THE STATE AS FARMER 37 



are potentially in our possession ; but we 

 lack the larger survey that even the experts 

 require before making full use of their detailed 

 knowledge ; and we lack also those well- 

 informed students in every district who can 

 direct, over the whole area, the practical 

 work and the curative applications which 

 the soil needs. In the commercial handling 

 which we have been considering, markets and 

 transport largely control the arrangements. 

 But in the soil studies we have to look 

 at geological formations, the action of the 

 elements, and the chemical and bacteriological 

 idiosyncrasies of each type, which types are 

 not uniform in any valley or plain. The 

 men and women in charge of those investiga- 

 tions, therefore, may not be able to confine 

 their labours within the limits of the trade 

 area involved ; but it does not follow from 

 this fact that in the central bureau of whatever 

 unit may be found convenient in practice 

 there should not be a department to which 

 all soil inquiries are to be addressed. The 

 agricultural college would be the natural 

 head when the matter takes final shape. How 

 much simpler, then, when we are aiming at 



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