616 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1408. 



results of the researcli work whicli is so well 

 done in the graduate school. 



What I am trying to point out is that there 

 is a definite atmosphere or environment 

 favorable to agricultural research which is 

 provided by the experiment station organiza- 

 tion which can not be provided by any other 

 research agency. This being my answer to 

 the second question propounded above, the 

 answer to the first, namely, " Is the mainten- 

 ance of a separately organized research agency 

 known as an experiment station desirable ? " 

 must be an unqualifiedly affirmative one. I 

 am not now discussing the question of the 

 geographical or administrative separation of 

 the station from the college. That is an en- 

 tirely different question to be answered from 

 entirely different considerations than those 

 which are proper to this paper. But what 

 I do urge is that the agricultural research 

 work of the land-grant college, for which 

 federal and state appropriations are given in 

 order that the practise of agriculture may be 

 improved and the economic welfare of the 

 people enhanced, shall be so definitely organ- 

 ized into a distinct entity (having for its 

 sole purpose the promotion of research) that 

 the environment most favorable to successful 

 research work may be created. I do not need 

 to enlarge upon the details of staff confer- 

 ences; of cooperative work upon the project 

 by the proper men, regardless of administra- 

 tive departments of instruction; of freedom 

 from interruption of thought and of work by 

 other duties; etc., which contribute to this 

 environment favorable to a high type of agri- 

 cultural research. These are familiar to you 

 all. I do wish, however, to urge upon the 

 director of the station, in each case, the im- 

 portance of the maintenance of a definite 

 station staff with definite assignments to it 

 and of definite staff activities as a highly im- 

 portant factor in developing the atmosphere 

 or environment which I have been attempting 

 to describe and which I believe to be an im- 

 portant factor in the future success of agri- 

 cultural research work. 



There is an additional problem in the ad- 

 ministration of experiment station work upon 



the solution of which I believe its future 

 possibilities depend in considerable measure. 

 I refer to the effect which may be produced 

 upon both the character and the method of 

 our research by the present demand for so- 

 called " practical results " from it. An in- 

 evitable and altogether wholesome reaction 

 from the extravagance of war-time expendi- 

 ture has set in. I hope that it may con- 

 tinue and that no object which does not prom- 

 ise definite improvement in our living con- 

 ditions may successfully appeal for public 

 financial support. I agree, therefore, that 

 our expenditure of public funds for agricul- 

 tural research must have as its proper justi- 

 fication the accomplishment of some definite 

 " practical result." I believe, however, that 

 a definite contribution to science which may 

 make our structure of agricultural knowledge 

 more complete, more sound, or even more 

 beautiful, is a " practical " result of research 

 work. 



I have no patience with the dilatory brows- 

 ing around in the field of the unknown in 

 hopes that something interesting to the indi- 

 vidual browser may turn up, which is some- 

 times lauded as " the search for truth for 

 truth's sake," as a guiding principle in sta- 

 tion research. I believe that each station 

 project should be a definitely formulated 

 effort to solve some problem which will con- 

 tribute either to our knowledge of agricul- 

 tural science or to our methods of agricul- 

 tural practise. It is, of course, the second of 

 these two types of contributions which is 

 usually meant by the phrase " practical re- 

 sults," and contributions to agricultural sci- 

 entific knowledge are regarded by some of 

 our constituents as of doubtful desirability. 

 I do not intend, however, to debate this 

 particular point at length in this paper. I 

 have indicated my own very definite con- 

 victions concerning it. 



What I do wish to discuss, however, is the 

 possible effect upon the methods of our re- 

 search work of this continual pressure upon 

 the station administration for so-called 

 " practical results." This pressure may be 

 either direct, in the form of active criticism 



