December 8, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



781 



of the loose and dilute phraseology of 

 platform discussion and will to a greater 

 or less extent depart from the concise and 

 severe terminology so essential to the best 

 training conditions. 



These are most unfortunate results. "We 

 should carefully guard and cherish the in- 

 tellectual impulses and equipment of the 

 teacher and the investigator, because they 

 are the instruments Avhose edge must be 

 fine if we are to be successful in rightly 

 fashioning the minds and hearts of young 

 men and women and in laying open the 

 hidden recesses of truth. 



What has been said concerning the qual- 

 ities of the teacher and the necessity for 

 defending him against the invasion of out- 

 side duties applies with equal force to the 

 investigator. The experiment stations 

 here represented, founded as research 

 agencies, have rendered splendid service to 

 agriculture and are now firmly established 

 in the confidence of the people. Neverthe- 

 less, we should not let the popularity of 

 these institutions cloud our vision or con- 

 fuse our estimate of the real character of 

 their work. They have mightily stirred 

 the mass of agricultural knowledge, have 

 conducted an extensive propaganda of ex- 

 isting information, have recast old facts and 

 principles into new and profitable applica- 

 tions and have made some explorations of 

 real value into the unknown, all of this to 

 the great benefit of the farmer and his 

 business. But the period through which 

 we have been passing can justly be char- 

 acterized as much more marked for its de- 

 velopment of agencies and for its distri- 

 bution of existing information than for its 

 permanent additions to agricultural science. 



Moreover, leaving out of account the ex- 

 tensive dispersion of the time and energy 

 of experiment station workers into the 

 highways and byways of agricultural ex- 

 tension and considering only our attempts 



at investigation, it may reasonably be 

 doubted whether, broadly speaking, our 

 efforts of inquiry have been conducted on 

 a plane of spirit and method as high as 

 that reached by the investigators of an 

 earlier period. It may be that we have 

 lived up to our present possibilities, doubt- 

 less we have, but whether we have or not, 

 it is certain that unless the agencies consti- 

 tuted for research purposes can secure and 

 maintain larger freedom in policy and 

 more fully break loose from the restrictions 

 of expediency imposed by semi-political re- 

 lations and by misguided demands for 

 popular efforts on the part of supposed in- 

 vestigators, we shall mostly continue to 

 halt on the outskirts of great problems 

 whose solution would render to agriculture 

 the highest possible service. It is gi^atify- 

 ing to be able to believe, however, that we 

 are on the ascending plane in the stability 

 and effectiveness of our research efforts. 



These suggestions concerning the limita- 

 tion of the activities of the teacher and 

 investigator are not intended to be argu- 

 ments against the eminently useful efforts 

 directed toward enlightening and stimu- 

 lating the public mind. These efforts 

 should continue, but it is fair to inquire 

 whether we have not reached a point in the 

 development of agricultural education and 

 the demands made upon it, where the 

 widely distributed popular instruction and 

 secondary education of all forms should be 

 maintained through agencies organized es- 

 pecially for these purposes, to which the 

 college of agriculture should be coordinated 

 in an advisory relation. Extension instruc- 

 tion and secondary education if they are to 

 work out the largest values, must be widely 

 available and stimulate local initiative and 

 activity. The college may well be a source 

 of advice, and, when means are abundant 

 through a corps of experts who shall be 

 independent of other duties, it may aid in 



