fS 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



January 25, 1910. 



ipast, and evten'ling through the pi-esent to the future, 

 which ir is the ornviiice of science to maintaiu and im- 

 prove. Thi.s store of knowledge, applicable to ail indus- 

 tries, and nne may perhaps say, more especially to 

 • agriculturu. has been accumulating from before the 

 -dawn ot history: it is that which has enabled mankind 

 to advance more and more in material civilization 

 Avhioh is less important. 



Now to turn to the future. The war has demcn- 

 str.-\ted in the piainest manner that the world at present 

 nearly lives np to its food production, with very little 

 riiJirgin beyoinl. Were it not for the application of science 

 "to agriculture- in mechanical aids to cultivation, in 

 methods of irrigation and fertilization and the like, in 

 iroprove<;l facilities of transport, and in other directions 

 — the world couhf hardly support its present population: 

 while as human beings increase still more, in the future 

 the ditHcuIty will be further accentuated, if conditions 

 similar to those at present continue to prevail. Then, 

 if once the stage be reached w hen the population should 

 overtake its means of subsisteuce, it is dittieuit to 

 believe that anything coidd prevent the fiercest war- 

 fare between peoples struggling in dire want for the 

 bare necessiiries of life. It is for science to pre- 

 vent, if possible, such a state of ati'airs, by further 

 tliscovt.-ries and inventions. ;i.nd their applications to 

 production. 



All industries, and not least agriculture, must 

 become more intricate and elaborate as time goes on. 

 Success will more and more depend on the management 

 ■ of specially trained individuals, together with the intel- 

 ligent and hearty co-operation of the gieat mass of 

 workers cheerfully submitting to the technical instruc- 

 tions given by such management. In agriculture to-day 

 the old rules of thumb are obsolete in ino.-^t countries, 

 and, wherever they still exist, the sooner they go the 

 better. The modern world has no room for un.scientific 

 and .inti()uated methods. 



In striving after the most desirable comJitions 

 H is right that science should look for ^ill reasonable 

 assistance from (Jovernments, but at the same time 

 •«aiition will have to be exercised in control. 'I^he 

 fiovernment of the United States has long .set an 

 example in this direction, and it is very satisfactory 

 to note that the British TIoMTnment is awakening to 

 its responsibility in this matter. Whatever sums the 

 • Jovernment of the Km pi re may spend in promoting 

 the application of science U> industry and agriculture, 

 provided that the expenditure is wisely directed, will 

 Boon repay themselves many times over by the increase 

 of prosperity which is mire to result. 



< >ne way in which (Jovernments can vitally a.ssis"; 

 in the progress of science is by increasing the facilities 

 for technical scientific education. Some advance in 

 this direction is being made, but wider and wiser 

 efforts are needed to promote a more extended interest 

 in scit.'ntitic subjects. And here individuals can give 

 useful assistance. What is wanted is to awaken i 

 taste, especially in the rising generation, for scientific 

 literature: for the fairy tales of .science' will prove, if 

 once an interest is taken in them, much more delight- 

 ful than a great deal of the literary rubbish on which 

 so many persons waste time. 



Another aspect of this ipiestion is thtvt the pursui:; 

 of science is endless. It can never be said that any- 

 one has got to know everything about any one subject. 

 For instance, year by year there is additional know- 

 ledge acquired in the cultivation of all crops, and in 

 the manufacture of their products. The beet root 

 industry is a striking example of this, and the strides 

 made in recent years in the cane-sugar industry is 

 another proof of the benefit accruing to agrictdture 

 from scientific knowledge and practice. 



After all, agriculture has always been, and alwa3'8 

 will be the fundamental industry of mankind. For 

 man re>|uires energy, and that is supplied by food, the 

 most of which must always be furnished by the pro- 

 ducts of agriculture. In reality all our energy is 

 supplied by the sun and it is stored up for utilization 

 by animal existence in plant life. .Vnd yet it is compu- 

 ted that only about three-millionths of the solar energy 

 which reaches the earth is sLoreil in vegetation, '.i'hus 

 there is a vast field for agricultural science in the future 

 to increse the amount of available food energy by more 

 intensive cultivation, so as to utilize more and more of 

 the suns light and heat hitherto not rendered available. 



It would seem that this will be 6ne of the out- 

 standing problems of the future -how best to employ 

 the enormous Hood of radiant solar energy which daily 

 tails on the earth s surface. Anrl this will be especially 

 the ta.sk of the agriculturist. Not only will he have to 

 provide increased food, but increased fuel, lor it .seems 

 probable that the stored up fuel of coal and mineral 

 oil is well on its w.vy to exhaustion. Hut the agricul- 

 turist need not think that he will have to grow only 

 firewood for fuel. Much more likely it is that the fuel 

 of the future will be obtained Iroiii the crops which 

 store up in large .(uantities the solar energy in the 

 form of starch and sugar, which can bo converted into 

 alcohol for fuel purposes, as is already being done. 

 Here it would seem that the tropics may be destined 

 to play an increasingly prominent part in the agricul- 



