The Yields of Wheat on the Broadbalk Fields at Rothamsted

Abstract

In 1919, Sir Ronald A. Fisher went to Rothamsted Experimental Station. He was hired to bring “modern statistical methods” to the task of analyzing a large amount of data collected on agricultural field trials over many years. Data had been collected on the Broadbalk field since 1844. The first experimental crop had been sown in the autumn of 1843 and harvested in 1844. Each year since, wheat has been sown and harvested on all or part of the field. The data for the yields of grain and straw for the “classical” period 1852–1925 are given in Table 5.1. From 1843–1851, many plot-treatments were varied from year to year; after 1925, parts of all plots were fallowed each year. The ten-year yields were given by Garner and Dyke (1969). The annual yields given in Table 5.1 were kindly supplied by G.V. Dyke and the late J.H.A. Dunwoody. Fisher (1921) discussed and analyzed the yield of grain for these data and Fisher (1924) discussed the influence of the rainfall. Figure 5.1 shows a recent plan of the Broadbalk field. Exhibit 5.1 gives the organic manures and inorganic fertilizers that were applied in various combinations to the plots.