EDITORIAL. 909 



The establishment of a system of experiment stations in Victoria, 

 Australia, is under consideration, and a recent official publication from 

 that country indicates that steps in that direction arc likely to ))e taken 

 soon. The agencies for agricultural experimentation and demonstra- 

 tion in the colony at present em])race the Department of Agriculture 

 at Melbourne, the Agricultural College and Experimental Farm at 

 Dookie, and numerous demonstration fields. 



The Department of Agriculture has a staff of some 12 experts, en- 

 gaged in carrying on investigations and giving itinerant instruction 

 throughout the colony in the various branches of agricultural practice. 

 In addition, it has the supervision of the School of Horticulture at 

 Burnley and the Viticultural (^ollege at Rutherglen, at both of which 

 places a limited amount of experimental work is conducted. The 

 Agricultural College at Dookie, in connection with its educational 

 Avork, conducts experiments on a large scale on wheat and other 

 cereals, fodder plants, and vegetables, together with more restricted 

 experiments in olive culture, in drying and preserving fruit, and in 

 animal husbandry. The experimental farms, as they are often spoken 

 of, which are in reality only demonstration fields, are under the con- 

 trol of the Department of Agriculture. They are cooperative in char- 

 acter, and are distributed throughout Victoria, where the}' have been 

 in operation for some 12 years. 



These experimental farms have led up to the present agitation for 

 a S3'stem of institutions of a higher class, i. e., of experiment sta- 

 tions. They have demonstrated the great value of experimental work 

 in promoting agricultural science and in bringing about its application 

 in practice. As. a recent article puts it. "the power of science to assist 

 agriculture has spoken so plainly' in the growing experimental crops 

 of the man}" farms throughout the State that an agitation for further 

 developments in experimental work, too complicated and continuous 

 for the individual farmer to undertake, is now growing on all sides. 

 As a result, we have the Minister's promise of the establishment of a 

 number of permanent experiment stations. It is the most progressive 

 step that has yet been taken." 



The same article mentions an apprehension on the part of some 

 farmers that the development of the experiment stations will do away 

 with the demonstration plats as at present carried out on the farms 

 throughout the country. This fear, however, is declared to be ground- 

 less, and the work which the farms have done seems to be highly 

 appreciated by the officials of the Department of Agriculture. 



"The purpose of the present fields must be clearly understood. 

 They are really demonstration as much or more than experimental 

 fields. They are necessary, both for answering the hundred and one 

 little questions arising from local ditierences of soil and climate, as 



