6i8 



NA TURE 



{Oct. 25, 1883 



arisen from the use of the tool as a club, but rather as an 

 anvil, as pointed out more than once in reference to other 

 stones observed by Mr. F. C. J. Spurrell and myself. 

 Several flakes have been removed from the extreme butt, 

 and a few small inconvenient asperities have been knocked 

 off elsewhere. Greater part of the flint is covered with 

 the original bark, and this bark is brownish ochreous, its 

 colour proving its derivation from the ochreous gravel. 

 The trimmed parts are lustrous, unabraded, and very 

 slightly stained. The tool was no doubt made and used 

 close to where it was found, and probably belongs to a 

 " Palaeolithic Floor," of which so many examples are 

 known now that attention has once been drawn to them. 

 The whole condition of the implement exactly agrees with 

 the stone implements from Stoke Newington, Erith, and 

 Northfleet. The tool appears to have been used as an 

 instrument for thrusting, as well as in a horizontal posi- 

 tion as an "anvil-stone." It would be idle to mention 

 the possible uses of such a huge tool as this, but every 

 one who has formed ideas of the mode of life of Palaeo- 

 lithic men will readily think of numerous uses to which 

 such an implement could have been put. 



In March, 1882, 1 had an opportunity of hastily walking 

 through the railway cutting, and I not only lighted on 

 several unabraded Palaeolithic flakes, but I found a sub- 

 triangular somewhat abraded Palaeolithic implement in a 

 lump of concreted gravel, which had fallen out of the side 

 of the cutting between Hounslow and Isleworth at six 

 feet from the surface line. This implement, formerly 556 

 in my series, is now in the collection of Mr. John Evans 

 at Nash Mills. I also found a large butt-end of an 

 implement, broken in Palaeolithic times, a little nearer 

 Hanwell, and another implement in the cutting between 

 Hanwell and Ealing. 



Near Hanwell in this cutting fresh-water shells were 

 abundant, and I do not think they have been recorded, 

 with implements, before from this position. It is to be 

 hoped the members of the Ealing Natural History Society 

 collected and took note of them. 



WoRTHINGTON G. SMITH 



AGRICULTURE, ITS NEEDS AND 

 OPPORTUNITIES 



pROFESSOR W. J. BEAL'S address on this subject, 

 -»- delivered before the American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, in August, is of interest to 

 Englishmen from more than one aspect. In the first 

 place its perusal gives us the means of knowing what is 

 being done in the United States for the advancement of 

 scientific agriculture. In the next place we are able to 

 judge how far we excel or are excelled by our American 

 relatives in matters connected with agricultural inquiry. 

 Lastly, it is in such addresses that we may expect to find 

 suggestions worthy of attention, and thoughts which in 

 due course will develop into acts. Prof. Heal takes for 

 his text — "Agriculture, its Needs and its Opportunities." 

 So far as its needs go they are manifold, and its oppor- 

 tunities are certainly coextensive with its vast domain. 



The first need is a very common one indeed — it is the 

 need of brains. Agriculture needs brains to guide and 

 counsel her. Prof. Heal is evidently a man calculated 

 himself to supply this need so far as one man can so do. 

 He invites the assistance of men of intellect to rescue 

 agriculture, and he laments the fact that within a com- 

 paratively recent time but very little of the best thought 

 even of civilised nations has been devoted to subjects in- 

 tended to advance agriculture. He calls attention to the 

 munificent aids granted by the United States Govern- 

 ment for the encouragement of anthropology, astronomy, 

 geological and mineralogical and other surveys, while 

 but a small Mini has been appropriated to agriculture. 

 To illustrate the hesitancy of men to bequeath money for 



the promotion of agriculture he takes the following from 

 an address given by President T. C. Abbot : — 



" I met a very pleasant and intelligent gentleman, who, 

 from his large wealth, was about to give some sixty or 

 seventy thousand dollars for the advancement of higher 

 education. He had been for some years, and was still, 

 the president of a State Agricultural Society. He was a 

 farmer. Did he then endow some Chair of Agriculture 

 or Agricultural Chemistry, of Veterinary Science, or of 

 Horticulture? Did he fit out an experiment station to 

 analyse fertilisers, to study the value of cattle foods ? 

 None of them. This farmer gave his thousands to endow 

 another workshop of astronomy." 



The above sentences are couched in the language of 

 indignation. They illustrate our own experience on this 

 side of the water, for the public ever seem to take more 

 interest in abstract science and fine art than in technical 

 instruction. The interest in agricultural science has been 

 always languid, albeit it has had its stalwart and enthu- 

 siastic supporters. But the public have hitherto failed to 

 tangibly grasp the importance of the subject. It is allowed 

 in a sort of languid and perfunctory manner, but without 

 enthusiasm. We have recently passed through a fervid 

 effort towards the attainment of better musical instruction 

 by means of a College of Music. But when are Royal 

 personages going to lead a movement in the direction of 

 securing better instruction in agriculture ? And is not 

 agriculture as noble a subject whereon Royalty might 

 bequeath its patronage and lavish its wealth as music ? 



We find then a certain unaccountable indifference to 

 agricultural science on both sides of the Atlantic, and yet 

 we ought not to forget that, while much more ought to be 

 done, much has been done both in America and Europe. 



The field as a field of research has not been so fruitful 

 as at one time it was expected to prove. The old and 

 time-honoured practices of the farmer have too often 

 justified themselves when confronted by scientific ob- 

 jectors. The suggestions of the scientific man have too 

 often been found impracticable and over-expensive by the 

 practical farmer. 



It is indeed very difficult to improve upon processes 

 which have stood so many trials. A certain reckless 

 assumption that old practices must give way to new has 

 been the ruin of many good men. Agriculture is undoubt- 

 edly capable of improvement, but the improvement is 

 generally most evident when established upon the old 

 lines of good practice, and when heroic measures are 

 avoided. 



Limited production is the chief difficulty in the way of 

 scientific agriculture. We cannot multiply our produc- 

 tion by steam power or chemical fertilisers. We can only 

 add to it, and that rather sparingly. We cannot increase 

 the number of our crops. Harvest only comes once a 

 year. Thus the examples of the printing press and of the 

 loom fail to impress the farmer with what science is to do 

 for him. Let it not, however, be thought that there is 

 not scope for the application of science to agriculture. If 

 we cannot multiply we can increase our produce and 

 cheapen processes. The uses of fertilisers ; the com- 

 parative values of foods ; the improvement of instruments ; 

 the introduction of steam ; the propagation of improved 

 animals ; the study of grasses and economic plants in 

 general ; the improvement of wool and of cereals ; the 

 introduction of new and cheap building materials, &c, are 

 all worth)- of attention, and all require the aid of science. 



Prof. Heal points out the importance of meteorology to 

 the farmer. He illustrates this by a quotation from Dr. 

 R. C. Kedzie, who wrote in iSSe, " If specific warnings had 

 been given our farmers at that time (harvest), most of the 

 wheat might have been safely housed, and the farmers of 

 Michigan saved from a loss of £ 1,000,000." Another point 

 made by the professor refers to our imperfect knowledge 

 of those epidemics which from time to time visit our 

 own (locks and herds, as well as those of America — 



