NOTES 459 



established that the small holding is economically a success, and that all the 

 evidence points the other way. 



The purchase of farms for experimental purposes requires even more careful 

 thought. The use of the epithet " scientific " in connection with agriculture has 

 not been very happy. For the ordinary person it seems to acquire a mysterious 

 meaning, and men are ready to welcome a return to the age of miracles in agri- 

 culture which they would indignantly repudiate in their own particular profession. 

 Huxley's opinion of what science is, and what the term "scientific" must connote, 

 seems to have been forgotten — perhaps it was never known. " Science is, I 

 believe, nothing but trained and organised oommonsense." This is eminently 

 true in agriculture. 



With what object and on what lines are these experimental farms to be run ? 

 Who is to control them, and what qualification is necessary for the officials who 

 will be responsible for these farms ? 



It must be stated at the outset that, unless the Government have a definite 

 agrarian policy, the multiplication of experimental farms will not only be a futile 

 but also a criminal waste of public money. Assuming that there is a policy, and 

 that it will shortly be announced, the most important problem is the selection of 

 the staff of these farms, and the precise determination of their sphere of activity. 

 At the present time the control of agriculture is in the hands of those who know 

 but little about it. The composition of the Board of Agriculture is not above 

 suspicion : some of its executive were, or are, land agents merely ; few, if any, 

 have had to make a living out of farming. Among agricultural scientists the 

 percentage of those who have had any practical connection with farming is clearly 

 exiguous. Thus, those who have, or wish to have, control in agriculture are at 

 present slightly handicapped by ignorance. 



Sir A. D. Hall appreciates this want of continuity between farming practice 

 and research. He writes on page 6 of his preface to Soil (1912 edition) : " But 

 even if the best farming practice is still a step beyond its complete explanation by 

 science, yet the most practical man will find his perception stimulated, and his 

 power of dealing with an emergency quickened, by an appreciation of the reasons 

 underlying the tradition in which he has been trained." 



While expressing our doubt as to the validity of our author's argument we 

 would emphasise the fact that it is precisely the best farming practice that should 

 be the object of investigation and of attainment for the experimental farm. 



But the farmer is too much concerned with making a living, and the scientist 

 has too little regard for economic questions for this consummation to be realised. 

 Prof. L. P. Jacks's Farmer Jeremy may be taken as a true and accurate picture of 

 the best farming practice. The best farmers very rarely divulge their knowledge, 

 and still more rarely hand it on. What their experience has taught them, and the 

 methods they have employed, are known only to themselves, and the scientist who 

 starts out on stilts is hardly likely to succeed in extracting that information which 

 his own experience cannot supply. As an example, we may mention the case of a 

 farmer who is highly successful in his business, and comes of a long line of 

 farmers. He found that no matter what treatment he gave before or after, a crop 

 of potatoes was invariably followed by bad crops, and that this was noticeable 

 even in the third following crop. He, therefore, satisfied with the fact, gave up 

 growing potatoes on this land (which is a brick-earth, and very good land indeed). 

 Where the farmer left off the scientist might begin ; but he is usually lacking in 

 experience, and rarely comes up against these practical problems. There are 

 many cases like this where the farmer finds certain results in practice, and has not 

 the time to concern himself with the explanation thereof. 



