214 



THE ORGANIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENTS IN 

 RELATION TO RESEARCH WORK. 



By BERNARD COVENTRY, C.I.E., 1 



Agricultural Adviser to the Government of India and Director 

 of the Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, India. 



[ABSTRACT.] 



The guiding principle in the organization, of an Agricultural 

 Department for the conduct of research should be to grant to 

 each branch of science represented the fullest scope of freedom 

 compatible with due recognition of (i) the governing authority; 

 (2) the limitation of its own sphere of work; and (3) the possi- 

 bilities of a carefully prepared budget. The success or failure 

 of a department organized on these lines will depend primarily 

 on the capacity of the scientific officer in each branch of 

 investigation, and such officers should be engaged on probation 

 for a term of three years, and their appointments should not 

 be confirmed at the end of the probationary period unless they 

 have proved themselves suitable. Once their appointments have 

 been confirmed, initiative in their branch of work should be 

 left very largely to them. Collaboration between officers 

 engaged in different lines of work should be a matter of private 

 arrangement between them, so long as the assistance to be 

 afforded by one of them is ancillary only. More complete 

 collaboration should be arranged for by a council composed of 

 the chief officers in each branch o>f science represented in the 

 department. 



An Agricultural Department organized for research should 

 possess a Central Research Institute with modern laboratories 

 and an experimental farm. The work should be divided into 

 the following branches : Agricultural, chemical, botanical, 

 bacteriological, pathological, entomological, and veterinary, 

 each with a chief scientific officer having the highest quali- 

 fications. In addition .there should be a division to take charge 

 of the library and publications of the Institute, and finally an 

 additional officer for each special crop, such as cotton, sugar 

 cane, rubber, etc. The Director of such an Institute should be 

 selected on the grounds of capacity for organization and 

 control, coupled with sympathetic insight and understanding of 

 the work to be done. 



In addition to this Central Research Institute there should be 

 a series of local organizations each with its own administrative 



1 This paper was read for the author by Dr. C. A. Barber, Delegate 

 of the Government of India. 



