504 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



have had little beyond the regular college course. In a considerable 

 number of instances recourse has been had to colleges and universities 

 where agriculture is not taught, in order to secure men of the train- 

 ing in science and investigation needed. 



Advanced degrees when earned represent opportunity. They do 

 not necessarily indicate productive ability, and the possession of them 

 shoidd be only one of the qualifications considered in candidates for 

 station positions. They merely signify that the men bearing them 

 have had the advantage of special advanced training of a kind which 

 should teach them the meaning and spirit of science, and something 

 of its methods. The institution where the degree was taken is to 

 some extent a gage of the opportunity the man has enjoyed. But 

 advanced study is of such importance and value as a preparation for 

 station work that the mere possession of evidence of it is a decided 

 point of advantage. 



Little real preparation for a scientific career in any line can be 

 obtained in the regular undergraduate courses at any institution. 

 These courses merely give the man his groundwork and prepare him 

 for what is to come. If he elects experiment station work as his 

 career, graduate study is quite as essential as if he elected medicine 

 or law or mathematics. This gives him his point of view, his broader 

 and more critical outlook, his attitude, and his ideals. It is not 

 merely informational, but its greatest influence is on the man him- 

 self, for it prepares him to weigh and profit by his own experience 

 and that of others in further perfecting himself. Nothing can take 

 the place of it but long experience and self-education, and even this is 

 only partially effective with the average man. The handicap with 

 which he starts out is likely to stay by him and to prevent his rising 

 above a certain level. 



Lack of a degree does not, of course, necessarily mean lack of 

 opportunity. Many men pursue advanced courses who do not take 

 degrees. They have the advantage of the association and the in- 

 struction, even though it is not so systematized. Others are capable 

 of so profiting by their experience and associations as to grow in 

 breadth and in knowledge, and in their conception of investigation. 

 To but few, however, can this take the place of direct study, and it 

 is not to be regarded as a short cut. Experience counts for more in 

 the routine work and more elementary experiments than in investiga- 

 tion along new lines, where the preparation of the man is most appar- 

 ent in his insight into the scientific aspects of problems and his ability 

 to formulate a method of attack and procedure. It is evident in 

 greater resourcefulness and ability in making safe generalizations. 



Enforced changes in the staff due to resignations offer opportunity 

 for working out higher standards in the personnel, provided men of 



