EDITORIAL. 839 



than the establishment of branch stations for agricultural research, as 

 a means of quickly and successfully solving a whole lot of knotty 

 agricultural problems of special importance to the particular districts 

 of the State." The argument is home out by the fact that the soil on 

 which the station is located and the environment are not representa- 

 tive of any considerable part of the State, a condition which holds true 

 in practically every State <>!' size. 



In considering this question the greatest good to the agriculture of 

 the whole State must be taken account of rather than the immediate 

 benefit of a particular locality or branch of farming. Director Henry 

 points out that it costs far more to maintain a branch station properly, 

 so that it may accomplish much in the line of research, than the legis- 

 latures or the people generally appreciate, and that to keep up these 

 branch stations and at the same time properly maintain the central 

 station is a heavier burden than the State usually cares to bear. For 

 these reasons it is believed better, until considerably more funds are 

 available, to maintain a strong central station and to attack the special 

 and local problems in the most direct manner possible by experts from 

 the central station rather than to build up permanent branch stations. 



This, as is well known, is the policy which this Office has advocated 

 in the past, and has insisted upon except where the State legislatures 

 have seen tit to provide for branch stations. The experience of a 

 number of the States in the early days in establishing in some cases 

 as many as live or six branch stations is evidence of the fallacy of 

 that plan unless supported by an efficient home station. There must 

 first be a fundamental working basis before the application of scien- 

 tific principles to improving agricultural practice can be made. At 

 the time the stations were established there was no true science of 

 agriculture in a comprehensive sense, and it has been necessary in 

 many lines to build from the ground up, and even to spend consider- 

 able time in testing and disproving old theories. Such work requires 

 concentration of effort and jj'ood working facilities, and, as pointed 

 out, the legislatures in few States have felt able to make all the pro- 

 vision desirable for even a single central station. 



By building up a strong system of central stations a vast amount of 

 exact information and reliable experience have been secured, and 

 many of the underlying principles have been worked out to such an 

 extent as to make future investigations and their application more 

 intelligent and reliable. There can be no question that the agricul- 

 ture of the whole country is immeasurably better off for this course of 

 concentration, and the product of the Wisconsin Station stands out as 

 a notable example in this respect. It is abundant justification of the 

 policy which Director Henry has pursued, and has had a very whole- 

 some and inspiring influence on experiment station work throughout 

 the country. 



