366 BOARD OF AGKICULTUKE. 



stitutions were organized chiefly to do such kind of work. We do not 

 underestimate the need for and value of instruction when we insist that 

 the experiment stations have been established to do a special work and in 

 doing that work they exercise their most important functions. 



But it is not enough that they investigate and experiment. Different 

 kinds of investigation vary greatly in the value of the results which they 

 give. The demonstrating that potato scab is caused by a fungus parasite, 

 and in finding a practical and efficient means of preventing it, experi- 

 ment stations have gained knowledge that is worth something to potato 

 growers wherever potato scab is found. In showing that sterilizing the 

 soil by heating it prevents the ravages of certain diseases of lettuce in 

 forcing houses, the stations have discovered something of practical value 

 wherever lettuce is forced. But a test of strawberry varieties results in 

 knowledge of much more restricted application both as to extent of time 

 and of territory. Its application is restricted as to territory because in 

 the next township where different conditions prevail an equally careful 

 test might give different results. It is also restricted as to extent of time 

 in which this knowledge will be of value because the older varieties of 

 strawberries are displaced by newer ones so rapidly that even a straw- 

 berry specialist can not keep posted on them all. These illustrations rep- 

 resent well the two classes of investigations referred to. In the one class 

 results are worked for which are limited in application and of temporary 

 value; in the other that knowledge which is sought is of more permanent 

 value and of wider application. Generally results of the former class may 

 be obtained more quickly; those of the latter class may require several 

 years of consecutive experiments upon a single problem. Which kind of 

 work shall the stations do? The decision fests not altogether with the 

 . station workers, but also to some extent with the people who are engaged 

 in horticultural industries. The doing of the less important things has 

 heretofore frequently been excused by the station workers with the state- 

 ment that the people are demanding immediate results. When agricultural 

 and horticultural organizations, either through individual members or by 

 representative officials, show a real and friendly interest by asking the 

 station horticulturist every little while, "Well, what new thing have you 

 accomplished?" and when the same query keeps coming in one form or 

 another from trustees of the college or the board of control of the sta- 

 tion, from editors of papers and from various other sources more or less 

 influential, it is not strange if the station worker becomes strongly im- 

 pressed with the idea that the people demand immediate results and that 

 the more frequently something new can be sent forth the better. Where 

 such an idea controls the station worker the lines of work are not so apt 

 to be selected upon the basis of permanent value as upon the prospects of 

 getting immediate results. I do not believe that the people really desire 

 such choice of work by the stations. If taken into confidence by the sta- 

 tion workers and shown clearly the comparative merits of the different 



