ON AGRICULTURE TO IRELAND 135 



Department of Agriculture 



Great differences of opinion exist as to the creation of a De- 

 partment of Agriculture for Scotland. The difference of opinion 

 is not so much as to the need for a Department of Agriculture 

 but as to whether the Department is to be an independent Scotch 

 Department, like the Fishery Board or the Congested Districts 

 Board or tlie Local Government Board, or whether it is, unlike 

 these and other Scottish Boards, to have no independent existence, 

 but to be a Sub-Department of the existing Board of Agriculture 

 and Fisheries. Whether the new Department is or is not to be an 

 independent Department, it will be an important body with the 

 opportunity of doing splendid work, and we should like to see it 

 manned by the most efficient Scotchmen available. We may 

 mention some of the things which would naturally come within 

 the sweep of such a Department. 



I. Agricultural Education and Research 



Perhaps there is no work in Scotland more urgently in need of 

 development at the present time than that of agricultural educa- 

 tion and research. Our system of agricultural education is 

 incomplete and is inadequately furnished with means to support 

 it. The Scotch Education Department is the central authority 

 meantime responsible for the education of the country. That 

 Department, and not various bodies as at present, should be the 

 dispenser of the funds to colleges and schools alike, and all 

 educational institutions should be responsible to the Department. 

 Thus agricultural education would be systematically organized, 

 and a sure foundation for a revival of agriculture would be laid. 



Along with education there must also be included the great 

 question of agricultural research. Nothing can be more vitally 

 important in the interests of agriculture and of agricultural educa- 

 tion than the investigation of the numerous problems and 

 difficulties with which our farmers are constantly confronted. 

 Further light is needed on plant growth and plant nutrition, on 

 the best methods of treating the diseases of plants and animals ; 

 on the most effective employment of manures and feeding stuffs ; 

 on the improvement of our breed of live stock, and on the 

 supremely important basal and practical problem of how to increase 

 the returns from all branches of farming without at the same time 

 increasing either costs or risks. The need is great, but little 

 can be done till larger funds are available for defraying the 

 necessary costs and for the employment of larger staffs of experts. 

 The results of such investigations could be rapidly communicated 

 to farmers through the agricultural press, and through the agricul- 

 tural colleges, where lecturers could be largely employed in 

 explaining to farmers^all discoveries of practical value made in the 

 course of such research. Such work could not fail in the course 



