EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Vol. XXIX. Decembeb, 1913. No. 8. 



Among the topics for discussion before one of the sections at the 

 recent convention of the Association of American Agricultural Col- 

 leges and Experiment Stations was the definition and lines of demar- 

 cation of research, experiment, and demonstration. The subject was 

 not exhausted and the discussion unfortunately drifted into lines 

 only remotely related to it. The topic did not receive the attention 

 which it deserves, considered both fi-om the importance of the theme 

 itself and the necessity for clear understanding. 



In a complex subject like agriculture the difficulty of fixing exact 

 lines of demarcation between these three branches of effort is greatly 

 increased, and up to the present time these distinctions have not 

 been worked out and recognized except in a general way. There 

 has been much speculation and some insistence on the recognition of 

 certain general principles of distinction which have appeared obvi- 

 ous, but the determination of where the boundaries lie, in how far a 

 given piece of work is original in the use made of the data and 

 embodies the essential characteristics of reserach, there is still much 

 difference of opinion and often confusion. Doubtless there always 

 will be, but our ideas should become clarified as agricultural research 

 gi'ows older and as the field of extension and demonstration becomes 

 more clearly differentiated from experimentation. The boundaries 

 will be constantly shifting, because what is original research at one 

 stage may cease to be at another, and may even pass into the realm 

 of demonstration. But the principles on which distinctions are made 

 will remain the same. 



It will hardly be doubted that the essential distinctions between 

 research, experiments, and demonstration tests should be clearly 

 drawn, and that these terms should be restricted to their proper use, 

 at least in technical and official relations. There are several reasons 

 for this. First of all a distinction is made by Congress in the fed- 

 eral appropriations — in the Adams Act as contrasted with the Hatch 

 Act, and in the pending legislation for agricultural extension, which 

 does not apply to experimentation. Furthermore, the scientific 

 world now has a right to expect of men assigned to research a just 

 conception of the standards and the qualities of such activity. And, 

 finally, for administrative purposes it is essential that we think and 



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