354 



THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS. 



November 4, 1916. 



from politics and from personal influence, and is now 

 usually based upon merit and ability alone. 



As regards the nature and extent of the work 

 accomplished, the article says: 'The great range and 

 variety of it are well nigh bewildering — from such 

 unusual subjects as the ostrich and the date and the 

 cactus in Arizona, the citrus, avocado, and wine 

 and grapes in California, the range problem in 

 Nevada, the alkali and irrigation studies of other 

 sections, and the problems of dry farming, to the more 

 familiar ones of grain and stock farming in the humid 



sections Whether the work deals with 



practical economic experiments in the cultni-e of 

 plants and the feeding of animals, the study of the 

 principles of breeding them, the activities of the lesser 

 forms of life that inhabit the soil, or the ravages of an 

 insect or a plant disease, the £nal aim is control — 

 dominion over the soil, the growing things, the elements, 

 and where control and dominance are not feasible, the 

 effort is no less direct to avoid or overcome the 

 obstacles bj^ adaptation, or by finding some means of 

 getting around them.' 



These fine aims cannot be attained, however, 

 Avithout physical enuipment and financial support, 



'as we appreciate only too fully in the West Indies. 

 The article under notice says the increase in physical 

 equipment and in financial support of the stations 

 in the Western and Southern States makes a deep 

 impression on the casual visitor, particularly since 

 only a few years ago the money provided was inade- 

 quate. Now in accord with present; needs progressive 



"State Governments have furnished large appropriations. 



'Texas alone spends on its experiment stations £30,000 

 annually, the capital needed for their establishment 

 in the first instance being of course vastly greater. 

 As regards (."alifornia, the article .says: 'We have 

 learned to expect large things of California, but the 

 extent to which it is meeting the needs of its varied 

 agriculture, from the tropical region of the Imperial 

 Yalley to tlie northernmost part of the State, leaves 

 no doubt of the place the statfpn work has made for 

 itself in that State. A citrus .station is being devel- 

 oped in the southern end which will \w unequalled in 

 the world, with opportunity for investigation and 

 advanced study over the whole range of sub-tropical 

 agriculture. The new tract of 47.'5 acres at Uiverside 

 recently purchased for this station at a cost of $55,000 

 is now being made ready, and the plans have been 

 approved for buildings to be erected with a .Si 25,000 

 appropriation. At Berkeley a $3(30,000 a<ldition to 



the large agricultural building erected a I'ew years 

 ago is planned for, to relieve the crowded condition of 

 nearly all the agricultural depai-tments.' 



All these facts will appeal very strongly to workers 

 in the West Indies. The singular parallelism between 

 the circumstances of experiment station work 

 in the States and these islands — with the one and 

 very regrettable exception of financial support 

 — will be readily apparent. The various lines of 

 activity at the difli^rent West Indian Stations have 

 increased very considerably of recent years. These 

 new lines of activity, however, while putting greater 

 strain on the workers, have not to anything like 

 a corresponding extent led to demands being made 

 upon the resources of the local treasuries. There are 

 at least four local agricultural departments in the 

 West Indies which are understaffed: yet inspection of 

 the annual reports of recent years will show that new 

 lines of work have steadily been introduced, while the 

 routine and experimental work of former years is beino- 

 satisfactorily continued. This puts great credit on 

 the workers, and the remarks quoted at the beginning 

 of this article as reojards the United States are not 

 inapplicable in the case of Experiment Station workers 

 in the West Indies!' 



The principal deficiency in the West Indian 

 agricultural service appears to lie in the direction of 

 two extremes. The experiment station work itself is 

 on a satisfactory footing; the deficiency lies in the lack 

 of scientific research' on the one hand, and inadequate 

 extension work on the other. The experiment stations 

 require more scientific support. This was well brought 

 out in regard to" cotton at the Conference held 

 at St. Kitts last March. Thej- need also the pi'o- 

 vision of better educational facilities for bringing 

 results to the notice of the planting community, and 

 for seeing that the results actuall} find their way 

 into pnictice. The recent move in the direction of 

 extending the work of pciisant instruction is a hopeful 

 sign that the inade<|uacy of extension work is being 

 appreciated. There are signs also that the future may 

 see increased provision for scientific research in the 

 West Indies, but the unsettled circiunstances attendant 

 on the war do not make any definite statement possible. 

 It is something, however, to know that the so-called 

 'need' for more research in the West Indies is gradually 

 being seen in official circles to mean, not need, but 

 necessity. 



