902 EXPEKIMENT STATION RECORD. 



operation so short a time, it has given rise to a popular demand for a 

 number of stations on that plan, which appears to be receiving consid- 

 erable support from specialists and the press. Last fall Professor von 

 Riimker, of Breslau, published an article in the Journal fur Land- 

 wirtschaft^ on the importance of experimental farms in connection 

 with agricultural experiment stations. In this he paid a high tribute 

 to the American stations, and maintained that their German repre- 

 sentative at Lauchstadt had abundantly justified its establishment. He 

 thought it should serve as an example to many other German stations, 

 and believed that the establishment of modern experimental farms was 

 a natural demand of the times which promised to mark an epoch in 

 the histor}" of the German experiment stations. He earnestlv advocated 

 relieving experiment stations of control work for the most part, and 

 the establishment of experimental farms in connection with a con- 

 siderable number of stations. He held these farms to be of great 

 advantage to agricultural production, and a potent means for the 

 improvement of agricultural practice. 



This suggestion of Professor von Riimker's has not met with uni- 

 versal approval. In a reply to his article, in a late number of Die 

 landwirtschaftlielu')! Yersuchs- Stationed ^ Prof. J. Konig, the eminent 

 director of the experiment station at Minister, in Westphalia, takes 

 very decided exception to von Riimker's opinion of the value or appli- 

 cabilit}^ of the results obtained at such experimental farms. He shows 

 from a review of the history of the German stations that when they 

 were first established the}^ were expected to work out formulas and 

 practical directions for feeding and manuring, and that, accordingl}^ 

 many of the stations were given considerable tracts of land or had such 

 land under their control. It was found more advantageous for the 

 research, however, to move the stations to towns or cities where 

 educational institutions were located; and he contends that the wisdom 

 of this course has been fully demonstrated, and that the results 

 accomplished do not warrant recommending a return to the old order 

 of things. The experimental farm, he says, furnishes only a mass of 

 experiences from which generalizations can not be made or the true 

 significance measured; and he holds that such experimenting is not 

 scientific and does not furnish practical indications which are of more 

 than local and temporary application. The attempt of the stations 

 to meet the early requirements and prescribe rules for agricultural 

 practice has not been successful for the reason that conditions vary 

 so greatly in difl'erent localities and at dilierent times. He even 

 holds that experimental fields are dangerous for such farmers as are 

 inclined to follow results blindly without considering carefully their 

 own conditions. The thing which the German stations stand in most 

 need of, he says, is not a change in their system of operations, but 

 more free time for research. In conclusion, he states as his judgment 

 that experimental farms on the plan of that at Lauchstadt are useful 

 for purposes of instruction at agricultural high schools, but are not 

 necessary for experiment stations, because we lack as yet the necessary 



