402 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—M. 
best suited to the requirements of the consumer. But it is an implied condi- 
tion of this monopoly that while it ensures adequate returns to the farmers 
it will call for a corresponding response from them by the adoption of 
improved methods. With milk, for example, it will be possible to improve 
the quality and cleanliness and to eliminate the risks of the dissemination of 
bovine tuberculosis and other diseases. With meat, again, proper organisa- 
tion should be able to grade up the quality of British meat by better methods 
of slaughter and management to put it before the public in the excellent 
condition that characterises much of the imported meat. While the best 
grades of British meat are pre-eminent, a large proportion of the output has 
latterly been unsaleable. Ultimately the planning will require a considera- 
tion of the relative claims to development of the various products of the 
farmer. At the best Britain can only produce a proportion of the food it 
consumes, and a selection should be made in favour of those products best 
suited to our climate and soil and calling for labour and skill—milk and live 
stock products, vegetables and fruit, for example, as compared with the 
cheap wheat and sugar. At the same time, even for such products con- 
sideration has to be given to the specific capacities of particular areas. ‘The 
new organisation presents many difficulties, only to be overcome by a process 
of trial and error. 
Mr. A. McCattum.—The diffusion of scientific knowledge to the farmer in 
Scotland (11.20). 
More than two hundred years ago the problem of diffusing knowledge 
to Scottish farmers was exercising the minds of progressive landlords and 
others. Many landed gentlemen demonstrated new methods on their own 
holdings. The Society of Improvers, formed in 1723, acted as a pool of 
farming knowledge and as an advisory body. A later association stimulated 
improvement by the offer of various premiums. At the end of the eighteenth 
century the Highland Society took the lead in promoting agricultural 
improvement by premiums, exhibitions and publications, and by fostering 
agricultural education and helping the establishment of the Chair of Agri- 
culture at Edinburgh. 
The rise of instructional centres at Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow 
was consequent on the distinctive characters of the farming in the three 
provinces. 
The predominant feature of Scottish farming being animal husbandry, 
the main lines of research undertaken deal with nutrition, breeding, diseases, 
ae milk production, but soils and plant-breeding have provision made for 
them. 
In the curriculum of general education more time should be found for 
the study of biology. 
Only a small proportion of the farming community can be directly affected 
by central teaching, and for the majority the important part of the organisa- 
tion is the county staff. 
Prof. W. G. S. Apams.—Better living : the community movement in the 
countryside (11.40). 
Discussion on Science and rural life (12.0). 
AFTERNOON. 
Visit to the Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn. 
