EOTHAMSTED 



PEEFATOEY NOTE BY THE EDITOR 



The genius of the individual, we are told, is the birthright of 

 mankind. An unostentatious but gifted squire, who has 

 lived an industrious and happy life in the English county of 

 Hertford, has by his genius and public spirit given to the 

 world an inheritance so goodly that its worth can hardly be 

 over-estimated. It is sometimes remarked as curious that 

 while on the continent of Europe and in America there are 

 many Agricultural Experiment Stations, Great Britain, 

 which for centuries has led the van in agricultural progress, 

 can claim to have had for any considerable period of time 

 but one extensive centre of original research. It is equally 

 remarkable that the one extensive and important Experi- 

 mental Station which Britain does possess should be the 

 oldest in existence, and that it has probably done more solid 

 work for the advancement of agriculture than all its foreign 

 compeers put together. 



In the world of science the position of Eothamsted is 

 unique. For more than half a century it has been the 

 largest and most systematically conducted Agricultural 

 Experiment Station in the universe. Abroad, as at home, 

 Eothamsted has become a household word. So much accus- 

 tomed are agriculturists and scientists to speak and think of 

 Eothamsted as a national institution, that it is not often 

 realised that it is absolutely and entirely the undertaking of 

 a private citizen. The Eothamsted Experimental Station 

 was founded by Sir John Bennet Lawes, has been carried 



VOL. VII. A 



