290 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Sei-temhee 13, 1913. 



To a fruit-grower, for instance, publications dealing, 

 say, with cattle feeding, are of little concern. Of 

 much less interest will a description of the methods 

 and results of scientific research be found, mainly 

 because the lay reader is unable to understand their 

 meaning and significance. It will be seen that a waste 

 of this kind does not occur where a Department, by 

 means of travelling officers, is in close contact with the 

 agriculturist. Hut it need not occur either, as regards 

 contact by means uf publications if things are properly 

 thought out, and the distribution organized to meet 

 the demands of different sections of the community. 

 After all agricultural publications are food f^r thought 

 just as meat and bread are food for the body. This 

 is an age of quick feeding and economies, and things 

 must be easily digested. 



This tendency has been a part-cause of a movement 

 in the direction of popularizing agricultural 6-cicnce. and 

 pro\ided due accuracy and system be retained, good 

 resulr.H should be effected by it. The expression of 

 scientific results in popular terms leads to an incre.ise 

 in the number of individuals interested in the subject, 

 and the matters find a satisfactory reception. < >n the 

 other hand, it must be remembered that the populariz- 

 ing of science is at best but a palliative, for it does 

 not tend to encourage education, since it helps to make 

 things go on easier without' it. 



This leads to the consideration of an interesting 

 aspeco of the influence of publications in agricul- 

 ture — their educational influence and their effects 

 as regards the mere provision of facts. 



Although in their o.vn wny invaluable for purposes 

 of reference, and for enabling investigators to keep 

 'up-to-date', the value of such publications as the 

 Experiment Station Record, the Month l;/ Bullet in of 

 Agricultural Intelligence and Plant Disea.se-s- and. as 

 a third example, the Redrew of Economic Entomolniji/ 

 — the value of journals like thtse is not so much educa- 

 tional as instructional. The same criticism applies to 

 some extent, even to journals which make no pretence 

 to be scientific. For example, many of the Australian 

 agricultural publications, and, to come nearer home, thi' 

 Journal of the Jamaica Agricultural Society. These 

 set out to provide the planter with solid facts so that 

 he can stand, as it were, in the middle of the field with 

 the journal in one hand and point with the oth<r until 

 the described operation is brought to a close. There is 

 no occasion to think and no risk of going wrong. It is 

 admittedly useful; but it is, or should be, only part of 

 a system. And that is what the United St.ites i )cpart- 

 rnent sees. As well as .scientific summaries, scientific 



papers and farmer's bulletins, theie should be publica- 

 tions which have a broadening effect upon the mind, the 

 function of which is to circulate new ideas and bring 

 forward little-known customs obtaining in other parts 

 of the world. The modification of the Ycarhool- into 

 a volume of popular articles of the magazine type 

 is a recent admission of this necessity. 



At the risk of creating a wrong impression, refer- 

 ence may, in the present connexion, be made to the 

 editorial policy uf the Agricultural Ncirs. This policy 

 has always been educational. Not infrequently criticisms 

 have been levelled at it, to the effect that the greater 

 portion of matter in this journal is taken from contempo- 

 rary sources. The same objection would obviously apply 

 to those summarizing publications referred to above 

 whence the criticism is reduced to the extreme of 

 absurdity. However, as a positive defence, constant 

 effort is made in presenting information, Xo regard it 

 from the West Indian point of view, and although 

 this journal tells what is going on in the Tropics 

 rather than directly what to do there, it is in this 

 policy that what little educational value it has 

 must lie. 



There is no reason for, and every objection against, 

 a sugar-planter restricting his reading to specialized 

 literature like the numerous sugar journals, and the 

 same thing applies to rubber growers and the various 

 journals devoted to that industry. This is an age 

 of not minding ones own business: the progressive man 

 takes care to mind other peoples' as well. And in 

 this respect, the different sugar and rubber journals 

 are, in one way, of \ ery great value since they help to 

 reriect the market and the demand of consumers — 

 the external economic side of agriculture which, 

 again, it may he pointed out, the Agricultural 

 Ncivs endeavours not to neglect entirely. Finally, the 

 view may be expressed that although an agricultural 

 journal may not be widely read bv the practical man, 

 that does not mean to say he is unaffected by it. 

 The journal will be read by agricultural officers, in 

 personal contact with the practical man, and the 

 knowledge will diffuse, though it be only through 

 the medium of casual conversatioi:. 



Summarizing the views that have been put forward 

 above, it is seen that the dissemination of information 

 in agriculture is more likely to be effective quickly if 

 done verbally, but that from the extensive rather than 

 intensive nature of rural life, this is practically impos- 

 sible, particularly in the 'Iropics, without being 

 supplemented by publication work. Jiroadly speak- 

 ing, there are three distinct kinds of demand for 



