406 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol. 40 



need to bring it down to the practical stage and the place it has in the 

 affairs of agriculture. This implies carrying the study to a point 

 which takes full cognizance of actual conditions in practice, subjects 

 the results to test, and proves that they have a place and a value there. 

 This is needed quite as much as ever to prove the soundness of con- 

 clusions and suit the product for wider dissemination through the 

 extension service. 



This interpretation is a large task, often involving somewhat dif- 

 ferent methods from those employed in the basic investigation, but it 

 is not trivial or unworthy of the most skilled investigator. It may 

 be made just as scientific as the acquiring of the facts, and its suc- 

 cessful performance may mark the difference between a theorist and a 

 practical investigator in science. No one else will interpret one's work 

 with the same skill and force as the originator if he has the under- 

 standing of practical affairs which he needa 



The Larger function of the station experts does not end with 

 making substantial contributions to science, even agricultural science, 

 but it seeks through them to make science practical and practice 

 scientific. Hence specialist- need not only to know their science but 

 to visualize it- application to useful ends. It is not what they do 

 and learn that makes agricultural investigation valuable to the in- 

 dustry; it is the use they put the thing- to that are done and learned. 

 Tt is a relating of the things done and the thinking connected with 

 them to the actual conditions of practical farming. Time to think 

 is one of the important requirements in the work and one too often 

 cut short. 



Research from its nature involves considerable negative and incon- 

 clusive work — of prowling in blind alleys. Bui it is important to 

 recognize when the end of the blind alley has been reached. There 

 should never be any hesitation to abandon a line of procedure or a 

 method after it has been found incompetent or inadequate, and the 

 progress of t lie investigation should be followed so closely and so 

 critically that ineffectual efforts will be detached. The results need 

 to be studied as they are acquired, not only with reference to them- 

 selves but to the light they are shedding and the efficiency of the 

 method in effecting progress. This would avoid long continuation 

 of projects which are marking time rather than making constructive 

 advancement, or protracted efforts which in the end are abortive. 



It is recognized, of course, that the very nature of research is ex- 

 perimental — the following of hypothetical suggestions and theories, 

 but its very essence is the te-ting of these suggestions and theories 

 in the light of the results and scrapping them as soon as their fallacy 

 or weakness develops. Productive investigation needs to be con- 

 stantly of the nature of inquiry, and each itep examined as to what 

 it is contributing or bids fair to add. This will give a basis of ?e- 



