INTRODUCTION. 



AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND THE 

 FARMER. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In the following pages an attempt has been made to describe 

 in non-scientific language the main lines of agricultural research 

 now in progress in this country. With two exceptions, the work 

 is aided b}^ funds placed by the Development Commissioners at 

 the disposal of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. The 

 two exceptions are the work on animal nutrition at the Rowett 

 Research Institute, University of Aberdeen, and on animal 

 breeding at the University of Edinburgh, in which cases the 

 funds are administered by the Board of Agriculture for Scotland. 

 It was felt that a description of current research in animal nutri- 

 tion and breeding would be incomplete without a reference to 

 the important investigations which are being conducted in 

 Scotland, and through the courtesy of the Board of Agriculture 

 for Scotland they have therefore been summarised in this pubh- 

 cation. 



A word of explanation as to the meaning of the term " re- 

 search " is necessary. The word is often used by agriculturists 

 in reference to any investigations which have as their object 

 the improvement of existing practice. Thus experimental work 

 in manuring, the testing of varieties, and so on, are spoken of 

 as research. Strictly speaking, however, experimental work of 

 this character is not research. Biological research, in the true 

 sense of the word, aims at finding out the why and the wherefore ; 

 it investigates principles. Later on, when such principles have 

 been established, the scientist can use them as a basis for experi- 

 mental work, and thus in due course the farmer reaps the benefit. 

 No hard and fast line can however be drawn between research 

 and experiment, and some of the investigations being conducted 

 at Research Institutions are experimental in character — that is, 

 they aim for example at finding out the results of methods of 

 treatment selected more or less at random, rather than at estab- 

 lishing the principles on which scientific treatment should be 

 based. While this type of enquiry may appeal with greater 

 force to the farmer, it is only rendered possible if there is a sound 

 basis of abstract research. Experimental work aims at getting 

 practical results ; research endeavours to find out fundamental 

 principles; and the greatest need at the present time 's for the 



