undoubtedly been felt by the departments of investigation rather than 

 by those of instruction. 



(3) The persistent and widespread promotion of popular educa- 

 tion and of public good- will has unquestionably had a profound, and 

 not always immediately healthful, influence on the extent and character 

 of the activities of the national and state agencies established for 

 agricultural research. A large amount of publicity work in the way 

 of representation before legislative committees, public addresses and 

 institute lectures, has been sustained by those holding positions of 

 scientific responsibility. It is indisputable that a generous proportion 

 of the energies of the national department of agriculture and of the 

 experiment stations has been consumed in agricultural propaganda. 

 While such efforts have been productive of good in other directions 

 they could only be so consuming of time and energy as to count 

 heavily against the work of inquiry. 



(4) The urgent and natural call for results that would produce an 

 immediate and favorable reaction upon the public mind has not only 

 brought about an era of the diffusion, rather than of the acquisition, of 

 knowledge, but has, quite generally, led to the study of problems 

 admitting of prompt conclusions, more particularly problems of a busi- 

 ness character directly related to financial benefit, rather than those 

 that are fundamental. Indeed, because of an insistent demand from 

 faimers for help in many directions there has been such a diffusion 

 of effort on a great variety of problems as largely to preclude their 

 study in a comprehensive and conclusive manner. Our scientific 

 literature abounds in the details of unfinished and inconclusive obser- 

 vations which have added very little to the sum of our agricultural 

 knowledge. The necessity of expedition in justifying the main- 

 tenance of scientific aid to agriculture has been essentially a 

 coercing influence in the direction of superficial inquiry and immature 

 conclusions. The standards of research in agriculture, as a whole, have 

 not compared favorably with those prevailing in some other lines of 

 inquiry nor have they always been on a par with the requirements of 

 the problems to be solved. 



(5) As one result of the close association of scientific inquiry and 

 popular education a true conception of real and efficient research has 

 not been fully maintained in the minds of all those engaged in the 

 work of agricultural investigation. The effect of such a situation upon 

 the progress of agricultural knowledge is obvious. 



(6) There has been no well-defined general agreement as to what 

 should be the relative functions of the two classes of agencies, state 

 and national, in the promotion of agricultural research and therefore 



