Abstract
WHILE the experimental fields at Rothamsted are probably the best known and the most interesting in the world, the laboratories, farm buildings and equipment are admittedly not up to the standard of many of the Continental or American stations, and do not allow of anything like so much scientific assistance to the farmer as should in these difficult times be available. The Committee of Management is taking advantage of the approaching centenary to remedy these various deficiencies and is hoping to raise a fund of £125,000, of which £80,000 would be used for buildings and equipment and £45,000 for addition to endowment so as to provide for upkeep of fabric and salary augmentations. The work will proceed in three stages. The first is the building of the new chemical and bacteriological laboratories, pot culture houses and farm buildings ; this will cost about £45,000 of which, however, only £30,500 is drawn from the centenary fund, the remainder being provided by the Ministry of Agriculture. The second stage will be the building of the library at a cost of £20,000; and the third the erection of a new block to house the Imperial Soil Bureau, the Statistical Department, the administration and extension staff, a conference hall and staff common rooms: this will cost about £30,000. It is hoped to complete all three parts before the centenary occurs in 1943, hence the work is being put in hand as early as possible. This is being done partly also for the convenience of those who wish to spread their donations over a period of years. The scheme is being inaugurated at a meeting to be held on November 1 at the Royal Society's rooms, when His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent will preside, and when it will be announced that His Majesty the King, through the Duchy of Cornwall, will open the subscription list.
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Rothamsted Centenary: Inaugural Meeting. Nature 142, 785 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/142785c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/142785c0