406 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol. 38 



can recover itself. The average production of such staple crops as 

 wheat, oats, and potatoes, is shown to be much less than that in 

 neighboring countries, the remedy for which lies in selection of suit- 

 able varieties and their improvement, the efficient use of fertilizers, 

 and cultivation. To accomplish these requires a sufficient fund of 

 reliable knowledge on the part of the farmer, proper equipment in 

 tools and machinery, and adequate capital, and it is along these 

 three lines that it is proposed to develop stations to aid the farmers. 



The proposed organization divides the work of the stations into 

 two main divisions, namely, the scientific division for conducting 

 experiments and researches in the whole range of agricultural 

 science, and the exercise of control over fertilizers, feeds, etc.; and 

 the division of rural economy, to include a bureau of information, 

 rural instruction, marketing, agricultural labor, the cooperative pur- 

 chase of machinery, maintenance of demonstration farms, and a 

 section for farm credit. The latter would be provided with funds 

 through the aid of large landed proprietors of the district, which 

 would be loaned to the farmers in small amounts on the security of 

 their growing crops. 



Ten stations organized on the above basis are proposed, each with 

 a government grant of $30,000, to be supplemented by funds sub- 

 scribed or loaned by local capitalists and landowners. The plan is 

 comprehensive, and except for the loan feature is not very different 

 from a union of our own station and extension departments. 



At a conference presided over by the French Minister of Agricul- 

 ture, M. Georges Wery, vice director of the National Institute of 

 Agronomy at Paris, presented an able paper on agricultural research 

 institutions in France and other countries, with plans for the reor- 

 ganization of the French stations. He justly pays a high tribute to 

 the product of agricultural research in France in the past, but ex- 

 plains that of late the experiment stations have become absorbed to 

 increasing degree in analytical and control work, to a point which is 

 seriously affecting their activity as research institutions. 



The present system for the support of the stations favors the 

 growth of analytical work, the officers receiving a portion of the fees 

 as supplements to their salaries, and the department in which the 

 station is located profiting b}^ this source of revenue. The growth of 

 this line of activity has, as M. Wery states, diverted the stations from 

 their original purpose of agricultural research, for the number of 

 workers being small the time left for investigation is greatly reduced. 

 He argues for a separation of the control and regulatory functions 

 of the stations from their research, and a larger and more adequate 

 budget, pointing to the experience of other countries in this respect 

 and to the generous support of experiment stations in the United 

 States and Germany particularly. 



