September, 1921 



SCTENTIFIC AGRICULTURE 



15 



j,'ivetli us'" vv iu other words to be of real 

 (service in making our district or province 

 a better place in which to live. 



In J) resenting this paper, I feel no small 

 degree of diffidence, having been among 

 you for but a few montlis, but 1 liave been 

 acquainted with the work of your experi- 

 mental farms for many years and remem- 

 ber well that some of the best things we had 

 in improved varieties of wheat and barley 

 in my former home in South Dakota traced 

 luick to the Canadian experimental farms. 

 I have also liad the good fortune to be able 

 to visit a great many of the stations in the 

 Great Plains region from Texas to Manitoba 

 and Saskacliewan and have followed the 

 work at these stations with much interest. 

 It occurred to me when your chairman ask- 

 ed me to speak on this sul)ject, tliat a brief 

 description of methods used might not 

 come amiss. 



Plot Experiments 



In carrying out all phases of experi- 

 mental work, it is essential that a policy 

 of systemetizing and standardizing be in- 

 itiated and followed throughout. A further 

 essential is that eveiyone engaged in the 

 work be encouraged to be neat and careful 

 in all things. I do not mean to say that 

 good work has never been done in a slo- 

 venly work shop but I do want to empha- 

 size the fact that much better work is pos- 

 sible if good working conditions are main- 

 tained. You know there is an old saying 

 that it goes hard with the land where 

 wealth accumulates and men decay. It is 

 equally true that it goes hard with .the 

 scientific work on an experiment station 

 where junk accumulates and men decay. It 

 may not be best to adopt too rigid a sys- 

 tem and thus discourage initiative on the 

 part of the individual. A certain amount 

 of initiative is most desirable. The best 

 example whicli I can recall of an extensive 

 line of experiments carried on by a rigid 

 and thorough system is that conducted by 

 the Office of Dry Land Agriculture of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture 

 under Chilcott and Cole. A good example 

 of a policy Avherein the general ground 

 work of the experiments is planned at head 

 quarters, but wherein the utmost is left 

 to individual initiative, is the work of the 

 Office of Cereal Investigations under Car- 



A 



Professor M. Champlin. 



leton. Ball and Warburton in the same de- 

 partment. Both of these policies and me- 

 thods have their values under certain con- 

 ditions. 



Plot experiments, in general, must be 

 very carefully standardized and permitted 

 to run through a long period of years. Nur- 

 sery work and cooperative experiments 

 may be much more erratic. The nursery is 

 largely for the benefit of the breeder him- 

 self and the cooperative experiment is large- 

 ly for the benfit of the farmer and his 

 immediate neiglibors. It may never be tab- 

 ulated and pul)lished, while plot experi- 

 ments should be so well planned that one 

 can tabulate and publish the results and 

 draw definite conclusions therefrom. 

 Size of Plots 



A number of inquiries have been 

 conducted for tlie purpose of determin- 

 ing what size and shape of plot to use. 

 The outcome of sucli inquiries is that 

 the plot should be as large as practicable 



