604 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



sponse and appreciation. For this reason it is countenanced, al- 

 though its limitations are not unknown, and the higher standards 

 are not made a requirement. 



We realize, for example, that many of the field experiments so ex- 

 tensively conducted are less accurate and dependable than such studies 

 ought to be, because of their inherent crudeness and because of factors 

 which are not checked or controlled. A considerable experimental 

 error is recognized, dependent upon a variety of factors, and the 

 limitations of such work have been widely demonstrated. Further- 

 more, in outdoor experiments the chance factors of the season have 

 a very large effect. But field experiments unsupported by more re- 

 fined studies continue to form a large feature of the work in agron- 

 omy. Considerable of our breeding work with plants rests on chance. 

 It seeks the chance result, a product and not an idea, and contrives to 

 increase the probability of its appearing. This is its primary object 

 rather than an attempt to find out why, how, and under what condi- 

 tions these exceptional things occur. Instead of studying correlations 

 with a view to a greater elimination of chance in breeding, emphasis 

 is placed first and foremost on the attempt to get something better, 

 and there the undertaking often rests. 



Feeding experiments made from the commercial or economic view- 

 point are subject to market fluctuations, and hence embody an addi- 

 tional chance element. And it frequently happens in such experiments 

 that untoward conditions or accidents occur which make a clear inter- 

 pretation of results impracticable. 



Haste is responsible for another element of uncertainty in various 

 kinds of experiment, which in the end is wasteful of time and 

 energy. It is supposed to be a common attribute of Americans. The 

 Englishman has accused us of acceleration as a national characteris- 

 tic — of haste in all things, instead of inquiring whither. Scientific 

 progress in agriculture has never been as rapid at any period as at 

 the present, but this apparently has served to increase expectation 

 and resulted in a speeding up. Rapid as the progress is, there are 

 those who seem to feel that the great questions which have been be- 

 fore the world for centuries should now be answered without much 

 delay. 



Referring to the necessity for the exercise of patience in regard 

 to research. Dr. D. P. Penhallow, in an address delivered several 

 years ago, pointed out that nature's processes, although exceedingly 

 certain of fulfillment, are nevertheless exceedingly slow. " If it 

 has taken five hundred million years to shape this earth and render 

 it a fit habitation for man, man himself must not be impatient if 

 he is required to spend a few years of arduous toil that he may 

 unlock some of the doors which so carefully guard nature's secrets. 



