The Value of Research

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 419, 30 July 1928, Page 12

The Value of Research

HISTORY OF ROTHAMSTEAD Discovery of Fertilisers WITH the general demand for research into all spheres of agriculture it is interesting to remember that one of the greatest discoveries of the age, the value of artificial manures, was merely the outcome of the experiments of an impover- . ished English- land-owner. To-day the use of fertilisers forms the basis of all modern farming methods and Rothamstead farm, the scene of initial experiments, has become the agricultural research centre of the world. To-morrow Sir John Russel, F.R.S., director of the Rothamstead Experimental Agricultural Station, arrives on the Maheno from Australia, where, for the past month or so, he has been investigating farming problems on behalf of the institute. A resume of the discovery and development of fertilisers at this juncture, therefore, is appropriate.

JN 1843 John Bennet Lawes, an English squire, who owned the beautiful old manor house of Rothamstead, found that he would either have to increase his income from the land or give up his property. As a result of his experiments he was the first to offer artificial manures tor sale. Dawes was producing sheep and wheat, and growing arable crops, chiefly turnips, for his stock. At the time the yield of wheat was about 20 bushels to the acre, but in some seasons it fell much lower. Lawes had a taste for making agricultural experiments. He had some knowledge of chemistry and knew the composition of farijiyard manure, then the regular manure upon all farms, and still one of the best general manures. He found out by experiment that nitrogen, one of the constituents of farmyard manure, could be applied advantageously to crops by means of sulphate of ammonia, a by-product in the manufacture of coal gas. He knew that phosphoric acid was an essential constituent of plants, and that It was contained in small quafltity only in farmyard manure. He tried ground bones as a fertiliser, but as the phosphoric acid contained in hone is insoluble, and therefore not taken up by plants, he tried treating bones with sulphuric acid, and found that a better fertiliser was made which gave immediate results. Superphosphate Discovered Bones w T ere too dear for extensive use, and he turned his attention to rock phosphate, which geologists at that time had discovered in large quantity. He found that, if treated with sulphuric acid, the rock phosphate produced the same superphosphate of lime as did ths more expen-

sive bones. He therefore patented his process, set up a factory near London, and made artificial manures tortile first time in history. In the “Gardeners’ Chronicle,” July I, 1843, appeared an advertisement for J. B. Lawes’s patent manures, phosphate of lime, phosphate of ammonia, silicate of potash, price 4s 6d a bhshel. Superphosphate was specially recommended for fixing ammonia in dung. For many years he had the whole superphosphate industry in his hands, and he made- a considerable fortune. He continued the field experiments on his home farm, and brought to Rothamsted a young chemist, John Henry Gilbert. The two men worked together all their lives, and their 60 years’ partnership is probably a record one. A barm, was converted into a laboratory, and the field experiments were made year after year on the same land, and always with the same crops, so as to be quite certain that the result was not due to a trick of the season. The first experiment with wheat showed a substantial increase by the use of mineral fertilisers, and sulphate of ammonia. Experiments With Wheat

The Broadbalk wheattleia is probably the best known part of Rothamsted. It was put into wheat in 1843 y and has been kept in wheat continuously ever since. Farmers in England. as well as in practically all parts of the world, have declared that the continuous use of artificial fertilisers would make the land sick or impoverished. The Rothamsted experiments have shown that, after 60 years, the increased yields due to artificial fertilisers have been maintained. On the other hand, portion of the Broadbalk field that has been unmanured since 1839 still produces normal grain of unaltered quality, but the yield has gone down from 17 or IS bushels at first to 10 bushels, and is falling very

steadily, but it is reckoned that it will continue to produce some wheat for the next 150 years. Artificial manures, although invaluable, have not the same action as farmyard manure, and so far science has failed to provide any concentrated ! fertiliser that will act as well, particularly in a dry season. Farmyard man- r ure is becoming costly upon English j and European farms, but at Rotham- j sted a method has been devised for 1 making it from waste straw or other vegetable matter without the necessity j for passing it through the system of j the animal. It was found that farmyard manure owed its value not to the animals, but to the great number of minute living organisms always present in it. Accordingly the manure was made by encouraging these minute organisms to act. The process is not perfect, but it already has given good results in Britain, the United States, Canada, South Africa and other places, and is continually being improved. Straw, which -formerly had to be -wasted, can now be converted into valuable manure. Green manure gives the same results as farmyard manure, and is useful in lands where the rainfall is 25in. or more. Farmyard manure and green manures are not themselves plant foods; indeed they are harmful to plants, but once in the soil they go through a remarkable series of changes, and finally are of great value to soil fertility. Study of Soil Organisms For 40 years scientific workers endeavoured to discover how these changes came about, and finally it was shown that they wore effected by minute living organisms, many of them so small that they can be seen only imperfectly with the most powerful microscope, and some of the most minute species probably will never be seen. Gradually various species are being picked out and their habits studied. Methods have also been devised for estimating their numbers. Some of them change the useless residues of dead plants into humus and valuable food for the next generation of plants. Others fix nitrogen front the air, and build it up into complex proteins by a process which no chemist j can imitate or even understand, j Others feed the valuable clovers and other leguminous plants. Some simply take up plant food without themselves making any, yet these are also useful because they protect the food from being washed out by the rain. Others feed upon the smaller organisms. All these are being studied. As yet the knowledge gain- . has not, ,found much practical application, but beginnings have been made in—(l) Making artificial farmyard manure; (2) inoculation for the growth of lucerne and other leguminous crops; (3) the treatment of sick soils; (1) making manure from Sewage. No one would reasonably argue ills' the initial expenses necessitated bj Lawes's experiments were ill-advised. Artificial fertilisation begun at Roth-

amsted as mere laboratory exper ments of po practical value is now tn» basis of a great and ever-growing industry. So the experiments this' made in the universities and experimental farms may in their turn 4e velop into methods of great praetks value to-morrow, and add further to the achievements of science and air culture.