4i6 



The Review of Reviews. 



trolled by the Government. America was sup- 

 posed to be ahead of the world in this respect, 

 but much surprise has been occasioned in 

 America by the discovery that Japan possesses 

 nearly two hundred experimental institutions, as 

 compared to the fifty-six scattered over the vast 

 area of the United States. But still more im- 

 portant than the mere number is the excellence 

 of the co-operation between the different educa- 

 tional factors. The example of Japan is most 

 valuable. The Imperial Central Agricultural 

 Experimental Station was originated in 1886 

 in a sort of unofficial manner, graduates from 

 the Tokio Agricultural College carrying out 

 easy and simple experiments with the help of 

 farmers. The results were sufficiently good to 

 impress the farmers with the value of the aid of 

 science in farming, especially in the choice of 

 fertilisers and of seeds. In 1890, when the 

 Government really began its campaign in 

 earnest, the station was taken over entirely, and 

 placed upon a sound basis by 1893. There were 

 attached to it some four acres of land for experi- 

 mental work. In 1893 six branch stations were 

 established about the country, and in 1S96 three 

 more were added. These branch stations devoted 

 their energies to practical experiments with a 

 view both of instructing the farmers and 

 encouraging them to found similar stations in 

 their own districts. Gradually more of such 

 stations were founded, and now nearly all uhe 

 forty-two prefectures have each a station of their 

 own, there being thirty-eight in all. In this 

 country the Central Station would he able to 



devote itself more to purely experimental work 

 after the decentralisation had been effected, and 

 its work would be divided into eight sections : 

 agriculture, agricultural chemistry, entomology, 

 vegetable pathology, horticulture, stock-breed- 

 ing, and report and general affairs. The result 

 of the investigations carried on at this centre 

 should be put into practice at the local experi- 

 mental stations, and if successful published in 

 the reports. These reports should be most 

 exhaustive and valuable, and cover a very wide 

 range of subjects. The idea of decentralisation 

 can be carried yet another step further, branch 

 stations being transferred to the prefectural 

 authorities of the districts wherein they 'vere 

 situated, and only three branch stations besides 

 the Central Station eventually would remain 

 under the control of the central authorities. One 

 is to be devoted to agricultural work, one to 

 entomology and vegetable pathology, and one to 

 stock-breeding. The main and the branch 

 stations all undertake the following work, viz., 

 inspection of fertilisers, chemical analyses made 

 at the request of the public, super\-ision of 

 experiments entrusted to farmers, information 

 given to inquiries of the public, lectures held at 

 the request of the public, and researches on 

 special agricultural problems. 



A GRADATION OF EXPERIMENTAL STATIONS. 



Proceeding in gradually increasing circles of 

 influence from the Central Station come the local 

 agricultural experiment farms maintained by the 

 county aulhoritic's, and chiefly devoted to the 



What this means 



I N 



FOOD FOR CATTLE 



No less than 8 C OWS 

 Can be FED by this single ACRE ii 



•tAS'-*' " ■ " "" — I — i^mkjmmm'^ — ■ ,„w — - -'•'ci.iJHBB 



•^ ■ — ^1 ^ 



' 3 Acres 



Required to teed 

 One COW 



1 



];/2_to 2 T-ms_\ 

 of HAYrjrcJ 



Only 2 AcRts 

 Required to fBed 

 One COW 



2 '/2 Ton 9 



of HAY raised 



p»-r ACKE in 



ENGLAND 



FLANDERS 



Less than One ACRE 

 required to feed: 

 COW 



i 



On- 



6 Tons 



of H A Y raised 

 per ACRC ui) irrigated 

 land in tl.- VOSCESl 

 ■^ FRANC E: "* 



By sowing Special Fodder Grasses, 

 (Rye Grass Etc 



40 Tons of HAY 



Per ACRE were Pciiaed 

 ,)t CRAICENTIININY n^ar 

 ^EDINBURGH' •" 



A airikiiiK illustraiiun ot itossibllllies. 



How British Pasture does not produce sufficient Hay. 



