chairman's address. 580 



supervision and control of these researches must be prepared to exercise a large 

 measure of patience. 



The applicable science must be created before it can be applied. It is with 

 the discovery and development of such science that agricultural research will for 

 long enough best occupy its energies. Sometimes, truly, there come moments 

 when a series of obvious improvements in practice can at once be introduced, 

 but this happens only when the penetrative genius of a Pasteur or a Mendel has 

 worked out the way into a new region of knowledge, and returns with a treasure 

 that all can use. Given the knowledge it will soon enough become applied. 



I am not advocating work in the clouds. In all that is attempted we must 

 stick near to the facts. Though the methods of research and of thought must be 

 strict and academic, it is in the farm and the garden that they must be applied. 

 If inspiration is to be found anywhere it will be there. The investigator will do 

 well to work 



' As if his highest plot 

 To plant the bergamot.' 



It is only in the closest familiarity with phenomena that we can attain to 

 that perception of their orderly relations, which is the beginning of discovery. 



To the creation of applicable science the very highest gifts and training are well 

 devoted. In a foreign country an eminent man of science was speaking to me 

 of a common friend, and he said that as our friend's qualifications were not of 

 the first rank he would have to join the agricultural side of the university. I 

 have heard remarks of similar disparagement at home. Now, whether from the 

 standpoint of agriculture or pure science, I can imagine no policy more stupid and 

 shortsighted. 



The man who devotes his life to applied science should be made to feel that 

 he is in the main stream of scientific progress. If he is not, both his work and 

 science at large will suffer. The opportunities of discovery are so few that we 

 cannot afford to miss any, and it is to the man of trained mind who is in con- 

 tact with the phenomena of a great applied science that such opportunities are 

 most often given. Through his hands pass precious material, the outcome 

 sometimes of years of effort and design. To tell him that he must not pursue 

 that inquiry further because he cannot foresee a direct and immediate appli- 

 cation of the knowledge he would acquire, is, I believe almost always, a course 

 detrimental to the real interests of the applied science. I could name specific 

 instances where in other countries thoroughly competent and zealous investiga- 

 tors have by the short-sightedness of superior officials been thus debarred from 

 following to their conclusion researches of great value and novelty. 



In this country where the Development Commission will presumably for many 

 years be the main instigator and controller of agricultural research, the consti- 

 tution of the Advisory Board, on which Science is largely represented, forms 

 a guarantee that broader counsels will prevail, and it is to be hoped that not 

 merely this inception of the work, but its future administration also will be 

 guided in the same spirit. So long as a train of inquiry continues to extend, and 

 new knowledge, that most precious commodity, is coming in, the enterprise will 

 not be in vain and it will be usually worth while to pursue it. 



The relative value of the different parts of knowledge in their application 

 to industry is almost impossible to estimate, and a line of work should not be 

 abandoned until it leads to a dead end, or is lost in a desert of detail. 



We have, not only abroad, but also happily in this country, several private 

 firms engaged in various industries — I may mention especially metallurgy, phar- 

 macy, and brewing — who have set an admirable example in this matter, insti- 

 tuting researches of a costly and elaborate nature, practically unlimited in scope, 

 connected with the subjects of their several activities, conscious that it is only 

 by men in close touch with the operations of the industry that the discoveries 

 can be made, and well assured that they themselves will not go unrewarded. 



Let us on our part beware of giving false hopes. We know no ha?mony ' of 

 sovran use against all enchantments, mildew blast, or damp.' Those who are 

 wise among us do not even seek it yet. Why should we not take the farmer 

 and gardener into our fullest confidence and tell them this? I read lately a 

 newspaper interview with a fruit-farmer who was being questioned as to the 

 success of his undertaking, and spoke of the pests and difficulties with which he 



