734 



SCIENCE 



[N. 8. Vol. XLIII. No. 1117 



every step had to be proved before the 

 next one could be made. 



Now this little experience in mountain 

 climbing is not unlike that of a man who 

 undertakes to write a bulletin, scientific 

 paper or even to prepare a lecture to de- 

 liver in the classroom. Every member of 

 this society has to do some or all of these 

 things every year. And I ask you how 

 often you have tried to make the points of 

 your discussion safe and unassailable by 

 proving every step you took. Take almost 

 any subject in horticulture, no matter how 

 commonplace, and how far can you proceed 

 with your task if you try to make all of 

 your statements square with proven facts ? 

 Don't you find that every few steps you 

 discover, upon close examination, that what 

 looks to be firm ground turns out to be 

 loose sand and rolling stones? Facts are 

 usually things that have been experi- 

 mentally proven. Many of the accepted 

 facts of horticulture — statements that are 

 repeated over and over because others have 

 used them, until they have found their way 

 into respectable literature — too often turn 

 out, when subjected to the acid test of care- 

 ful inquiry, to be mere theories or opinions. 

 Granting that many of the things we 

 give our students every day as facts are 

 really truths that have been learned by long 

 experience or general observation, I ask if 

 it is not high time that we cultivate the 

 habit of proving our statements by sub- 

 mitting the evidence. But, you object, we 

 would never be able to get anywhere in a 

 discussion — that it is out of the question to 

 try to prove everything we say. And un- 

 fortunately this is too true, which brings 

 me to the real subject of my remarks, viz., 

 the great, I might almost say, the crying 

 need, for more horticultural research. 



I am using the word research here in a 

 very broad sense, so that it may include all 



kinds of experimental work. Correctly 

 speaking, an experiment is an act or opera- 

 tion designed to discover, test or illustrate 

 some truth, particularly by arranging the 

 elements or essential features of some ob- 

 ject or process so as to permit of controlled 

 observation, as variety tests of fruits and 

 vegetables, pruning tests of trees or fertil- 

 izer tests with growing plants. Research, 

 on the other hand, is diligent, protracted 

 investigation for the purpose of adding to 

 human knowledge. The ultimate aim of 

 real research is the discovery of natural 

 laws and fundamental truths. Research 

 may, and probably will, include many ex- 

 perimental tests, but the aims of an investi- 

 gator should reach much farther than the 

 bare results of any tests. The experiments 

 may be regarded as mere steps in an in- 

 vestigation. There appears to be .a wide- 

 spread belief that research means some- 

 thing impractical, that it can seldom or 

 never be engaged in with direct profit to a 

 state. Even some station directors — though 

 happily they are in the minority — seem to 

 hold this view. 



I do not for a moment underestimate the 

 value of experimental work. Every horti- 

 cultural department should have as many 

 experimental projects as can be handled. 

 In this way many theories can be tested and 

 a very great many practical questions an- 

 swered. Still, some dangers may lie con- 

 cealed along the experimental way, for in 

 the very nature of things there are ques- 

 tions and problems that can not be an- 

 swered or solved by experimentation alone. 

 Perhaps the chief danger is the predilec- 

 tion for drawing unwarranted conclusions 

 from simple tests. Also students and very 

 young station men may be misled into be- 

 lieving that they are investigating when 

 they are only experimenting, and this may 

 be fatal to their potential future usefulness. 



