72 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE 



Fel.niarv. W21. 



assistance to the \vork of agricultural research and the 

 hope expressed that such recognition M'ould not long 

 be delayed. It is worth considering whether we would 

 not speed the day if Me could put our case more plainly 

 before the public. It would seem to be almost axiom- 

 atic that the more concentrated the professional agri- 

 culturist is upon his Avork, the less business sense he 

 may be expected to exhibit — to put it in another way, 

 the more he values his work the less he attempts to 

 "sell himself" to those he is earnestly trying to serve. 

 It is the careless opportiuiist and dabbler in the field, 

 that can find time to maintain an advertising depart- 

 ment for his "shoi-t circuit" work. It is mere folly to 

 claim that the dignity of the work does not allow such 

 a publicity as just suggested. It is not fair to the work ; 

 leave the individual ont of the question ; it is only half 

 playing the game if one achieves results, valuable at 

 once it may be, and leave the public education factor 

 to mere chance. Our men engaged in research woi-k 

 pay their way many times over and it is best that this 

 fact be presented so that it Avill sink home. T need 

 only cite the ease of Marquis Wheat. Who will claim 

 that the cost of the experiments directly and indirectly 

 connected with the development of this Avheat have not 

 been paid off some years ago, and that our farmei's 

 have been enriched, how much it would be difficult to 

 estimate? Another familiar case is the claim made in 

 connection with O. A. 0. No. 21 Rarley: 



"It is now estimated that about 9G per cent, of all the 

 barley which is groAvn in Ontario Itelongs to the Mand- 

 scheuri or the O.A.C. No. 21 varieties. According to 

 the report of the Bureau of Industries for Ontario the 

 yield of barley per acre for the past sixteen years as 

 compared with the sixteen years previous has had an 

 increase of about 23 per cent. This increase in yield 

 per acre throughout Ontario for the last period as 

 compared with the fii"st period of sixteen years Avould 

 amount to about thirty-five million dollars, or suffi- 

 cient to maintain the Ontario Agricultural College at 

 its present cost of maintenance for approximately one 

 hundred and ninety yeai-s." To come closer home and. 

 l)artly for home consumption if you please, it may lie 

 noted that our Field Husbandry Department at the 

 University has now Avell under way the distribution of 

 a Red Clover which appears, after five years' trial, to 

 be perfectly hardy for Alberta — the seed of this variety 

 won seventh place in the open contest at Chicago. We 

 are in receipt of many encouraging reports from those 

 who co-operated Avith us in the matter of tryiuff this 

 out. If a satisfactory clover has been found for Alberta, 

 this one result Avould justify the establishment of a 

 ProA'incial Experiment Station. These are only typical 

 instances. All our agricultural institutions are Avork- 

 ing in the same field and each year many of them are 

 able to publi.sh bona-fide information that more than 

 justifies the dollars spent in their maintenance. The 

 Avork of research is not being Avell or fairly treated if 

 it be placed in the position of a beggar or a dependent. 

 Before leaving this phase of the question it might not 

 be amiss to call attention to a sinister claim that has 

 found too much publicity during the past two years. 

 The claim was advanced, how or Avhen I do not knoA\'. 

 that the discoveries of greatest A-alue to the race Avere 

 the result of chance, or of the efforts of untrained men. 

 and therefore the money spent on research Avas mostly 

 Avasted. Reference Avas not often made to agriculture, 

 but enough Avas said to make us take notice that Ave 

 were being hit, cA-en if it Avere oA^er the other felloAv's 



back. It is true that some valuable and sjietacular dis- 

 coveries have been the Avork oi untrained men, at least 

 of men not college trained. Is the inference admitted 

 that these men would have been less efficient if they 

 had received some college training? But we need not 

 argue this side of the case here. The fact of the matter 

 is that in the aggregate the great progress of the race 

 has been due to the efforts of men Avho in some Avay 

 or other trained themselves for this service. But they 

 were poor aiivertisers and their service j:lid not become 

 knoAvn or at any rate Avell knoAvu. In the realm of 

 mechanics important discoA'eries haA'^e been made by 

 so-called uneducated men, and Avhile Ave might question 

 the matter of their lack of echieation, Ave need not 

 trouble ourselves at this time, but content ourselves 

 with the fact that parallel claims have no such place 

 in agricultural science. Of course Ave have our lucky 

 men, and our first-class claimers, but largely, in the 

 realm of agricultural science, the great service to the 

 farmer has been jierformed by the trained man. There 

 need be no misgiving as to the justification for the de- 

 mand for more trained, men for agricultural research. 



Much has been said about the scarcity of trained men 

 for research Avork and coupled Avith this has been con- 

 siderable airing of the condition of underpayment for 

 the men engaged in this sort of Avork. What is the 

 reason that the old law of supply and demand has fallen 

 down in this instance — Avhy has not the admitted sear- 

 city enhanced the value of — dare I say it — the article. 

 Well, one reason is undoubtedly the excessive modesty 

 and lack of business sense just mentioned. Another 

 reaso'n advanced is that organizations such as yours 

 have not sufficiently interested themselves in the edu- 

 cation of the public as to the value — concrete value if 

 you i^lease — of the investigator to the said public. How- 

 ever, while we arc at it Ave nuiy as Avell clear up the 

 Avhole house and admit that, in Canada at least, A\e 

 havi' been hampered by the lack of training on the part 

 of our investigators. j\Iany of these men Avill be among 

 the first to admit this charge. In Avhat other field but 

 agi-iculture would a man, after four years of college 

 training be expected to get out ami teach the boys of 

 the same educational standing (perhaps higher) as he 

 boasted four years ago? Nearly all of us are here 

 today by the grace of pluck or luck or probably a 

 combination of both. Similarly we have handled the 

 (luestion of training men for iuA'estigatioual Avork, but 

 the time has come Avhen Ave must face the condition 

 that sui)erior training is urgently needed, and face the 

 other condition that our colleges and universities have 

 barely started to meet the need. 



Lest the writer be accused of dealing too unich with 

 the problem in the ab.stract the remainder of this paper 

 Avill be dcA'oted to outlining problems typical of Avhat 

 the College of Agriculture at the University of Alberta 

 considers as most pressing for solution : 



(a) In Field Hu.sbandry the pi-oblem of frost injury 

 with its many ramifications in crop production seems 

 to be of ])aramount importance to this Province. Much 

 has been spoken and Avritten on this subject, but hoAv 

 much accurate scientific investigation has gone to back 

 up Avhat has been spoken or Avritteu? So important 

 do we consider this type of problem that Ave are organ- 

 izing our department that all such pressing issues may 

 be investigated to their ultinuite conclusion. 



(b) In the Department of Soils a typical Alberta 

 problem is the one of .soil drifting. This question has 

 been a convention topic for some time and there have 



