84 



** AGRONOMY: IN ITS llELATION TO SCIENCE. 



BY REV. B. H. THOMPSON. 



(Read 11th August, 1903) 



If reference is made to the original 

 rules and constitution of the Royal 

 Society, it will be found that it 

 was founded by the members of the 

 Tasmanian and Horticultural Societies, 

 and in the fourth section it is stated 

 that " the leading objects of the society 

 are to investigate the physicel character of 

 the island and to illustrate its natural 

 history and productions " I believe I am 

 correct in saying that the general tenor 

 of the many papers which, since its initia- 

 tion in 1843, have been read at its meet- 

 ings, have for the most part had a dis- 

 tinctly practical, rather than a theoretical, 

 tendency. "What I mean is that, except- 

 ing, of course those of a descriptive 

 character, such as, for instance, those 

 dealing with the classification or enumer- 

 ation of species or -genera, the subjects 

 dealt with have to a great extent had an 

 eminently practical bearing upon the in- 

 dustries of the State. This being the 

 case, may I presume to suggest that the 

 time has arrived when a more direct 

 attempt might very well be made to 

 stimulate research into the very interest- 

 ing and wide domain of agronomy? It is 

 true that the proceedings of the society 

 contain many invaluable papers on 

 various agricultural subjects, but I ven- 

 ture to think that no direct or continuous 

 eftort has been made to pursue system- 

 atic researches into some of the problems 

 which are so intimately associated with 

 our industrial progress and development. 

 It is, I believe, usual in all societies 

 founded with similar objects to those of 

 the Royal Society of Tasmania to divide 

 the work of research and investiga- 

 tion into various sections, so that tho^e 

 members who are specially qualified and 

 interested in certain matters may concen- 

 trate their attention on those particular 

 branches, and therefore be enabled to 

 enter more deeply and fully into details 

 than would be possible in any other way. 

 Feeling as I do the absolute necessity of 

 combining scientific with practical know- 

 ledge, I am at once brought face to face 



with the difficulty, that at the present 

 time there seems to be no machinery in 

 existence, or perhaps I should say, that no 

 machinery has been set in motion which 

 would serve as a channel through which 

 the results of scientific experiments in 

 agronomical theories could be made 

 available to the public, or by which 

 systematic investigations could be carried 

 on. It is obvious that agricultural 

 and horticultural societies do not, and, 

 from the nature of their constitution, 

 cannot enter into the minute and patient 

 study of many matters which neverthe- 

 less are likely to have a very practical 

 bearing upon the industries which they 

 represent. It is therefore with this idea 

 that I crave the indulgence of the mem- 

 bers of this society while I plead for the 

 formation of a section which would deal 

 with agriculture in all its branches, and 

 especially with those subjects which 

 directly concern its economic and com- 

 mercial progress. I would point out that 

 at the present time, though there is a 

 large amount of experimental work being 

 carried on, there is practically no record 

 beimg kept of such discoveries or in- 

 vestigations, and that therefore the State at 

 large gains little or nothing from them. 

 Experiments conducted singly and 

 spasmodically lose much of their value ; 

 whereas if submitted to comparison with 

 the labors of others, they assume an 

 importance and interest which would be 

 unattainable in any other way. I do not 

 think that it will be disputed that there 

 are many matters which are at the 

 present time altogether neglected or 

 unnoticed, the better knowledge of which 

 might have a material effect on the indus- 

 trial and commercial prosperity of the State. 

 May I be allowed to instance a few of 

 them ? Taking the branch of agronomical 

 work in which I am personally most 

 interested— that of horticulture — I would 

 call attention to the desirability of estab- 

 lishing some recognised system of nomen- 

 clature for our fruits. It must be obvious 

 to everyone that the present confusion is 



