1918] EDITORIAL.. 407 



Another weakness cited in the present organization of the French 

 stations is their local character, the tendency being to work on ques- 

 tions of quite local interest rather than on broad agricultural prob- 

 lems, and their lack of organization into a coherent system. Certain 

 of the stations have originated with the Ministry of Agriculture, 

 others have sprung from the Ministry of Public Instruction, and still 

 others from the various departments of the country. Moreover, the 

 stations taken as a whole are restricted in the scope of their activi- 

 ties, leaving several important branches of agriculture dependent for 

 progress upon the research of other countries. " We still cling to the 

 original conception which gave rise to the first laboratories, i. e., the 

 study of soils and fertilizers. We do not seem to have followed the 

 evolution of scientific agriculture. We seem to neglect the more dif- 

 ficult problems of biology which offer such large promise." 



The system of experiment stations for which M. Wery argues is a 

 well-knit system, drawn together by organization and mutual inter- 

 est, supported jointly by the State and the locality, connected mainly 

 with the agricultural schools and institutes, and developed along the 

 lines of the principal needs for investigation in the districts in which 

 they are located. They would include specialists in the important 

 branches of agriculture, with the control work organized so as not to 

 conflict with the investigation. He believes such a system would be 

 preferable to the large number of laboratories inadequately manned 

 and supported. 



The role which the State should play in respect to these agricul- 

 tural research institutions is strongly emphasized, for they are de- 

 clared to exercise a fundamental relation to the development of a 

 principal source of national wealth and security upon which in time 

 of War the very life of the nation may depend. 



The contention that the stations should be connected with institu- 

 tions of learning is thoroughly sound. This not only places them in 

 the proper atmosphere, develops the spirit of research, and encour- 

 ages the coordination of the groups of specialists, but, as M. Wery 

 points out, it establishes the proper relationship between research and 

 the higher grades of instruction, directs young men to the field of 

 agricultural investigation and encourages them to prepare for it, 

 and it extends the range of usefulness and influence of the schools 

 themselves, giving them standing in the scientific world as well as 

 in the industry. 



The advantage of this association of the stations with colleges or 

 schools has been illustrated wherever followed, but nowhere more 

 forcefully or convincingly than in this country. Here the benefits 

 have been so manifest with increasing time as to remove any doubt of 

 the wisdom which led to the provision, at a period when there was 

 much precedent and argument for separate stations. While the real 

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