M.— AGRICULTURE 235 



largely by oral tradition or by theories spun out of men's heads, untested 

 by experiment. 



Most of our scientific knowledge of the soil has been built up during 

 the past century. It was only with the development of modern science 

 and especially of chemistry and geology, that such knowledge could 

 advance, and it was about a century ago that our early knowledge of the 

 chemical composition and mineral constitution of the soil was built up. 

 This knowledge has been advancing ever since but with particular rapidity 

 during the present century. 



The oldest and most famous station for research in soils and soil fertility 

 is Rothamsted and in its early days, nearly a century ago, before national 

 systems of agricultural education and research were started in other 

 countries, Britain largely through Rothamsted, which was a private 

 institution financed by its owner, John Lawes, and also through the work of 

 Agricultural Societies and private persons, played a not unworthy part in 

 the development of soil science. But during the latter half of the century 

 agricultural research institutions and teaching institutions, in which much 

 research was carried on, founded with State support increased rapidly in 

 other countries both in Europe and America, while Britain was left with 

 Rothamsted alone, a private institution depending on the public spirit and 

 scientific enthusiasm of an individual. Towards the end of the century, 

 consequently, in spite of all that Rothamsted could do, this country was 

 playing a very small part in the development of agricultural science. This 

 can be easily verified by anyone who cares to look up the agricultural 

 literature of the period and note the scientific output of this country 

 compared with, say, France, Germany or America. If I may become 

 reminiscent for a moment, I would say that I belong to that old genera- 

 tion whose scientific training took place in the latter part of last century. 

 It is difficult for a younger, and more fortunate, generation to realise the 

 conditions of those days. There was practically no agricultural research 

 except at Rothamsted, a private institution with a small staff, and there 

 was almost no education in agricultural science, except the limited supply 

 to be obtained at Cirencester in England and Edinburgh University in 

 Scotland. Those of us who wished to learn anything of agricultural 

 science and research were practically bound to go to Germany, and there 

 were no Government Scholarships, or research grants, or agricultural 

 Scholarships of any kind, to assist a poor student to get there. 



The beginnings of an improvement came in 1890 when the Govern- 

 ment of the day finding itself with a considerable sum of money which 

 had been ear-marked for the compensation of dispossessed publicans, but 

 unable, owing to parliamentary exigencies, to use it for that purpose, 

 threw it over to the local authorities with a recommendation that they 

 should use it for technical, including agricultural, education. In this 

 casual British manner started our system of national agricultural education. 

 This developed rapidly in the first quarter of the present century to the 

 system we now know, and though no specific provision was yet made for 

 research, naturally, it began to grow, till with the foundation of the 

 Development Commission in 1910, definite provision was made for that 

 also. But this is not my subject. I am merely sketching in a background 



