February, 192i 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE. 



f8& 



cently shown. Such results lack permanent 

 value, and are likely to be given a prom- 

 inence and an application which they are 

 not entitled to. 



Experiments of this practical type have 

 been useful in the past and there will be 

 need for them in future. It is important 

 that they occupy their proper place ; but 

 in the scheme for investigation they should 

 not take the place of nutrition studies 

 based on more permanent factors than 

 prices and food combinations, or reliance 

 rest too largely on them at this stage. 



Manv important advancements are be- 

 ing made in animal nutrition which will 

 find application in feeding practice and 

 in showing the reason back of it. These 

 disclose more clearly the functions to be 

 discharged by food, the inherent qualities 

 which account for the observed value or 

 special properties of particular feeds, and 

 the means of measuring the response of 

 the animal with a high degree of accur- 

 acy. Such fundamental investigations 

 ought assuredly to be encouraged, not to 

 the exclusion of but along with the type 

 of feeding experiments which seek a more 

 immediately practical end. 



The magnificent work of Armsby and 

 his associates has been the admiration of 

 the scientific world, but in spite of its 

 ultimate practical value, and especially 

 in furthering investigation, it had not 

 within itself the elements of publicity, 

 and was only vaguely understood. It never 

 had an assured permanent income, and 

 in that sense was obliged to live from 

 hand to mouth. The loss this entailed is 

 realized too late ; and now the future of 

 the work he so admirably started is under 

 consideration. It would be a calamity if it 

 were allowed to fall to the ground. 



The large amount of attention now be- 

 ing given to fundamental and searching 

 inquiry on the soil, the conditions of plant 

 growth, and related subjects, should not 

 fail of mention in this connection, for it 

 illustrates the development of insight 

 into these problems. At no period lias 

 there been anything comparable to it. 

 The results Avhich are following from 

 these intensive studies amply justify the 

 expectations of them as constructive 

 means of progress. 



With all the facts clearly in mind, it 

 is very important to take an account of 



stock in the more conventional lines of 

 experiment ; to study seriously the more 

 extensive and better class of them in 

 order to determine what they liave ac- 

 tually shown, what they are competent ta 

 show, and the lessons they teach in met- 

 hods. By all means, let us garner in all 

 the teachings of these field and other 

 common types of experiment ; let us pro- 

 fit by both the good and the bad exper- 

 ience, but let not the negative results be- 

 overlooked in searching for the more po- 

 sitive ones. Such experiments represent 

 large annual expenditures, and they oc- 

 cupy the time of a large body of work- 

 ers. They express a confidence on which 

 men are staking their efforts and their 

 prospects. It is important to know the 

 place which such experiments should oc- 

 cupy in future study and the manner in 

 which they need to be supplemented. This 

 may be one of the fundamental lessons 

 to be drawn from them, and may indi- 

 cate t/iat for purposes of research their 

 most useful field is in supplementing lab- 

 oratory studies, rather than the reverse 

 as in the past. 



In a public supported enterprise like 

 agricultural investigation there must ne- 

 cessarily be a happy combination of ef- 

 fort representing different grades of in- 

 tensity. Some problems or stages of them 

 call more urgently for the full measure of 

 the method of science than others, and it 

 will be for the investigator to govern 

 himself accordingly. But be can not fail 

 to exercice a critical attitude toward all 

 his work and his methods, or to exempli- 

 fy in theni tlie element of real progress. 



J. H. GRISDALE, 

 Dejputy Minister of Agriculture for Canada^ 

 whose address on "Better Co-operation in 

 Research" is published in this issue. 



