March 24, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



305 



fom* cents per capita. This measure, oi' 

 other similar relief, should be enacted as 

 soon as possible. It is preferable from the 

 standpoint of efficiency to make the appropria- 

 tion with the fewest possible conditions, as 

 was done in the Hatch and Adams Acts, rather 

 than to continue the requirement for offset 

 funds, as provided in the Smith-Lever and 

 Smith-Hughes Acts. As compared with the 

 Federal government it seems that the states 

 now are carrying their full share. 



In considering appropriations for agricul- 

 tural research it is well to remember that when 

 our taxes are increased for this purpose our 

 involuntary taxes, or those which are levied by 

 powers beyond our control, are decreased many 

 times more than the voluntary taxes are in- 

 creased. 



COOPERATION AND SUPERVISION 



(5) A national policy fostering agricultural 

 research should provide for more definite and 

 constructive cooperation by research agencies 

 than now obtains. 



(6) It must provide also for certain super- 

 vision to assure the proper use of public funds, 

 and this is expected and welcomed. A reason- 

 able amount of cooperation and supervision is 

 stimulating. An excess is deadening. 



(7) A more definite agreement on the fields 

 to be occupied by the Department of Agricul- 

 ture on the one hand and by the State experi- 

 ment stations on the other hand, with better 

 coordination of work and a larger provision for 

 joint effort, should form a part of the policy 

 for further developing agricultural research. 

 Such a definition of function and joint effort 

 would guard against undesirable duplication 

 and would result in better directed efforts. De- 

 tails should be worked out by representatives 

 of the Secretary of Agriculture and the agri- 

 cultural colleges and when properly approved 

 should form a fundamental law. Once each 

 year this joint agreement should be considered 

 by duly chosen representatives for the pur- 

 pose of making it more perfect. Among other 

 things, it should provide for the wise selection 

 of projects for investigation and for inviting 

 experiment stations in different states or the 

 Federal Department of Agriculture to give at- 



tention to different phases of a project requir- 

 ing investigation at different places. All pro- 

 jects should be briefly but clearly described and 

 recorded in the Department of Agiicultui-e at 

 Washington and all interested persons should 

 be informed as to the kinds of work in pro- 

 gress. From time to time, at least once a year, 

 the progress of each project should be officially 

 reported and checked. When a project is un- 

 dertaken, work on it should continue to a 

 reasonable extent untU it is finished or formally 

 set aside, and care should be taken not to pro- 

 vide for starting new projects for any labora- 

 tory or station when it has too many projects 

 unfinished. 



(8) While a national policy for agricultural 

 research should not enter the details of local 

 administration, it should encourage the types 

 of organization which would be most efficient. 



SHALL WE HAVE AMPLE AGRICULTURAL RE- 

 SEARCH? 



An effort has been made to suggest a picture 

 of our country as it would be without properly 

 supported agricultural research, and again with 

 such research. If this work is properly de- 

 veloped, agriculture will continue on a per- 

 manent and profitable basis in the face of ever 

 increasing obstacles. And this nation with a 

 strong agriculture will continue to furnish its 

 own great commodities which come from the 

 farms and will profit further from large sales 

 of the surplus in other countries. The time is 

 ripe for stimulating a national policy for agri- 

 cultural research which will contribute to this 



great end. 



Raymond A. Pearson 

 Iowa State College of Ageicdlture 

 AND Mechanic Arts 



THE 1 92 1 EXPEDITION OF THE CAL- 

 IFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 

 TO THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA 



In the spring of 1921 the California 

 Academy of Sciences sent a well-equipped 

 scientific expedition to the Gulf of Califor- 

 nia. The purpose of the expedition was pri- 

 marily to make as thorough study as possible 

 of the fauna and flora of the islands in the 

 Gulf and of certain important localities on 



