182 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE. 



February, 1922. 



Ill tine early stages of agricultural ex- 

 perimentation, before the problems had 

 been organized to show their nature and 

 content, the work was naturally element- 

 ary, based largeh' on obsiervations, com- 

 parative trials and simple experiments 

 wliich did not attempt to determine the 

 underlying conditions or establish defin- 

 ite relationships. These types of work 

 have given results which altliough large- 

 ly empirical have been extremely useful. 

 They have supplied a great fund of in- 

 formation on which to develop practical 

 systems and to base further experimental 

 inquiry. Although sufficient for one stage, 

 they may be a poor means of progress 

 in another. Hence they need to be repla- 

 ced by more rigorous methods and by in- 

 vestigation which goes to the heart of the 

 problems. 



It has been a somewhat prevalent mis- 

 take to assume that a complex agricultur- 

 al problem could be solved in its practical 

 aspects without a study of the principles 

 and factors underlying it. This has led 

 to the attempt to secure quick results 

 by short cuts, and has bred overconfi- 

 dence in the competenoe of simple com- 

 parative experiments. Eeliance upon 

 such time-honored procedure in certain 

 classes of work has resulted in the effort 

 to refine them without going outside of 

 them or bringing to their support more 

 abstract tj^pes of inquiry which the chan- 

 ging status of the problems made neces- 

 sary. 



This is not to overlook or to minimize 

 in the least the increasing extent to 

 which agricultural research has advanced 

 into new fields or stages of inquii'^', has 

 developed improved methods and means 

 of progress, and has been rewarded with 

 results comparable with those in any line 

 of investigation. Such effort has well il- 

 lustrated the truth that in this branch 

 of research as in other walks of life 'Sve 

 build the ladder by Avhich we rise;" and 

 it argues for a type of experimental work 

 wliicli is critical of its methods and con- 

 clusions, seeking means for strengthen- 

 ing them and avoiding error or uncertain- 

 ty. 



But certain types of work liave not 

 been marked by such growth of vision 

 and method. Avith tlie result that they have 



become doubtful means of scientific prog- 

 ress at the present time. They continue 

 to perpetuate their possible errors or in- 

 herent limitations after these have been 

 disclosed. They are not fulfilling the ex- 

 pectations originally placed upon them; 

 and while they have been useful up to a 

 certain point, they are accumulating data 

 after they have ceased to shed new light. 



The aim of science is simplicity, the 

 dissolution of complexities, and develop- 

 ment of sini,ple facts and statements easily 

 comprehended. Its method begins with a 

 simplifying process, — the analysis of 

 problems to get at their real nature and 

 content, the resolution of complex ques- 

 tions -into parts which are sufficiently 

 simple and self-contained to be capable 

 of study. Often this can be only partial- 

 ly done at the outset, but as the investiga- 

 tion proceeds and the real nature of the 

 problem is disclosed the segregating pro- 

 ei?ss becomes easier. 



In agricultural investigation this is dif- 

 ficult because of the many factors em- 

 braced, and in the more common types 

 of Avork Avith plants and animals it has 

 onl}^ been followed to a limited extent. 

 More often the problem has been an in- 

 volved and complex one from the start, 

 embracing a wide range of phenomena; 

 and instead of being simplified and re- 

 duced to smaller definite units as the 

 Avork progressed it has gathered bulk as 

 it Avent, like a suoav ball, until it has be- 

 come such a complicated aggregation as 

 to be Avell-nigh uuAvorkable. Too large for 

 any intimate study, the mechanics and 

 routine of it have occupied the full time 

 and it has often degenerated into the 

 broad accumulation of data. 



In constructive research data are sec- 

 ured for use, not for themselves. They are 

 designed for a definite purpose — to solve 

 a concrete problem, to proA'e or disprove 

 a conception or an idea, to disclose scien- 

 tific facts. The undirected collection of 

 facts, AAdiether they be obserA'ations, re- 

 sults of experiments, or what not, leads 

 to complexity, to an aggregation of data 

 Avhich must first be classified before be- 

 ing used in molding a scientific explan- 

 ation or a principle, or dcA^loping even 

 practical ini'onruition. T'nless there is a 

 clear ol)jectiv(' and an idea to guide in 



