February 27, 19 13] 



NATURE 



71. 



and research by the removal of the test worl-c to 

 Teddington. The Office of Works has arranged to 

 make certain alterations at Kew for this purpose, 

 while the laboratory committee provides the necessary 

 accommodation for tests. 



Accordingly a scheme of new buildings at Tedding- 

 ton was prepared at an estimated cost of about 

 30,000!., or, if scientific equipment is included, 35,000/. 

 Towards this the Lords Commissioners of H.M. 

 Treasury agreed to contribute 15,000/. in three instal- 

 ments if the scheme could be completed without 

 further application to the Government. Thus, it was 

 left to the committee to raise, for the buildings alone, 

 about 15,000/. 



This sum has now been obtained; the metallurgy 

 building, erected through the generosity of the late 

 Sir Julius Wernher, is complete and occupied, but 

 much additional equipment is required. The other 

 buildings are in course of erection, and funds are 

 urgently needed towards their equipment. The mini- 

 mum estimate for this is 5000/., of which about 3000/. 

 has been contributed. Thus, apart from the special 

 equipment for metallurgy, at least 2000/. more is 

 needed to complete the scheme, and it is for this that 

 support is being asked. 



The followincr are the present members of the com- 

 mittee :— .Sir William H. White, K.C.B.. F.R.S. 

 (chairman). Lord Rayleigh, O.M., F.R.S. , Sir A. B. 

 Kempe (treasurer R.S.), Prof. A. Schuster (secre- 

 tary R.S.I. Mr. J. A. F. Aspinall, Sir T. Wolfe Barry, 

 K.C.B., F.R.S., Dr. G. T. Beilbv, F.R.S., Sir Hugh 

 B»ll, Bart., D--. Horace T. Brown, F.R.S., Colonel 

 Crompton. R.F., C.B., Mr. I. M. Gledhill, Mr. R. 

 Kaye Gray, Sir R. A. Hadfleld. F.R.S., Mr. D. 

 Howard. Sir T. Larmor, M.P., F.R.S., Dr. W. H. 

 Maw, Mr. R. L. Mond, Sir A. Noble. Bart., K.C.B., 

 F.R.S., Hon. Sir C. A. Parsons, K.C.B., F.R.S., 

 Sir Boverton Redwood, Bart., Mr. .\lex. Siemens, Mr. 

 T. Tvrer, and Prof. W, C. Unwin, F.R.S. 



PROGRESS IN AGRICULTURAL 

 EDUCATION. 



rHE Board of Agriculture and Fisheries has issued 

 its annual report on the distribution of grants 

 for agricultural education and research in the year 

 1911-12 (Cd. 6601). Bound up with the report are 

 statements respecting the several colleges aided, and 

 a summary of the agricultural instruction provided 

 by county councils in 1910-11. 



The classes and courses of instruction which the 

 Board of Agriculture and Fisheries aids are those 

 intended for persons of sixteen years of age or more, 

 who have finished their school education, and are 

 either pursuing technical studies with the view of 

 becoming agriculturists, or are already engaged in 

 agriculture and desire to improve their knowledge of 

 the subject. The list of grants awarded in aid of 

 educational institutions in the year 1911-12 shows that 

 the total amount of the grant was 18,840/., the same 

 as in 1910-11. The interim grants in aid of agricul- 

 tural research paid by the Board from the Develop- 

 ment Fimd during 1911-12 amounted to 9263Z., and 

 the special grants for experiments and research to 

 250/. ^ . 



The accounts sent to the Board by local education 

 authorities show that they are spending in round 

 figures 80,000/. per annum on agricultural education. 

 The Board's grants for work in universities and 

 colleges, not included in this sum, would bring the 

 total public expenditure on agricultural education, 

 apart from the Development Fund, to about 90,000/. 

 per annum. 



xo. 2261, VOL. go] 



We reprint below a part of Prof. T. H. Middleton's 

 introduction to the report, referring to research 

 institutes for agriculture : — 



The State has now placed, for the first time, a 

 large sum for research at the disposal of British agri- 

 culture, and it is clearly the duty both of the central 

 and local authorities to devise means for applying 

 to practical farming the knowledge provided by 

 workers in research institutes. The purpose of the 

 grants made for research is not in this instance to 

 subsidise scientific workers, but to develop agriculture 

 by scientific means, and until the knowledge of the 

 laboratorv has been translated into practice in the 

 field the work is incomplete. When reconsidering 

 their educational methods, local education authorities 

 should understand that their aid is expected in secur- 

 ing from the expenditure and labour incurred in agri- 

 cultural research results of real value. The research 

 institutes endowed by the Development Fund are 

 national, not local institutions. The primary duty of 

 the persons engaged in these institutes is to advance 

 knowledgre, and the needs of local agriculture, if they 

 are considered at all, can only be considered incident- 

 ally. The result is that if any locality wishes to make 

 use of the research institutes it must take steps to 

 adapt scientific discoveries to its own conditions. 



It should further be remembered by those respon- 

 sible for the education of agriculturists that not only 

 are the results of the work of all the new research 

 institutes to be available for agriculturists in any 

 county, but as a consequence of the establishment of 

 research institutes in England this country may now 

 draw upon the results obtained by the investigators 

 of all other countries in a way that was formerly 

 impossible. There has thus been created a system for 

 bringing within reach of English agriculture the know- 

 ledge resulting from the vast amount of work now 

 undertaken inthe research laboratories of all civilised 

 countries. But all this knowledge will be valueless 

 to anv particular locality until it has been applied by 

 farmers to tlie cultivation of their land. How is this 

 application of scientific discoveries to the comrnercial 

 questions of the ordinary farm to be accomplished? 

 Can farmers be expected' to study scientific treatises? 

 If farmers did study and understand the publications 

 of research stations, could they afford the time and 

 the cost involved by the adaptation of the applications 

 of new principles 'to the particular circumstances of 

 their own farms? 



If answers to such questions as the foregoing are 

 attempted it will be agreed that the Development and 

 Road Improvement Funds Acts have added new re- 

 sponsibility to the work of local education authorities, 

 or at least that a duty which was formerly inconsider- 

 able has now become important. The only important 

 task of a local committee charged with agricultural 

 education has hitherto been to provide for the instruc- 

 tion of young persons up to the time when they leave 

 school or college, or to supply itinerant teachers 

 capable, as a rule, of instructing novices only ; they 

 are now expected to make the provision required for 

 advising experienced farmers on the means to be 

 adopted in applying scientific discoveries to practice — ■ 

 a difficult and responsible task. 



It is sometimes contended that the only satisfactory 

 way of applying science to agriculture is to give the 

 young farmer a sound scientific training, and leave 

 him to apply the discoveries of scientific men which 

 come before him in his later years. This, it is 

 assumed, he can do for himself after he has gained 

 experience. The usefulness of a proper early training 

 cannot be questioned, and the work of the research 

 institutes will make its usefulness even greater in 



