M. — AGRICULTURE. 207 



soils and districts and for early cropping, the better grading and packing 

 of fruit. 



Of all methods of instruction in this last subject the best is that 

 provided by Fruit Exhibitions. Those interested in the promotion of 

 British fruit-growing will well remember the object-lesson in good and 

 bad packing provided by the first Eastern Counties Fruit Show, held 

 at Cambridge in 1919. That exhibition, organised by the East Anghan 

 fruit-growers with the assistance of the Horticultural Division of the 

 Ministry of Agriculture, demonstrated three things : first, that fruit of 

 the finest quality is being grown in East Anglia; second, that this 

 district may perhaps become the largest fruit-growing region in Eng- 

 land; and, third, that among many growers profound ignorance exists 

 with respect to the preparation of fruit for market. 



The opinions which I have endeavoured to express on the organisa- 

 tion of intensive cultivation may be summarised thus: — 



1. The object of the organisation is to improve local and general 

 cultivation, the former by demonstration, the latter by research. 



2. The method of organisation must provide for co-operation between 

 the horticultural officers of the State and the persons engaged in the 

 industry. This co-operation must be real and complete. Dummy 

 Committees are silly devices adopted merely by second-rate men and 

 merely clever administrators. The co-operation must embrace the policy 

 as well as the practice of administration. Nevertheless the horti- 

 cultural officers of the State must be leaders. They can, however, lead 

 only by the power of knowledge. Wherefore an administrator' who 

 lacks practical knowledge and scientific training is not qualified to act 

 as the executive head of a horticultural administration. The head 

 must of. course possess administrative capacity, but this form of 

 ability is by no means uncommon among Britons, although it is a 

 custom to represent it as something akin to inspiration and the attribute 

 of the otherwise incompetent. The directing head must possess a wide 

 practical_ knowledge of Horticulture ; that alone can fire the train of 

 his imagination to useful and great issues. His right-hand man, how- 

 ever, must be one versed in departmental and interdepartmental intrica- 

 cies—the best type of administrator — of sober and cool judgment and 

 keen intelligence, unused perhaps to enthusiasm, but not intolerant of 

 nor immune from it. Similarly in each sub-department for cultivation, 

 disease-prevention, small stock, &c., the head must be a trained prac- 

 tical man with an administrator as his chief assistant. The outdoor 

 officers, the intelligence officers of the organisation, must also be men 

 of sound and wide practical knowledge and must know that their 

 reports will be read by someone who understands the subjects whereof 

 they speak. 



It was on these lines that the Horticultural Division was organised 

 under Lord Ernie, Lord Lee, and Sir Daniel Hall. The work accom- 

 plished justified the innovation. 



This is the contribution which I feel it my duty to make on the 

 vexed question of the relation between expert and administrator in 

 Departments of State which deal with technical and vital problems. 



I believe that no administrator, save tho rare genius, can direct the' 



