilbert, is probably the oldest 

 practical farmer in England, and inherited all the traditions 

 of a long ancestry, so that he may truly be regarded as an 

 adherent to the motto, " Practice with science." The 

 manor house of Rothamsted is situated in the midst of a 

 beautifully wooded park, at Harpenden, near St. Alban's, 

 and the experimental grounds are in the estate adjoining 

 the park. Sir John first commenced operations in 1834, 

 soon after succeeding to his property, first with plants in 

 pots, and afterwards in the fields, using different manuring 

 substances. The researches of De Saussure on vegetation 

 were the chief subject of his study to this end. The 

 most striking results were obtained by the use of neutral 

 phosphate of lime, in bones, bone-ash, and apatite, 

 rendered soluble by means of sulphuric acid. The mixture 

 so obtained answered well for root-crops. In 1813, 

 the date at which the researches commenced in real 

 earnest, and when Dr. (now Sir Henry) Gilbert entered 

 into the work, more systematic field experiments were 

 initiated. These researches relate not only to the growth 

 of cereal and other crops under the most varying conditions, 

 but also to the economic effect of different foods on the 

 development of the animals of the farm. They have 

 embraced, moreover, most important researches concern- 

 ing the sources from which plants derive their supply of 

 nitrogen. 



Following in the wake of the Rothamsted experiments, 

 Germany has worked in the same field, and to-day she can 

 number twenty-five experimental stations, which institute 

 both scientific researches and deal with their adaptation to 

 practice. Germany is indebted to experimental stations 

 for the progress she has made during the last decade, 

 especially in agriculture. Yet while the German stations 

 have been founded by associations of agriculturists and 

 maintained at the public expense, the Rothamsted experi- 

 ments are due to the activity of two eminent men, and are 

 maintained by private funds ; from the commencement 

 they have been entirely disconnected from any external 

 organization, and have been maintained at the sole cost of 

 Sir John Lawes. For the continuance of the investigations 

 after his death, Sir John has made the munificent endow- 

 ment of one hundred thousand pounds, besides the famous 

 laboratory and certain areas of land, and has nominated 

 some of the most distinguished scientific men of the day 

 to administer the trust. 



While it is a fact, affording some cause for self-satis- 

 faction, that the farmers of Great Britain grow a larger 

 produce per acre than the farmers of any other country in 

 the world (the average yield of wheat per acre in 1888 

 was twenty-eight bushels, while that of the United States, 

 for example, was eleven bushels), it is a noteworthy fact 

 in connexion with these investigations that they have not 

 been of the same benefit to our own nation as they have 

 to some other nations. Thus, while, as in the case of 

 Germany, Government has come to the aid of agricultural 

 research to a praiseworthy extent, enterprise in this country 

 is carried on by private resources, save in the college at 



Glasnevin, near Dublin, to which a Government grant is 

 allotted; the colleges at Cirencester, Downton, and the 

 Colonial Training College in Suffolk, being self-sup- 

 porting, and these all draw to a considerable extent upon 

 the researches at Rothamsted for exact information. 



The investigations were commenced upon truly orthodox 

 lines, and with truly orthodox views ; but as it was not 

 possible to alter the laws of nature, it was soon found that 

 the results brought out did not agree with the views of the 

 recognized authorities of the day. Among other things it 

 soon became woefully apparent how small after all was 

 the available leverage for artificially assisting the processes 

 of nature. Too conspicuous to be mistaken, the weather 

 announced itself as the great factor in producing crops. 

 Every day in the year makes its impression, good or bad, 

 on the final issue, which appears to be something very like 

 the algebraic sum^the positive and negative result of the 

 favourable and unfavourable weather of all the days in the 

 year leaving us the victims of circumstance in spite of aU 

 the refinements of science. These investigators also saw 

 clearly the explanation of an experiment which Hale per- 

 formed more than two hundred years ago. Hale had 

 carefully tended a plant in a pot, and noticed that, although 

 the soil lost very little in weight, the plant increased by 

 an amount tremendously in excess of that lost by what 

 appeared to be the parent soil. Whence came, then, the 

 elements of the plant ? The Rothamsted experiments show 

 clearly that about ninety-five per cent, come from the 

 atmosphere, and only some five per cent, from the soil, 

 thus driving home Dumas' saying that " at last analysis 

 we are nothing but condensed air. " 



Some idea of the magnitude and importance of the 

 researches carried on at Rothamsted may be gleaned from 

 the list of field experiments given in the accompanying table. 



Potatoes [various manures) 



Rotation (various manures) 



Permanent Grass (various 



manures) 



* Includinsr one year fallow. 



t Including one year Wheat and five years fallow. 



j Including four years faUow. 



§ Inclading two years fallow. 



" Clover, twelve times sown (first in 1848), eight yieldi:^ crops, bnt fonr 

 >f these very small, one year Wleat, five years Barley, twelve years fallow. 



■" Including Barley without manure three years (eleventh, twelfth, and 

 hirteenth seasons). 



Many of the experiments were commenced without any 

 idea of long continuance, and it was only as the results 

 obtained indicated the importance of such continuance 

 that the plan eventually adopted was gradually developed. 

 It is, however, to long continuance that we owe some of 

 the most interesting and the most valuable results. 



