OLDEST RESEARCH STATION

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 71, Issue 36, 22 November 1950, Page 2

OLDEST RESEARCH STATION

HISTORY EXTENDS OVER 107 YEARS The oldest and at the same time most up-tof-dWte experimental agri* cultural station in the world lies at Rothamsted, in Hertfordshire. There a large number of scientists work on the 500-acre farm, which is divided into nearly 2000 plots. On the results of Rothamsted experiments depend the future techniques that farmers will employ. How much fertiliser and of what kind is best for which crops, the most suitable rotation of crops to follow each other and other related problems are solved at this great, station.

The showpiece of the whole concern is the famous Broad Walk This is an 11-acre stretch of cold fclay soil, full of flints, which is divided into 18 strips. The first of these has been treated with ordinary farmyard manure for 107 years; the second has had neither manure nor fertiliser in all that time. These two ■ strips form a basis of comparison for the other 16, all of which have been dressed with some fixed combination of fertilisers over the 107 years. The results of these tests have shown that some chemical fertilisers produce a yield of grain equal to that cropped from the manured strips, a yield which they are able to keep up for 100 years. It is such evidence of long-term efficiency that is valuable to the farmer. Rothamsted Experimental Station was founded in 1843 by Sir John Laws to investigate soils and fertilisers, but the greater part of its work to-day is on plant diseases. Twenty scientific departments are housed in the square brick building where the indoor research goes on, and students from all over the world are on the waiting list, hoping for a chance to be associated for a time with the men working there.