STATES RELATIONS SERVICE. 421 



The provision of proper administrative supervision for the indi- 

 vidual experiment station is a matter of fundamental importance. 

 It relates not only to the more or less routine business of the station 

 and the general direction of current work but to the nature of the 

 program developed and to planning for the future. The determina- 

 tion of practical lines to be selected for study, out of the multitude of 

 questions which might be taken up. and the critical examination of 

 the progress of these, together with a looking ahead to anticipate the 

 needs of investigation, are matters essential to good administration 

 and to the framing of a wise policy. Comparatively few stations 

 have reached the point where a very permanent, established policy 

 has become recognized, and not all of them have made the broad 

 survey upon which the determination of such a course would properly 

 rest. In large part their course is contingent on circumstances which 

 vary from time to time and on the attitude of the college from which, 

 or through which, their local support comes. The position of the 

 station in the institution, its relationships, and its individuality are 

 matters not yet bej'ond the realm of discussion and uncertainty. 



Administration relates also to tlie presentation of tlie needs and 

 claims of research, in order that it may attain its proper place and 

 be encouraged by the maintenance of conditions which are essential 

 to it. Without proper emphasis on its interests, it is in danger of 

 receiving secondary consideration in the pressr.re from other 

 branches of the institution; and the fact that the interests of those 

 responsible for its welfare have often become divided and associated 

 wnth more rapidlj^ growing features maj' be in part responsible for 

 the hard waj-s upon which many of the stations have fallen in the 

 past few years. 



The condition has so impressed itself upon the office that special 

 attention has been given to pressing the interests of the stations and 

 urging the consideration for their affairs which the situation merits. 

 A considerable number of the stations now have funds amounting, 

 with the Federal contributions, to $50,000. $75,000, and even $100,- 

 000. The wise direction of a research institution with a budget of 

 $50,000 to $100,000 a year is no light task, and so much depends 

 upon the outcome in advancing the interests of all other branches of 

 agricultural work that a large measure of responsibility attaches to it. 



Special attention has also been given to emphasizing the need of 

 an advanced point of view in devising means of attacking some of 

 the complex questions which have long been the subject of experi- 

 ment. It is far easier to follow along beaten paths which represent 

 little change in attitude and little advance in the character of the 

 inquiry than to develop new viewpoints and means of attack. 



In some lines the broad conception of intricate problems con- 

 tinues as the basis for experimentation, instead of a closer analysis 

 of them, Avith the narrowing of the special points to be studied and 

 the employment of more intensive methods. Problems and methods 

 have, therefore, become conventionalized to a considerable extent, as 

 applied particularly to certain of the more common practical ques-. 

 tions of agriculture. While such work gives results which are not 

 without local interest, it contributes but little to the advancement 

 of principles and broad truths beyond what is already known. In 

 some casQs it verges on the field of extension and demonstration. 

 The situation reflects a tendency in some directions to overemphasize 



