302 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.40 



for pointing out the key position of agricultural research, and the 

 dependence upon it of all other measures for steady advancement 

 and effectiveness. The stations have now quite generally reached 

 their limits under their present appropriations, and many of them 

 are feeling keenly the pressure resulting from the higher cost of 

 services and materials. In seeking further funds for agricultural 

 purposes, their interests will need to be safeguarded not only by 

 the station men themselves but by those engaged in other branches of 

 agricultural effort, for the interest in adequate means for keeping 

 agricultural research thoroughly abreast of the whole movement is 

 a common one in which all are involved. It is gratifying to see that 

 this is realized in the section represented by this body, and that more 

 adequate station support is looked upon as the most important pres- 

 ent need. 



The association has two main sections, agronomy and live stock. 

 Committees representing these branches have for several years born 

 actively engaged in considering the experimental work with a view 

 to giving it the highest efficiency in solving problems of the South. 

 These committee- have assembled the projects in these fields under 

 way at the various station-, and published li-ts of them in their 

 reports as a means of familiarizing members with the lines in prog- 

 ress and where common topics are being studied. An ultimate pur- 

 pose has been to effect a closer union in common efforts, to make ex- 

 periments in similar lines more readily comparable, and to illustrate 

 the advantage of working with a common understanding of what is 

 in progress throughout that section. This survey lend- emphasis to 



the opportunity for cooperation and coordination in specific cases, 



and calls attention to the extent of unnecessary or ineffective dupli- 

 cation which has occurred in certain lines. 



The live stock committee, 1'or example, showed in a recent report 

 that despite the amount of experiment in that field, it had been dis- 

 tinctly individualistic in character and in many cases is conspicuous 

 for the diversity of method and plan followed in experiments di- 

 rected at similar end-. The report pointed to a lack of coordination 

 or of attempt to carry out local experiments in accordance with 

 common plans, or even in such a way that the results could be readily 

 harmonized. There was found to be much duplication which w.is 

 not as effective as it should have been in solving common questions, 

 because owing to this diversity the results were not cumulative or 

 complementary. The committee urged in its last year's report that 

 "the demand for candid study of some of the broader live stuck 

 problems, with relatively small increases in the appropriations for 

 conducting experimental and research work and the greatly increased 

 appropriations for extension work, has made it apparent that Borne 

 system should be devised whereby experiment stations might closely 



