This review considers the agricultural, forestry, and ground-water monitoring literature and reports on the current designs of lysimeters that are relevant for use in forestry nutrient cycling studies. The review begins with a brief history of lysimetry and then presents a functional classification scheme which is used as a framework for discussing variations in lysimeter system design. The impact of lysimeter system design on sampling artefacts is briefly discussed and the literature on the effect of construction materials on soil solution contamination is tabulated. Statistical considerations of special interest involve the determination of sample size and distribution of the data.