vestigations, he believes that the elucidation of agricultural principles must be looked for from a due consideration of vegetable physiology as well as chemistry, and of the special functional peculiarities and resources of different plants as well as their actual percentage composition. The explanation of the distinctive functions of crops grown in rotation is found, in his view, in the character and length of life of the different plants; in the character of the roots in regard to number, size, etc., and to their aptitude to derive more of their food and moisture from the surface, or from the subsoil; and in the greater capacity of some for liberating and assimilating food not available for others, or for arresting food which would otherwise be washed out of the soil. In brief, his investigations have embraced researches into the exhaustion of soils, including experiments on crops; on the principles of rotation and fallow; on the mixed herbage of grass-lands; on the progress of vegetation generally, including researches on the action of manures; on the origin of nitrogen in plants; on the feeding and fattening of cattle, and generally on stock as meat-producing and manure-making machines; on rainfall and drainage; on botanical characteristics; and on the chemistry of the malting process, and the comparative value of malt and barley as food for cattle. Mr. Lawes also, in conjunction with Professor Way, acted upon a royal commission from 1857 to 1865, in the investigation of the effect of the application of town sewage upon grass and other crops; and in the institution of comparative experiments on the feeding qualities of the differently grown crops, to be determined by the amount of increase yielded by oxen, and the amount and composition of the milk yielded by cows.
In 1872 Mr. Lawes announced his intention of placing in trust his laboratory and experimental fields, with an endowment of £100,000, the interest of which, after his death, should be applied to the continuance of the investigations carried on there. "It is seldom," "Nature" remarked, in noticing the fact at the time, "that we have to record an act of so great munificence directed in a channel calculated to bring about such important results to the scientific departments of agriculture."
Mr. Lawes was elected in 1854 a Fellow of the Royal Society, whose royal medal he received conjointly with Dr. Gilbert in 1807; he has also received a gold medal from the Imperial Agricultural Society of Russia; in June, 1881, the Emperor of Germany by imperial decree awarded the gold medal of merit for agriculture to him and Dr. Gilbert jointly, in recognition of their services for the development of scientific and practical agriculture; and in May, 1882, Mr. Lawes was created a baronet, and became Sir John Bennet Lawes. he is also a Fellow of the Chemical Society, and an LL. D.
The results of the Rothamstead investigations of Sir John Lawes are to be found in the journals of the Royal Agricultural Society, the reports of the British Association, the Journal of the Chemical So-
