rEBRTJAEY 26j 1915] 



SCIENCE 



301 



This being true, then we must see that 

 appropriations for extension teaching in 

 the years to come are not out of proportion 

 to appropriations for research. I hope 

 that we shall soon find a wide-spread expres- 

 sion amongst the people for a more com- 

 plete endowment of fundamental investiga- 

 tion in subjects related to our agricultural 

 industries. 



I will digress to say that not everything 

 is research, in agriculture or elsewhere, 

 that happens to bear the name. Undoubt- 

 edly research, as such, has been over-glori- 

 fied. There is no sanctity in research that 

 does not inhere also in any other good and 

 honest effort requiring equal ability. The 

 teacher is as worthy of honor as the investi- 

 gator. 



Neither is research a refuge. Certain 

 persons who bear something of a disdain 

 for the affairs of the world are likely to be 

 set at more or less interesting problems 

 under the denomination of "original in- 

 vestigation" and "research," and "pieces 

 of work. ' ' Here they may find shelter and 

 protection, and a certain deference that is 

 very conducive to peace of mind. They 

 are supposed "to publish," whereupon 

 their standing is established among their 

 fellows. It may not be necessary to raise 

 the question as to the significance of the 

 publication or whether it reaches any re- 

 sult. 



We are so insistent on technical accuracy 

 that we are likely to eliminate the imagina- 

 tion; and without imagination no man can 

 accomplish real research. Result is that 

 undoubtedly we have worthy young per- 

 sons in the institutions of many kinds who 

 are practically accomplishing little beyond 

 receiving support. 



So I am thinking of research that follows 

 a program looking toward a solution. Each 

 of the items of such work is iii itself a con- 

 tribution. Not one is meaningless, and not 



one is made in vacuo. Such investigations 

 constitute the very beginning and basis of 

 our accomplishments. The very rapid and 

 really significant progress accomplished in 

 the agricultural field within recent years 

 has been possible because of the basis of re- 

 search, which has been such a conspicuous 

 part of it. The contributions to knowledge 

 in this deparment have been astounding in 

 variety, remarkable in their applications to 

 human welfare, and many of them worthy 

 to rank with research of highest excellence 

 in other fields. We have a notable momen- 

 tum toward original inquiry of a high 

 order in the agricultural subjects, and we 

 should be zealous to see that it is not halted, 

 overlooked or eclipsed. We must consider 

 that research does not have within itself the 

 elements of publicity, and that it must be 

 guarded by the good opinion and the activ- 

 ity of such persons as frequent conventions 

 like this. 



It is not necessary to the broad results we 

 seek that this research shall all be directly 

 or immediately applicable to the arts of 

 life. It does not matter if much of it re- 

 mains practically unknown to the public. 

 The effect of the accumulation of it, if it is 

 good, will be beyond all price, establishing 

 a foundation, providing a reservoir from 

 which we may draw at will, giving us a 

 sense of conquest and of power, developing 

 a literature, and training many men whose 

 judgment will be of the greatest value in 

 the control of our rural affairs. Research 

 in agriculture should look toward a solu- 

 tion, but not necessarily toward a definite 

 application, although the purpose to apply 

 does not make it any the less research or 

 any the less worthy of respect. 



Knowledge applies itself in the end. The 

 best and the final application of it is in a 

 new approach to the subject and a better 

 philosophy of action. This is well illus- 

 trated in the great work of Darwin, which 



