1919] EDITORIAL. 405 



A- permanent research institutions the stations nm-t have fixed 

 policies in relation to their purposes and the means of carrying them 



out. .But as public institutions they naturally can not fail to be 

 responsive to the conditions and influences about them. Their rela- 

 tions to the whole agricultural industry hai e been materially si rength- 

 ened and clarified. They have shared in the popular acknowledgment 

 of science in the war and the broadening realizations of what it 

 means to human welfare. It would not be surprising, therefore, if the 

 recent experiences permanently affected the stations and their man- 

 agement in the new regime. 



It is clear that more will lie expected of these institutions, and that 

 an aggressive policy regarding their future work must be followed 

 if they are to keep at the head of the procession and in advance of the 

 demands upon them. The working program must be a discriminating 

 one, for judgment must determine to what the limited resources are 

 to be devoted; and it will need to have quite definitely in mind the 

 channels where new information is most urgent. With all possible 

 latitude toward individual preference, therefore, the needs of the 

 industry the stations serve will necessarily be a prime consideration. 

 This will require close contact with the situation and a clear vision, 

 and it will result in a working plan suited to meet local problems and 

 requirements. 



The demand is for information which will be practical, but natu- 

 rally this can not be construed too narrowly. There is a difference 

 between studying a subject for the use the knowledge of it may be in 

 practice, and studying it from a purely practical point of view, as 

 there is also from studying it with no thought or reference to the use 

 that may come of it. in the abstract view that it is desirable to know 

 all things. Even though the last is true, some things are more desir- 

 able to know than others at this present stage, and promise a more 

 important and far-reaching bearing on agriculture. Discriminating 

 selection will determine the subjects to be taken up for intensive study. 

 and here special preference may give way to the end sought to be 

 served. 



Now as ever the stations must stick to the big things. They must 

 study the agricultural problems and questions in their broader aspects 

 as they relate to general principles and underlying facts. They can 

 deal rarely with purely individual or localized conditions unless these 

 represent a quite generalized situation. The extension service will 

 increasingly meet the needs of A. B. and C's farm and discover where 

 special studies are required. 



None the less, the stations must themselves interpret the results of 

 their work in practical terms. They can not leave it at the laboratory 

 or research stage, as a technical scientific contribution for some one 

 else to work out the application of at some future time. They will 



