242 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



August 6, 1910. 



work in the light of that which has been done more 

 lately. Finally, it is not unimportant that they may 

 be made through the following of suggestions that have 

 come into being, through the work that is done at other 

 stations. 



Proper recognition of these matters, and of other 

 circumstances thiit have already received consideration 

 in the articles of which mention has been made, will 

 make it evident that the experiment station must never 

 be made a means for the performance of hasty and ill- 

 considered work, and that such an institution must 

 never be regarded as a factor of temporary importance 

 in the agricultural history of a communit)'. Agriculture, 

 regarded as a science, is new, so that time is required 

 before its problems will be outlined as definitely, or 

 the knowledge concerning it made as systematic, as is 

 the case with the older sciences. It is not sufficient 

 to give time merely for the discovery of empirical 

 results, important though these may be in their parti- 

 cular application; the explanation of them must be 

 provided, so that they may become a means of adding 

 to the sum of knowledge that is useful, in the widest 

 sense. 



There are other, more restricted, ways in which it 

 is made evident that attempts to solve agricultural 

 problems in periods of time that are insufficient for 

 their proper study will lead to work of inferior value, 

 or even to that which is useless. The results of such 

 labour are, in any case, very likely to be unsatisfactory, 

 and the knowledge of their application incomplete, 

 so that if they are to become of value, the work will 

 have to be revised — a contingenc}' that will make its 

 cost many times greater than if it had been conducted 

 with due regard to the planning and care necessary to 

 give it worth. Where there is undue haste to obtain 

 and publish results, these are likely to require revision, 

 and the manner of their publication will leave much to 

 be desired. 



There is thus the great necessity for patience, 

 both on the part of the workers in an experiment 

 station, and on that of planters, whose interests they are 

 there to serve. This necessity is often forgotten, so 

 that the lack of recognition of it causes want of interest 

 in the work, and has even led, in some instances, to 

 suggestions which, if followed, would have put an end 

 to the work of the station. It is such an attitude of 

 mind which has been known to give the idea that all agri- 

 cultural experiment stations should be of the nature of 

 model farms, which should only possess one means of 

 justifying their existence, namely the ability to pro- 



duce a balance sheet showing a profit, at the end of 

 each year of working. What has been said already in 

 these articles should be sufficient to show that stations 

 of this kind could not undertake experiments of the 

 widest and most tiseful application, and very little con- 

 sideration will be necessary to demonstrate that the 

 method, just outlined, of estimating their usefulness is 

 utterly fallacious and unfair. 



Fiom its very nature, the experiment station 

 cannot possess its value in virtue, simply, of what 

 happens within it. Its effect on the agricultural con- 

 ditions outside of it is obviously the true indication of 

 its worth. What does it do toward ameliorating those 

 cjnditions, ey/en when its influence is being considered 

 in the narrowest way? It helps the agriculturist to 

 save mone}' and to gain it. In the first way, it prevents 

 him from wasting his substance on useless trials of 

 expedients for enabling him to continue his work or 

 make it more profitable: in the second, it suggests and 

 introduces methods and means for the more successful 

 pursuance of the agricultural calling. These circum- 

 stances of its usefulness cannot appear on the balance 

 sheet of its working, but they will have their effect in the 

 increased prosperity of the district which it serves, even 

 though many of those who share in it may not have 

 attained lo a complete recognition of the true cause of 

 this increase. 



These narrow considerations fall very short of giv- 

 ing suggestions by which the true value of agricultural 

 investigation mny be gauged. By its aid, discoveries 

 are made which, in cheapening production or in protect- 

 ing the different pha.ses of the industry from destruction, 

 have their value for all time. The power of makinor 

 such a discovery is present wherever investigations 

 of that nature are being carried out, and the possession 

 of this power gives most of the necessity for its existence 

 to every station, while the realization of results from it 

 makes the value of such existence incalculable. Nothing 

 more need be said in regard to the question as to whether 

 agriculturists throughout the world, can afford to allow 

 the number of such stations to be lessened. It will not 

 become less, if their value is truly recognized. Those 

 who do recognize it will, on the contrary, desire that the 

 possibilities of good through them are made increasingly 

 large."". 



It i.-! to be kept in mind that Xature does not 

 respond to attempts to hasten the giving up of her 

 secrets. Their slow di-scovery allows time for the 

 rejection of mistaken ideas, and therefore for the better 

 use of them when they are no longer hidden. One of 



