806 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



Public appreciation usually comes later, and is really of secondary 

 importance except as it leads to providing the means and opportunity 

 for continuing the researches. The man who caters to it is apt to 

 find himself looking to the renown rather than to the acquiring of 

 knowledge. The introduction of such a motive is a distraction and 

 may readily lead to wrong ideas of success and reward. It is rarelj^ 

 definite or comprehensive unless the character of the work is popular. 

 Too much must not be expected of it. The public is not discriminat- 

 ing, and it may lose sight of the identity of the real author for a time, 

 for the results of scientific work filter down to it slowly and through 

 various intermediate steps. To the average man the fact is more 

 important than the author or demonstrator of it. But more and 

 more the public appreciates the importance of such service in a broad 

 way, and recognizes the class of men engaged in it. It expresses this 

 in an attitude of respect and confidence, and in a position which it 

 involuntarily accords them. 



If the man who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew 

 before is a public benefactor, as has long been accepted, the men who 

 are devoting their lives to securing gi-eater agricultural efficiency in 

 all directions compose a band of workers for the world's advancement 

 who will some day be regarded as meriting monuments and memo- 

 rials quite as much as military heroes, because their work comes close 

 to the public generally and touches their daily lives at so many vital 

 points. 



Another compensation is the opportunity which is given for lead- 

 ership. The conspicuousl}^ great man is a product of opportunity. 

 This makes the outlook in the field of agriculture excejotionally im- 

 posing. The places of most of the great men of the past are not 

 filled and will not be. Our conditions are changing; the level upon 

 which the average man of to-day lives is fairly high. The specialist 

 has become the successful worker of the day. The great industry of 

 agriculture, so long neglected by the sciences, afi^ords a splendid the- 

 ater for his effort. There are no more live or far-reaching questions 

 to-day than those which turn about that art, and already the man of 

 science is appealed to with confidence in his ability. The scientific 

 method probably finds no more extensive and important application 

 to social problems at the present time than in this field. The oppor- 

 tunity for leadership which will bring reputation in science and in a 

 national sense is unexcelled. 



The relative permanency and stability of position is another ele- 

 ment to be considered. Positions in public institutions are each year 

 becoming more permanent in character, and the degree of uncertainty 

 is less for the successful worker than in most other callings. This 

 enables a man to live his life free from worry, and plan for the fu- 

 ture with reasonable assurance. While the pension system is not yet 



