September 15, 1904] 



NATURE 



493 



\vpre, in 1899. planted out in a wood (Loimannshagen) in 

 Ihe neighbourhood. In the autumn of 1902 the young trees 

 were carefully measured, with the following results : — 



Piesendorf, Salzburg . 

 St Andra in Karnlen . 



Treibach, Karnten 

 Achenthal in N. Tyrol. 



1400 

 1750 

 1420 

 1625 

 1650 

 900 

 9CXD 



900 

 1300 

 1600 



These figures show — 



yW That where, in any particular locality, mature trees 

 were measured at different elevations, the tallest trees, as 

 was to be expected, were found at the lowest elevation. 



(2) That where the seed of such trees was sown the height 

 of the resulting trees, at the age of six years, was in close 

 relationship to that of the mother trees. 



(3) That where mother trees of approximately equal height 

 from the same locality and the same elevation (Treibach) 

 were selected, the resulting progeny were also of approxi- 

 mately equal vigour. 



The differences in the height-growth of the young trees 

 are so striking as to lead to the conclusion that the financial 

 returns of Forestry operations may be profoundly modified 

 bv the origin of the seed, and it would apparently pay 

 nurserymen and planters well to give their careful attention 

 to this subject. 



joint or Cooperative Work. 



In conclusion, I may be allowed to direct your attention 

 to a prominent feature of experimental or demonstrational 

 work which is found to exhibit itself in all countries of the 

 world where serious attention is given to the improvement 

 of agricultural production. While, no doubt, it is the 

 individual who plants the germ of a new idea and fosters 

 its growth until it is fairly established, it is by systematised 

 cooperative effort that the practical value of the idea is 

 tested, and that the knowledge is made available and accept- 

 able to the workaday farmer. \'arious objections have been 

 urged against field experiments, and it need not be denied 

 that they are incapable of supplying a satisfactory answer 

 to many scientific questions. Such experiments are exposed 

 in no small degree to the disturbing influences of inequali- 

 ties of soil, irregular cultivation, the attack of animals, and 

 the vicissitudes of climate ; but when reasonable precautions 

 are taken to guard against these, and given a sufficient 

 number of tests, the results of field trials are of the highest 

 value as a guide to practice. Apart from attention to the 

 preliminary details of the scheme, and to care in carrying 

 it out, the main point to aim at in field-trials is to have 

 'them so frequently duplicated or repeated that the disturb- 

 ing factors inseparable from field-work will be largely 

 eliminated. .Such duplication may take the form of repeti- 

 tion of the same test on the same area year after year, when 

 one obtains some such series of results as those that have 

 helped to make the reputation of Rothamsted. But how- 

 ever convincing may be the results of a series of experi- 

 ments that have marched inajestically on for half a century, 

 they lack attractiveness for the investigator who desires to 

 solve not one but many problems during his lifetime. For 

 him, therefore, duplication in time gives place to duplication 

 in space — in other words, he secures the same end, or an 

 end that is in many respects equivalent, by repeating the 

 test at several places in the same season, or in a short series 

 of seasons. This method of work is, of course, bv no means 

 ni-w. It was utilised with great advantage by the late 

 Dr. \"oelcker, and by our more recently departed friend Dr. 



NO. 1820, VOL. 70] 



Aitken, and it is a line that is still being followed by the 

 two great societies with which these distinguished workers 

 were so long associated. The method is also being practised 

 extensively, chiefly through the agency of societies, in 

 Germany, France, and other European countries, and it has 

 taken firm hold in the United States and in some of our 

 colonies. One of the largest and most successful agencies 

 in cooperative demonstrations is to be found in Canada, 

 where, during the past nine years, an average of 37,000 

 farmers have annuallv received small parcels of improved 

 seeds through the Government experimental organisation 

 directed by Dr. Saunders. It is claimed that the financial 

 results to the country as a whole run to many millions of 

 dollars, and there seems to be no reasonable doubt as to 

 the accuracy of the statement. 



I trust you will pardon my referring in this connection 

 to a matter that is personal to a considerable proportion of 

 this audience, and of saying that, in my opinion, one of 

 the best pieces of work that has been done in this country 

 in recent years is the preparation of the scheme of joint 

 experiments by the .Agricultural Education Association. 

 The problems set for solution under that scheme are of the 

 simple, direct, practical kind that field-work is thoroughly 

 qualified to deal with. But the essence of success lies in 

 the power of numbers, and the control of this factor rests 

 with the members of the .Association themselves. Now, most 

 of the members of that Association are not only investigators 

 but also teachers, and many of the institutions that they 

 represent have recognised the advantages of keeping in 

 touch with their past pupils through the agency of collegiate 

 .Associations. These old students, it seems to me, represent 

 a large mass of most valuable material for carrying through 

 cooperative experimental work of the class referred to, and 

 I am convinced that the agriculture of the country would 

 benefit in no small degree were this powerful agency fully 

 utilised. 



SECTION L. 



educ.^tion.'vl scie.\ce. 

 Opening Address by the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of 



Hereford, D.D., LL.D., President of the Section. 

 I AM moved to begin this address with a word of personal 

 apology, the strongest feeling in my mind, as I rise to 

 deliver it, being that in the fitness of things some one of 

 the many distinguished representatives of education in this 

 University would have been the natural occupant of this 

 chair on the present occasion ; and for my own part I could 

 hardlv have brought myself to accept the invitation with 

 which 1 have been honoured had I not been led to under- 

 stand that on occasions of this kind it is preferred by the 

 members of the University visited that some one from the 

 outside should be invited as I have been. 



Thus I have accepted, not without hesitation and mis- 

 giving, but with the more gratitude, as feeling that I am 

 here because of the wish of the Cambridge authorities to 

 have someone connected with the University of Oxford, 

 and I desire that the grateful acknowledgment of this 

 courtesy and kindness should be my first word as President 

 of the Educational Section. 



The inclusion of Education ainong the various sections 

 of this .Association for the Advancement of Science is 

 sufficient evidence that a new educational era has begun in 

 this country. 



Whatever may be the defects of our educational system 

 or want of system, whatever changes may be necessary to 

 bring it, in the current phrase, up to date, the days of 

 unthinking tradition are over. 



Scientific method is entering on its inheritance, and it 

 has begun to include the field of education along with other 

 fields of life and thought within the sphere of its influence. 



And scientific minds are asking on every side of us what 

 is the end of true education, and are we on the right vvav 

 to it? 



True education, almost insuperably difficult in practice, 

 has been often defined in words. 



Plato told us long ago how it is music for the soul and 

 gymnastic for the body, both intended for the benefit of the 

 soul, how it is a life-long process, how good manners are 

 a branch of it and poetry its principal part, though the 



