February, '11] PKESIDEXT'S ADDRESS: DISCUSSION 91 



to do something in that line. We then experienced difficulty in secur- 

 ing cooperation, and while the situation is perhaps somewhat better 

 now, still there is a good deal of it with the work in each station, and 

 the work in each state will be determined by that of the station. 

 Som6 work does not permit of cooperatioh, though I think the general 

 idea is practicable. 



Professor Washburn: I think perhaps the thought may have 

 occurred to some of us that the method suggested by Professor San- 

 derson might possibly make one less original. In other words, there 

 would be a tendency to fall into the ways of others, and we would be 

 very apt to adopt their ways and methods instead of originating 

 something ourselves. It is undoubtedly a mighty good thing to know 

 what other men are working on, but just how far we should go as to 

 the interchange of methods I do not know. It seems to me each man 

 must determine that for himself. It would appear that the Office 

 of Experiment Stations has some pretty good reason for not giving 

 out what their Adams Fund men are working on. I should be very 

 glad to find some man who is working along the same line I am, though 

 I should not like to see a system established by which we were obliged, 

 or even advised to give out every bit of work before publication. 

 That is purely a personal view. 



Mr. J. B. Smith: This matter has been brought to my attention 

 several times, — the idea of somebody else working along the same 

 lines that I, myself, was working. I have no fear that it would 

 hinder originality in any sense, but my experience has been that I 

 should like to have my own results and conclusions checked up by 

 somebody who was working along the same line under somewhat 

 different conditions. I have frequently got bulletins in which an 

 allusion was made to certain work, and upon reading them over I 

 decided, "Well, now, that may be all right where that work was done, 

 but it does not apply here." The insects that are counted of so 

 much importance in that bulletin as to require treatment, are practi- 

 cally of no importance in our state, and it would be a waste of time 

 and money if we were to treat them in the same way. I have some- 

 times felt that possibly I was doing work which I considered impor- 

 tant and far reaching that, after all, might be only of local interest, 

 and if I had some way of knowing what others were doing along that 

 line, it would be of considerable help. Of course, the man who origi- 

 nates a new line of investigation who takes up a path that is a little 

 different from that of others, likes to be credited with taking up that 

 line of investigation, and I do not see why that is not possible. Sup- 

 pose we find two or three men who are working on the plum curculio, 

 to take a common insect. Now I might think a certain point had not 



