PREFATORY NOTE BY THE EDITOR. 7 



Laboratory was begun in 1854, and it was opened at a 

 public gathering, at which the Earl of Chichester presided, 

 on the 19th of July 1855. 



As already indicated, the Eothamsted Experimental 

 Station has from the commencement been entirely dis- 

 connected from any external organisation, and has been 

 maintained solely at the cost of Sir John Bennet Lawes. 

 For the continuance of the investigations after his death 

 he has set apart a sum of £100,000, besides the Laboratory 

 and certain areas of land. In February 1889 trustees were 

 appointed, and a trust-deed was executed. Soon after, in 

 accordance with the provisions of the deed, a Committee of 

 Management was appointed, and entered upon its duties. 



The following are the Trustees, viz. : — 



Sir John Lubbock, Bart., F.K.S. 



Lord Walsingham, F.R.S. 



Sir John Evans, K.C.B., Treasurer of the Royal Society. 



The Committee of Management consists of the following 

 nine members, viz. : — 



Nominated by 

 >The Royal Society. 



> The Chemical Society. 



The Linnaean Society. 

 The Royal Agricultural 

 Society of England. 



Sir John Evans, Treas. R.S. (Chairman) 

 Dr Hugo Muller, F.R.S. (Treasurer) 

 Professor M. Foster, Sec. R.S. 

 W. T. Thiselton Dyer, C.M.G., F.R.S. 

 Professor H. E. Armstrong, F.R.S., late 



Pres. Chem. Soc. . 

 William Carruthers, F.R.S. 

 Sir John H. Thorold, Bart. 

 Charles Whitehead, F.L.S. 

 Sir John Bennet Lawes, Bart. 



In recognition of his eminent services to agriculture, Mr 

 John Bennet Lawes was created a baronet in 1882. He re- 

 ceived the degree of LL.D. from Edinburgh in 1877, of 

 D.C.L. from Oxford in 1892, and of Sc.D. from Cambridge 

 in 1894. He was elected a Fellow of the Eoyal Society 

 in 1854. 



The Jubilee of the Eothamsted Experimental Station in 

 1893 was made the occasion of a ceremonial which was of an 

 unique and interesting character. At a meeting held at the 

 offices of the Eoyal Agricultural Society of England, 12 

 Hanover Square, London, on 1st March 1893, and presided 

 over by H.E.H. the Prince of Wales, it was resolved that, to 

 mark the completion of half a century of continuous research 

 in the Eothamsted Station, some public recognition should be 

 made of the invaluable services rendered to agriculture by 

 Sir John Bennet Lawes and Dr Gilbert. It was decided 

 that subscriptions to the fund should be limited to two 

 guineas, and that the testimonial should take the form of (1) 



