EDITORIAL. 805 



tiMic that the public does not like loiio--time investments and wants 

 to see the results or the prospects of them, it is also true that it has 

 made great strides in the appreciation of scientific investigation of 

 agricultural problems, and has become more patient to wait until safe 

 results can be secured. In some quarters it has already become im- 

 patient of inconclusive work. It can be interested in investigations 

 into the why and wherefore as it could not have been a few years ago, 

 and this tendency, it is believed, can be developed and intensified. 



Education will do much to remedy this condition. It is not so many 

 years since the only interest of the farmers in some sections was in 

 substations and simple demonstrations. Now it goes much further. 

 We should not yield to this apparent obstacle, although we recognize 

 it and take account of it in the selection of our research problems. 

 Many of these may be made to appeal to the farmer if they have a 

 definite aim, and at least a considerable number of men can be made 

 to see their importance, even though they be quite technical, and to 

 support the station in the undertaking. 



Take a specific case : Tomatoes grow luxuriantly in a certain State 

 but tend to set fruit only sparingl3^ This is not a varietal character- 

 istic, is not local, and does not appear to yield to the usual cultural 

 methods. The cause for it is unknown. It may, it is thought, have 

 some connection with the semiarid condition of the soil or atmosphere, 

 the richness of the soil or its deficiency in some fertilizing element, or 

 it may be due to other causes. It is a live, practical question. The 

 station in that State might conduct a variety of field trials, working 

 in the dark, in the endeavor to hit upon some method which would 

 increase the tendency to set fruit ; or it can, as is proposed, conduct a 

 systematic investigation into the cause of this phenomenon, eliminat- 

 ing the eti'ect of various factors one by one, and studying the problem 

 in its physiological considerations as a basis for practical deductions. 



The chances for ultimate practical results are greater in the latter 

 case than in the former. Moreover, the work will be thoroughly done 

 as each phase is taken up, and results of scientific interest will be 

 secured which may quite likely have a bearing upon other crops. 

 Is the matter of less interest to the practical man because it is car- 

 ried out in this thorough scientific way and he can not understand 

 each step ? And is he more likeW to become impatient at delay than 

 if miscellaneous field trials were made without any reference to the 

 fundamental cause? It hardly seems likely, if he is given to under- 

 stand that the station is addressing itself to the practical problem 

 to the best of its ability. 



But there are other problems whose practical relations seem more 

 remote to the general public, and which have to be taken b}^ them on 

 faith. In a considerable number of States such researches can not 



