EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Vol. XVIII. Mav, li)07. No. 9. 



The completed plans of the experhiient stations for investigations 

 under the Adams Act contain much of interest and encouragement to 

 all who have a high ideal for experiment station work. Tliese plans 

 have been worked out with unusual care and deliberation, and, taken 

 as a whole, they embody a large amount of investigation in the true 

 sense, which will place agricultural science and research upon a higher 

 plane. Considering the conditions under which the first year's work 

 had to be planned, the difficulties of securing men, the lack of uni- 

 form standards, and the like, the programme nuist be regarded as 

 very satisfactor}^ 



"While it is not planned to publish the projects presented by the 

 different stations, a review of the list as a whole, with some of its 

 salient features, will indicate the character and high grade of the 

 work proposed, and the broad field which these investigations cover. 

 When it is considered that most of the subjects are to be studied 

 through a period of several years and that the plans for many of 

 (heni will be further developed as the investigation progresses, it will 

 be evident that a ucav regime has been entered upon in the conduct of 

 our stations, which will make them contribute in a large way to the 

 unfolding of the principles upon which agricultural development and 

 practice rest. Not onh^ is the amount of investigation vastly in- 

 ci'eased, but the outlining of the various undertakings in advance has 

 had the effect of systematizing our work more thoroughl}^ than ever 

 l)efore, and ultimately this should reflect favoral)ly upon the activi- 

 ties of the station as a whole. 



As was natural to expe(;t from the present interest in the subject, a 

 hu'ge number of projects were proposed in plant breeding. Investi- 

 gations in this line nmst, of course, discriminate clearly between 

 random efforts at improvement in a broad way and the more sys- 

 tematic effort to attain a definite end. Breeding for improvement 

 should have an ideal in view and be conducted in the endeavor to 

 attain that object in a scientific way, taking advantage of all that is 

 known, and keeping such records that the manner in wdiich the ulti- 

 mate result is attained can be definitely described. The element of 



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