904 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



tical skill than the lii])()i{itory iiivcstigfations. Take the case of some 

 of the iiivcstig-ation.s which have been made on the laboratory .scale in 

 the preservation of barnyard manure. From the results obtained on 

 a small scale, methods of treatment have been indicated which have 

 not always been found advantageous when put to the test on a large 

 scale, on account of other factors which entered in. Again, the plan , 

 of inoculating the soil with micro-organisms for legumes, either with 

 pure cultures or with soil containing these germs, seemed (^uite simple 

 in theory, but in practice numerous difhculties were encountered which 

 it has required skill and perseverance to overcome. Studies of the 

 availa])ility of fertilizing materials, and the combating of insect pests 

 and plant diseases present similar analogies. The laboratory research 

 frequently does not end the investigation of a subject if any regard is 

 had to its introduction into practice, and without this the result of the 

 investigation is merely a contribution to science and in the case of 

 station work does not accomplish its full purpose. 



The American stations have profited greatty by the investigations 

 and researches of the German stations, and to a certain extent have 

 emulated their example. Their greatest success, however, has not 

 been in the field of pure science, but in improving the conditions and 

 practices of the various branches of agriculture; and in doing this they 

 have taken advantage of the agiiculturtil investigations of the world as 

 well as of their own research work and experiments. 



Professor Konig minimizes the importance of this, and is not inclined 

 to give the American stations credit for ba\'ing conducted any investi- 

 gations of real value. For he inthnates, in reply to von Riimker's praise 

 of the American system of stations, that "'magnificently ecpiipped 

 buildings, l)eautiful photographic reproductions, a large amount of 

 labor, and long series of analyses without deductions" do not mean 

 scientific (•onti'i])utions, and he adds that he knows of no results of 

 American investigations which have oi- should have influenced the direc- 

 tion of their investigations. Be this as it may, there can be little 

 doubt that through the course which the American stations have pursued 

 they have exerted a greater influence on American agriculture during 

 the time they have been in operation than the German stations have 

 u})on the agriculture of that country in the same time, in spite of the 

 far larger nuiuber of well-trained and highly educated agriculturists 

 and farm managers in the older country. It is (piite certain that if 

 the American stations had confined their operations to laboratories, 

 greenhouses, and small plats, and had conducted their feeding experi- 

 ments with two or three animals at a time or with the respiration 

 apparatus exclusively, their progress in reaching and benefiting the 

 American farmer would have been exceedingly slow, and they would 

 not have Avon his confidence to the extent of becoming by conniion 

 consent his advisers in nearl}^ every branch of farming operations. 



