702 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.40 



general science, but it required special insight to develop out of the 

 traditions and practices of this ancient art the scientific aspects of 

 the underlying problems: to show, for example, -what factors were 

 actually involved in the growing of crops and the feeding of plants. 

 The conditions prevailing in successful practice had to be studied, 

 data accumulated extensively under a variety of circumstances, and 

 the results of certain definite combinations recorded. Gradually a 

 background of fact was accumulated which although imperfectly 

 understood gave an insight into the situation and served as a basis 

 for specific investigation. 



The ultimate solution of an agricultural question may prove to be 

 a relatively easy task after the real nature of the question is under- 

 stood. This was the case with the problems of cheese making and 

 curing, for example, after the actual factors involved had been made 

 'clear and separated so they could be studied. For many years then 1 

 was great confusion in discovering and developing the laws of 

 heredity, hut Mendel taught that success depended in fixing atten- 

 tion, not on the organism a- a whole hut upon one after another of 

 its various attributes or characters. Thus disintegrated, the problem 

 of inheritance became simplified and susceptible of solution by the 

 ordinary methods of experiment. 



The understanding of what i- fundamentally involved in a com- 

 plex question of practice is -till a necessary first step. It is the role 

 of science in agriculture to disclose this in order that the solution 

 may be unfolded and prophecy made possible. 



There has been material progress in this direction, which has led to 

 differentiation of large questions and getting down to significant 

 features in their study. But the project lists of the stations still in- 

 clude many which are faulty in their breadth and complexity. The 

 subject- are viewed as entities rather than as complexes. They relate 

 to an ill-defined field or a line of work instead of a restricted topic to 

 be studied in its nature and influence. As matters have developed 

 they have proved to be over ambitious in their scope, and they some- 

 times result in considerable unproductive effort before a differenti- 

 ation is made into features which are capable of productive study. 

 Questions of soil, of the relation of cropping to fertility, of feeding 

 and nutrition, for example, are found to be extremely complex a- to 

 their real nature, and can not be worked out successfully in their 

 entirety as single investigations. 



There is a distinction between what it might be desirable to do in 

 the interests of science and practice and what it is feasible to accom- 

 plish at the present state of knowledge of problems and technique. 

 Questions are frequently brought to the attention of the stations 



