226 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



July 19, 1913. 



circumstance that during the course of the researches, 

 the economic and utilitarian side of the subject was 

 not sufficiently kept in view, with the inevitable result 

 that 'the large amount of work here recorded does not 

 appear to be of any immediate economic importance.' 

 The reviewer objects, further, to the 'invidious 

 distinction between pure and economic science, implied 

 by the author,' and, practically speaking, considers the 

 researches to have been neither of a 'pure' nor of an 

 applied nature, but rather what may be metaphorically 

 described as an unnecessary series of ingenious, 

 energetic attacks with a brilliant torch of scientific 

 method, into blind alleys of genetic and physiological 

 darkness. 



According to the reviewer, Tlie Cotton Plant in 

 Egyjit would seem to meet no definite demand, nor 

 make any definite appeal. It woulil appear to 

 comprise a discontinuous mass of accurate information, 

 unintelligible to the agriculturist, of doubtful educa- 

 tional value (in its broadest and best sense) to the 

 student, a concentrated /nvcis of technical research 

 that should neither monopolize the labours of the 

 specialist in abstract science, nor constitute, under any 

 conditions, the duties of an official of an Agricultural 

 Department. 



The outcome of these opinions provides the object 

 of the review, which was written, it is stated, in defence 

 of those agricultural scientists who are no less agricul- 

 tural than scientific. 



Although a limited agreement may be expressed 

 with the reviewer's ideas — and there is much to be 

 said in favour of those concerning the mental outlook 

 of an investigator — still the statement that Mr. Balls' 

 book 'does not appear to be of any immediate economic 

 importance', even if it were true, cannot be regarded 

 as signifying necessarily that the book serves no useful 

 purpose. TliC Cotton J'lant in Egypt, it must be 

 admitted, gives no simple recipes for making new types 

 of cotton plants, nor is there any scope, in the method 

 of presenting the results, for preparing easy generaliza- 

 tions to the solutions of problems and the cost of carry- 

 ing them out. But, on close examination, we find results 

 concerning the relationship of the root system of the 

 cotton plant to the changes in the level of the water 

 induced by irrigation; information that the loss of 

 cotton attributed to cold and fog was due to a specific 

 fungus; a solution of the mechanism and causes of 

 boll-shedding (due to root asphyxiation); work on the 

 inheritance of variations in the number of loculi in the 

 boll — a matter which directly bears ujion yield per 



acre: and, finally, the discovery of the 'pot bound' nature 

 of the roots of cotton plants growing under field con- 

 ditions. These are surely matters of great economic 

 importance on which Mr. Balls has .shed considerable 

 light. 



With such facts, no doubt, the writer of the review 

 would be in agreement, but he might possibly contend 

 that they are not presented in such a way as to be 

 bo readily assimilable by the layman. But even the 

 author admits that his book was compiled for the 

 botanist rather than for the planter, and since the 

 book is practically a summary, it is essentially a work 

 of reference for advanced students of genetics and 

 physiology and for investigators in the less abstract 

 branches of the subject it treats of It is a source 

 which re'iuires tapping. It is a store of information 

 which general workers in agricultural science may 

 draw upon and incorporate in popular writings 

 and addresses. It is a book which marks the 

 commencement of the new phase of tropical scientific 

 research — a phase of close specialization. The results 

 of these Egyptian researches are not meant directly 

 for the general public any more than are those emanat- 

 ing from, say, Kothamsted, in England, or from the 

 Hawaiian pure research laboratories, in spite of the 

 fact that these latter studios are supported — actually 

 paid for — by the practical planters in those islands. 



When one comes to consider the matter, the 

 scientific investigation of a crop of such vast economic 

 importance, and of such plasticity and power of response 

 as cotton, is no lower in status than the study of the 

 soil or the physiology and pathology of the rubber tree. 

 The ultimate benefit from such studies is cumulative 

 rather than revolutionary. There is nevertheless no 

 doubt that such work is more easily conducted, more 

 usefully presented and appreciated, if carried out in 

 contact with other workers under academical suri-ound- 

 ings rather than under the somewhat isolated circum- 

 stances of the various Agricultural Departments at 

 present existing in different parts of the Tropics. The 

 Cotton Plant in Egi/pt is, therefore — putting aside 

 its intrinsic value— at least of great significance as 

 an appeal from the Tropics for the endowment and 

 centralization of education and research. 



The icent i-ssues of yatun, for June 19 and 2G, contain 

 agricultural reviews of two new publications of considerable 

 importance, namely, Mendelism and ,Stock Biit^diwj, by 

 I'rofessor James AVilson, and .Uux'itiiloes (of Xorth and 

 Central America and the West Indies), by L. (}. Howard 

 H G. Dyer and F. Knab. These works will receive further 

 con.sideration in the Agrictdttiral Neius in due cour.?e. 



