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342 BEPORT — 1895, 



to be effectively aided by science it is necessary that there should be a 

 great increase in the number of practical investigations of agricultural 

 questions. In the second place, we should add, that all the investigation's 

 already made, or to be carried out, will fail of practical utility if the farmer 

 remains uninformed of the knowledge thus acquired. Our answer wouldl 

 thus be, that we require, firstly, an extended system of practical investiga- 

 tions; and, secondly, an effective scheme of agricultural education. All that 

 will be said to-day could probably be classed under one or other of these 

 two heads. I propose, however, in these opening remarks to adopt a less 

 logical division of the subject. In order that our discussion may not 

 assume an academic character, but may, if possible, lead to some practica,! 

 result, I will at once descend into the region of practical politics, and 

 endeavour to answer the question by pointing out what can most usefully 

 be done by (1) a Board of Agriculture, and (2) by County Councils, to 

 accomplish the objects of agricultural investigation and agricultural edu- 

 cation, which we believe to be so important. 



There are certain kinds of woi'k which can be accomplished best by a 

 central organisation ; work which is of general, national importance ; 

 work which is necessary to form the basis of future developments. Such 

 work should be at once undertaken by the Government, through a Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



We need a really complete agricultural and horticultural library, freely 

 open to the public. The literature of the subject is extremely large and 

 rapidly inci'easing ; much of it is quite beyond the reach of a private 

 individual, while it is of too special a character to be found in our 

 ordinary public libraries. To give one illustration. There are at the 

 present time about 300 fully equipped experiment stations in Europe 

 and America, besides many smaller institutions. The i-esults of their in- 

 vestigations are published in numerous reports and journals in many 

 languages. No person is able at present to refer to more than a small 

 part of this literature. Instead of consulting the original papers, one is 

 generally obliged to be content with the meagre abstracts furnished by a 

 German Jahresbericht or Centralblatt, and whatever does not find entrance 

 into these periodicals is lost to the general public. As an illustration of 

 what may be done in this direction by an energetic Board of Agriculture, 

 I may mention that the Department of Agriculture in the United States 

 compiles a card catalogue of all the published work of the fifty-five 

 American experiment stations, and supplies a copy of this catalogue tO' 

 each station. 



We need also an English journal published monthly, in which the 

 results of the most important agricultural investigations should be made 

 accessible to the general scientific public. The advantage of this to 

 teachers and investigators would be very great. As such a journal could 

 not be expected to pay its expenses, it should be published for the benefit 

 of the counti'y by the Government. The American ' Experiment Station 

 Record ' is an example of work done in this direction : it is chiefly, but 

 not exclusively, concerned with the investigations made at the American 

 stations. 



Another piece of work which belongs peculiarly to a central department 

 is the collection and preparation of national statistics. Statistics of acreage 

 under different crops, with the annual and average produce per acre, and the- 

 number of live stock in the United Kingdom, are collected and published 

 by the present Board. The Board that we desire would go much further 



