EDITORIAL. 707 



open to graduates, is available at 1 university in sugar technology 

 and the wine industry, and courses of similar scope at another in 

 theoretical and practical meteorology and climatolog}'. 



The data presented in this inquiry should prove of immediate serv- 

 ice to the prospective graduate student, for whose needs the bulletin 

 has been primarily prepared, and the publication will also find a 

 wider application as an epitome of the present status of this im- 

 portant phase of agricultural education. Its usefulness received 

 recognition at the recent convention of the Association of American 

 Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations. That body for- 

 mally expressed its appreciation of the work of the bureau in this 

 connection, and urged the desirability of frequent revision of its 

 records, and possibly the ultimate publication of another edition. 



While perhaps not the least of the benefits which may be derived 

 from such inquiries is in their suggestiveness as to the lines of study 

 along which the opportunities are still inadequate, there is much 

 reason for encouragement in the showing here presented. "When it 

 is recalled that so recentl}^ as 1902 the statement was made in these 

 columns that " there ha« been comparatively little effort in our agri- 

 cultural colleges in the direction of providing courses of postgraduate 

 instruction in the different branches of agriculture," the advance- 

 ment here revealed seems significant. The committee on graduate 

 study of the association reported to the recent convention that on 

 the basis of the inquiry it believed the extent of the opportunities 

 now offered for graduate study of agriculture in the United States 

 to be a source of gratification to all interested in the progress of 

 agricidtural education. 



Now that this countiy has made a promising beginning in ad- 

 vanced training in agricultural subjects, it is only necessary that 

 the training be recognized to insure further development of true 

 imiversit}^ work in this field. In this connection the services ren- 

 dered by the Graduate School of Agriculture, through its biennial 

 summer sessions, deserve more active cooperation. As was pointed 

 out by the conunittee, while the students of the graduate school have 

 been enthusiastic in their commendation of this work, only about 

 one person of every ten who might be expected to be interested has 

 attended its sessions in any one year. In other words, only one out of 

 ten of the total number of officers and assistants in the experiment 

 stations, not including the instructors in agriculture not connected 

 with the stations but to whom graduate study is equally important, 

 has availed himself of its opportunities. 



In commenting upon this the committee says: "After making all 

 due allowances, this seems a very low percentage. Research is the 

 lifeblood of the higher education, technical as well as liberal. If 



