February, 1921. 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE 



73 



been times when we have listened to expositions oil the 

 sulijeet wliich seemed more likely to aggravate the 

 drifting conditions than to restrict them. With all due 

 respect to what has been done in other places we feel 

 that this very important problem should be made the 

 subject of careful scientific investigation because of 

 many factors apparently involved. It is fair to submit 

 that there is a distinct possibility that some cause or 

 causes may have been overlooked even by the most 

 earnest investigators. 



(c) In Canada until just recently Animal Husbandry 

 was not considered as offering a field for research, 

 and with the exception of a few very general experi- 

 ments no venture was made in this important field. We 

 have felt from the first (at this college) that we must 

 give this defiartment very serious consideration in our 

 plan of experiment. We have now several pressing 

 problems under investigation — a typical one being the 

 feeding test of ten groups of range steers, run of the 

 stoek yards, fed upon the feeds grown in Alberta : 

 comparatively monthly gains are recorded accurately. 

 This is a relatively short piece of investigation, and 

 you will get the result in the Spring, but we have many 

 experiments running over at least three years and the 

 results of some of these will soon be at the service 

 of the public. 



(d) Our departments of Agricultural Engineering, 

 Dairying and Poultry have just been put in operation 

 fw it would be rather premature to submit typical 

 experiments, but we shall try to have all the work of 

 these departments function about the work of re- 

 search. 



Needless to say, no reports will be iiublishcd without 

 actual accurate experiment fiirnishing the material. In 

 this connection I should like to emphasize the import- 

 ance of steps being taken, by organizations of tech- 

 nical men, to systematically curb the tendency on the 

 part of responsible professional men, to publish sweep- 

 ing statements, backed by no scientific investigation. 

 T refer to the Journalistic Chinooks which periodically 

 sweep across our land, boosting some crop or variety 

 or breed or practice, the only thing we are sure of, be- 

 ing that another year will see a change of subject but 

 the same old enthusiasm. Our West is old enough to 

 know better and it would appear that the great body 

 of our farmers are beginning to look for something 

 better, and it would be well that we take a lead in the 

 matter. It is surely not too much to expect that college 

 graduates met in serious convention, would consider 

 taking a stand for the control of publication of scienti- 

 fic information. I am not finding fault with the old 

 enthusiasm just mentioned but I am criticising adverse- 

 ly its misdirection. A prophet may not be without 

 honor save in his own country but I should like to on 

 record as prophesying that should we by some means 

 or other be able to direct this enthusiasm toward the 

 support of scientific research, our progress would aston- 

 ish even the most optimistic among us. If we can 

 organize the enthusiasm which has manifested itself 

 successively in the boosting of Winter Rye, Alfalfa, 

 Sweet Clover, Bobs Wheat, Sunflowers. Summer 

 Fallowing, Potassium Iodide, etc. all good in them- 

 selves — perhaps — and direct this enthusiasm to the 

 support of scientific research, wo would jjrogress by 

 miles instead of by feet. 



In conclusion the writer would sum up the subject 

 bv submitting these ideas: 



(a) We are not yet in a position to accurately define 

 boundaries for the realm of agricultural research. 



(b) We must not confuse demonstration with expe- 

 rimentation. 



(c) Present agricultural research should be govern- 

 ed by the more immediate needs of the state. 



(d) Financially the investigator represents a profit 

 to the state. 



(e) We need more men for Agricultural Research. 

 We need better paid men for Agricultural Re- 

 search. 



We need better trained men for Agricultural 

 Research. 



(f) The problems submitted as typical of the re- 

 search work under w.ay in the University of Alberta 

 are also typical of the problems facing all colleges and 

 experimental stations. If a determined effort is made 

 to hasten the better training of men for agricultural 

 research, to secure for them better recognition for ser- 

 vice, to organize for the best team work in problems 

 of research, and to restrict as far as possible any tend- 

 ency to short-circuit publicity, we shall go a long way 

 to speed the dawn of that era when great advancement 

 in agricultural .service and agricultural teaching will 

 be the record of the day. 



CORRECTING ERRORS. 



On page 8 of th(- -January issue, the following should 

 have been added to the title of Figure 4, "X=:Dead 

 tissue of old roots." Another error was made in the 

 title of Figure 6 on page 9, where the word "Alberta" 

 should have been "Alfalfa." 



On page 20, immediately following the heading 

 "Insects and Animal Diseases", the paragraph should 

 read. "The relation of insects to animal diseases is now 

 well known. The Anopheles mosquito carries the 

 malaria organism, the Stegomyia mosquito", etc. 



Readers who are retaining copies of "Scientific 

 Agriculture" for reference purposes, should see that 

 these corrections are made, as in each instance the 

 addition or change has a direct bearing upon the in- 

 terpretation of the text. 



MEETING OF 0. A. C. EX-STUDENTS. 



Graduates and ex-students of the Ontario Agricul- 

 tural College have been invited to attend a re-union at 

 the Prince George Hotel, Toronto, on March 10th next, 

 for the purpose of organizing a provincial branch of 

 the 0. A. C. Alumni. The committee which has been 

 attending to the details of organization, is made up of 

 C. F. Bailey. Chairman, S. E. Todd, Secretary and the 

 following members: W. R. Reek. J. W. Widdifield, 

 :\r.P.P., Col. W. J. Brown. W. J. Bell and II. S. Fry. 

 Invitations have been sent to every ex-student who.se 

 addresses known, and present indications point to a 

 verv enthusiastic convention. 



BOTANICAL ABSTRACTS. 



Dr. W. P. I'liiunpson. I'rofessoi- of Bicdog.v at the Uni- 

 versity of Saskatchewan, and Professor B. T. Dickson 

 of I\Iacdonald College, have been ajipointed to i-epre- 

 sent the Caiuulian Society of Technical Agriculturists 

 on the Board of Control of Botanical Abstracts. The 

 f(U-mer will hold office for four years and the latter 

 for two vears. 



