258 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



August 19, 191L 



The detailed objects of the Institute are best 

 expressed in the words of an appendix to the Report. 

 This shows that, while limiting its action to interna- 

 tional questions, it is the duty of the Institute: — 



(a) To collect, elaborate, and publish, with as 

 little delay as possible, statistical, technical, 

 or economic information reg;irding the culti- 

 vation of the soil, its production, whether 

 animal or vegetable, the trade in agricultural 

 products, and the prices obtained on the 

 various markets. 



(b) To send to interested parties, in as rapid 

 a manner as possible, full information of the 

 nature above mentioned. 



(c) To indicatr the wages (if rural labour. 



(d) To notify all new diseases of plants which may 

 appear in any part of the world, indicating 

 the districts affected, the spread (jf the disease, 

 and. if possible, efficacious means of resistance. 



(e) To consider questions relating to agricultural 

 co-operation, insurance, and credit, in all their 

 forms, collecting and publishing information 

 which maybe useful in the various countries 

 for the organization of undertakings relating to 

 agricultural ■•o-operation, insurance, and 

 credit. 



(f) To present, if expedient, to the Governments, 

 for their approval, measures for the protec- 

 tion of the common interests of agriculturists 

 and for the improvement of their condition 

 after having previously taken every nr.eans of 

 obtaining the jiecessary information, e.g., 

 resolutions passed by International Congresses 

 or other Congresses relating to agriculture or 

 to sciences applied to agriculture, agricultural 

 societies, academies, learned societies, etc. 



All questions relating to the economic interests, the 

 legislation and administration of any particu- 

 lar State are to be excluded from the sphere 

 of the Institute. 



With relation to the publications of the Institute, 

 the Permanent Committee has insisted that the Bull- 

 etin of Agricultural Int&Uigencc and Plant Diseases 

 should contain solely new matters that are important 

 and indicative of progress. The claim is made that the 

 Institute probably receives and examines a greater num- 



ber of agricultural periodicals than any other, and this 

 should serve to indicate the extent and importance of 

 this work alone. The Bulletin of the Bureau of 

 Economic and Social Intelligence has commenced by 

 presenting monographs on the position of co-operation, 

 insurance and agricultural credit 'in several coun- 

 tries, and has been enabled to afford reliable informa- 

 tion through the co-operation of the governments con- 

 cerned. Finally, it is through the Bulletin of the 

 Bureau of StatiMics that knowledge a>< to the state of 

 the crops in different parts of the world may be obtain- 

 ed, so that the producer and dealer are not as com- 

 pletely in the hands of speculators as if they were not 

 able to gain possession of such information. At the 

 present time, the Institute publishes the first mention- 

 ed Bulletin, containing about 225 pages, in two lan- 

 guages; the second, rather larger in size, in a similar 

 way; and the third in five languages. The regular 

 publications include, in addition to these, a Weekly 

 Bibliographical Bulletin. 



The number of registered documents in the library 

 on May 1, 1911 was 3S,9(Jl, which is nearlj' four times 

 as many as those in its possession at the end of 1909. 

 In the same way, the reviews and journals that hare 

 been filed have increased from 420 to 1,715 for simi- 

 lar dates. A table is given in the report which 

 shows that l,(i04 periodicals are received regularly by 

 the library of the Institute, fur iiermanent filing. The 

 importance of these matters is derived from the fact 

 that the publications received are not merely filed, but 

 are, as has been indicated, extracted and abstracted 

 for use in the Bulletins. 



The organization of the statf of the Institute has pre- 

 sented difficulties because of the circumstance that those 

 employed must be in possession of sufficient scientific 

 knowledge for the work, and at the same time know 

 several languages. This difficulty has been partly dealt 

 with by the employment of translators, of which there 

 are two classes. One of these performs the work of 

 translating articles which maj- be required by any 

 particular Bureau, while the other does similar work 

 for matter to be published in the Bulletins. 



What has been said serves to indicate in a general 

 way the organization and work of the Interntvtioual 

 Agricultural Institute. It may be u.seful to conclude 

 by stating where particulars may be found of its early 

 history. This is dealt with in certain o^" the Parliamen- 

 tary Publications, namely Cd. 2958, Cd. 4727, and 

 Cd. 5:s;i9. 



