NOVEMBEK 27, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



763 



should be steadily raised until our agricultural 

 institutions in this respect are on a par with 

 first-class higher institutions of learning and 

 research in this and other countries. 



The events of the past year are also destined 

 to have far-reaching effects on the work of 

 our institutions devoted to agricultural re- 

 search. The great expansion of extension 

 activities will inevitably lead to much more 

 varied demands for research. The more the 

 extension workers and to a considerable ex- 

 tent the agricultural people with whom they 

 work, come to realize that our present knowl- 

 edge will only go a little way toward solving 

 the multitudinous problems of agriculture the 

 more widespread and insistent will be the de- 

 mand for more numerous and thorough in- 

 vestigations of these problems. It is there- 

 fore very important that we should consider 

 the actual status of our research institutions 

 and, while rejoicing in their many good fea- 

 tures and their valuable work, should be active 

 in remedying their deficiencies and enlarging 

 their services. 



So far our agricultural experiment stations 

 and Department of Agriculture have been 

 hampered in their research work because of 

 the varied duties imposed on them outside of 

 their research functions and the lack of proper 

 differentiation of lines of work and personnel. 

 The department is now alive to this deficiency 

 and under the plans for reorganization under- 

 taken by Secretary Houston aims to make a 

 distinct separation between research, exten- 

 sion and regulatory activities. It will thus be 

 possible to know what funds, equipment and 

 force the department actually has for research, 

 to determine definitely what problems it will 

 attempt to solve, and to put a more rigid re- 

 sponsibility on its research workers to formu- 

 late good plans and to hold to their work on 

 the chosen projects until something worth 

 while is accomplished. If adequate super- 

 vision of the research work of the department 

 IS provided this plan should result in better 

 and more productive research. 



The closer relations of the agricultural ex- 

 periment stations with the department under 

 the new arrangement for comparison of pro- 



jects and for publication of results in. the 

 Journal of Agricultural Research should also 

 be a great stimulus to both the state and 

 national institutions to improve the character 

 of their research undertakings. 



Meanwhile a private organization with large 

 resources is planning to undertake agricul- 

 tural research on a scale commensurate with 

 that on which research in other lines has been 

 successfully prosecuted by similar agencies. 

 The friendly rivalry of a great private insti- 

 tution in this field ought to prove very bene- 

 ficial to our public agricultural institutions. 



In a general way our agricultural research 

 is at present too diffuse. We have too large a. 

 number of projects for the funds devoted to. 

 them. If this private institution follows the 

 course pursued by similar institutions in other 

 fields and concentrates its efforts on a few 

 lar^e undertakings it may serve to aid our 

 public institutions to change their policy in 

 this direction. We have been so desirous of 

 meeting the numerous demands for experi- 

 mental inquiry and so ambitious to cover the 

 whole field of agriculture that we have so far 

 I)ermitted the undertaking of too many small 

 investigations and very generally with unsatis- 

 factory results. 



Recently a public discussion has arisen on 

 the question whether it is better to have re- 

 search institutions separately organized or 

 connected with colleges or universities. From 

 the standpoint of agricultural research this 

 discussion is timely. At the dedication of the 

 Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, 

 Mass., President Woodward of the Carnegie 

 Institution pointed out some of the weak points 

 in the present attitude of educational institu- 

 tions toward research.^ 



... It is often assumed that research is a harm- 

 less and a fruitless diversion in the business of 

 education, and that it requires but a portion of 

 the leisure time of those chiefly occupied with 

 duties of instruction and administration in col- 

 leges and universities. On the other hand, some 

 eminent minds maintain that serious and fruitful 

 research can be advantageously pursued only in 

 connection with work of instruction, while a few 



2 Science, August 14, 1914. 



