Abstract
annual assembly of subscribers to the Rothamsted Experimental Station took place on June 18, when demonstrations of the field experiments and of the work going on in the various laboratories were given. As the time available for the inspection of the fields was short, only a limited number of the trials were inspected; these included the classical experiments 011 the Park Grass begun in 1856, and the one on the famous Broadbalk wheat field started in 1843. The first was designed to show the effect of different fertiliser treatments on the yield and character of the herbage, and to-day it forms a very striking illustration of the way in which the farmer can affect the nature of his pasture by varying the plant nutrients supplied. The second experiment was originally intended to show the effect of nitrogen, potash, and phosphorus on the growth of the wheat plant; the action of these throe substances is now well known, but the experiment is still yielding valuable information: for example, a few years ago a study of the yields from the various plots, with the weather records, enabled the statistical department of the station to deduce valuable correlations between rainfall at different seasons of the year and the yield. More recently, by studying the average yield of the plots, the physics department has been led to the study of certain soil characteristics.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Annual Assembly at Rothamsted Experimental Station. Nature 127, 991–992 (1931). https://doi.org/10.1038/127991a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/127991a0