EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Vol. XXVI. February, 1912. No. 2. 



Attention has already been directed in these columns to the com- 

 prehensive efforts for agricultural development which have been 

 initiated in Great Britain under the provisions of the Development 

 and Road Improvement Funds Act of 1909, and to their great pro- 

 spective sig-nificance for all workers in agricultural science (E. S. R., 

 24, p. 201). The period which has since elapsed has been productive 

 of additional progress in the formulation of policies, the allotment of 

 funds, and the actual commencement of a number of specific lines 

 of work, and the enterprise in its present status reveals several aspects 

 of general interest. 



It will be recalled that under the provisions of the Development 

 Act a sum of $2,500,000 per annum has been available since April 1, 

 1910, for aiding and developing agriculture and rural industries, 

 forestry, land reclamation and drainage, the improvement of rural 

 transportation, harbors and inland navigation, and the fisheries, and 

 other purposes calculated to promote the economic development of the 

 United Kingdom. Its administration rests with a board of eight 

 Development Commissioners, who may recommend either grants or 

 loans to government departments such as the Board of Agriculture 

 and Fisheries or the Board of Education, or through some depart- 

 ment to educational or other public institutions and to associations 

 not trading for profit. 



Much interest has from the first been manifested in Great Britain 

 in the act and its possibilities, and as the scope of the work which 

 may be instituted under it is very comprehensive the demands for 

 funds have far exceeded the resources available. Fortunately, how- 

 ever, wide discretionary powers are vested in the commissioners, so 

 that the selection of the lines of work to be undertaken has largely 

 been determined by them. A report recently issued, covering the first 

 nine months of their operations, affords an indication of their policies 

 and the directions along which development is at present proposed. 



It appears that up to March 31, 1911, one hundred and seventy 

 applications for advances from the fund were received by the Treas- 

 ury Department, and, of these, twenty-four officially reached the com- 

 missioners for action. These included a great variety of subjects, 

 ranging from small local items, such as the maintenance of a harbor, 



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