ROTHAMSTED EXPERIMENTAL STATION, an in stitution founded by J. B. Lawes (1816-1900) in 1843 on his estate of Rothamsted, an ancient manor at Harpenden, England. Coming early (1834) into possession, he began about 1838 to try the effects of various substances on plant growth. Among others he used bone meal, but, finding it inactive on turnips he treated it with sulphuric acid to obtain the soluble substance then known as superphosphate of lime. This had a high fertilizer value. He proved that the same product could be obtained by treating naturally occurring calcium phosphate with sulphuric acid and so he found a use for the vast deposits then being discovered. Other experiments showed the value of ammonium compounds as fertilizer, while the value of potassium compounds was already recognized. In 1843 he set up a factory near London to produce these "artificial fertilizers." The industry has since developed enormously and now several million tons are made annually. Wishing to continue the agricultural experiments, he invited a young chemist, J. H. Gilbert (1815-1901) to join him in the spring of 1843, and the two men worked together till 1900 when Lawes died : this is the longest partnership in the history of science. The first laboratory was in the barn; field plots were laid out to study the effects of the new fertilizers : in these a uniform system of cropping was and indeed still is followed year after year : thus on the Broadbalk field nothing but wheat has been grown, so that the 85th successive crop is now on the land: on Hoos field barley has been grown every year since 1852 and the Park grass has been hayed every year since 1856. The weights of the crop were carefully recorded and at subsequent dates measurements of weather and of soil conditions were started; the present day records are very elaborate.
Lawes and Gilbert also made experiments on the feeding of animals, adopting the original and then somewhat startling plan of killing and analyzing the animals at the end of the trial to ascertain the fate of the food. They were thus able to prove that animal fat was produced not only from vegetable fat, then re garded as its sole source, but from carbohydrates and protein, and they thus established the basis for the quantitative studies of animal nutrition which have since yielded much knowledge. For many years their data remained the best and most complete. Later on, in 1879, Warington studied the nitrifying processes in the soil; these were the first soil bacteriological investigations in England.
In 1900 Lawes died, having previously set up a trust and en dowed it with L100,000 for the continuance of the experiments: Gilbert died in 1901. A. D. Hall was thereupon appointed director and he immediately proceeded to bring the work into line with the needs of modern farming. One of the most lucid of English agricultural writers, he set out so clearly and concisely the les sons to be drawn from the Rothamsted experiments that they were at once apprehended by the best farmers and their advisers: he thus played a great part in establishing the enlightened atti tude towards science now prevalent among the rural community. He recognized also that agricultural research had become too complex to be carried on by one or two men only but required groups of workers. His studies of soil and plant nutrition aroused considerable scientific interest, and, more important, showed how much science could do to help agriculture. Up till then no British Government had ever made any grants for agricultural research; in 1909, however, when the Development Commission was set up, the principle of Government assistance was recognized. This led to the need for organizing agricultural research and educa tion in the United Kingdom and in 1912 Hall left Rothamsted to devote himself wholly to this work. Rothamsted became the recognized institution for the study of soil and plant nutrition and received grants from the Development Commission and other sources; in consequence expansion became possible. The present (1928) director, E. J. Russell, was then appointed. New depart ments were set up for studying the microbiology of the soil and the physical and chemical properties of the soils and serious ef forts were begun to reduce the ancient art of cultivation to an exact science. The mass of field data had become so great that no ordinary scientific worker could deal with it : a Statistical de partment was therefore established to extract as much information as possible, notably to study the correlations between crop yields, weather and soil conditions, and 'fertilizer treatment. New methods of field experiments were introduced which largely elim inate the effects of soil heterogeneity, one of the chief difficul ties of the field investigator. In 1919 laboratories for the study of plant pathology were added and to-day the total body of scientific workers numbers about fifty, aided by competent tech nical assistants. (E. J. R.)