250 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 973 



Evidently the writer of the foregoing 

 quotation, who is one of Europe's noted 

 botanists, had in mind the evident biolog- 

 ical fact that animal life is dependent upon 

 plant life for sustenance, and the further 

 fact that those countries possessed of till- 

 able acres suitable for the growing of 

 cereals need never suffer for food or for- 

 age, for either man or beast — need not be 

 dependent upon other nationalities, in time 

 of either war or of peace. That there is 

 something vital to the thought, let us note 

 for the time being the fearful war that the 

 mountaineers of Montenegro have lately 

 waged, with the hope that they might add 

 to their domain a slightly greater area of 

 level-lying cereal lands in the valley about 

 them. 



In late years, there has been a vast 

 amount of talk about cereal crop deteriora- 

 tion, and, for many years, much has been 

 said about "depleted or worn-out soils," 

 and the writers and talkers have lectured 

 and scolded with a vim as strong as though 

 they believed the air supply of the earth 

 were actually proved to be limited (which 

 possibly it is) and that the mineral ele- 

 ments of the soil were rather readily to be 

 lost. 



In cereal cropping, this talk and scold- 

 ing has reached a stage when most of it is 

 mere gossip, inane higher criticism of the 

 common farmer. In this, as in other im- 

 portant matters, there are now quite too 

 many blind leaders of the blind. This is 

 not said with any feeling of criticism, for 

 the ■ writer well understands the thought 

 that where there is smoke there is fire, and 

 further, that through agitation, criticism, 

 contest and investigation lies the road to 



There is, however, at present, regarding 

 this matter of soil depletion or cereal crop 

 deterioration, not a little mental rambling 

 and useless counter-criticism among the so- 



called scientists and agricultural "ex- 

 perts," a tendency to study over the work 

 done by others in similar lines for the 

 apparent purpose of finding and fighting 

 error. The words scientist and expert, in 

 this particular regard, are much over- 

 worked. For the benefit of the common 

 farmer, at least that he may escape con- 

 fusion, we should give these words a rest. 

 It would be less confusing to the general 

 public if no titles were given to those who 

 'are trying to instruct on such a difficult 

 phase of nature as how plants and animals, 

 live — if they were not led to expect too 

 much, only to meet with repeated evidence 

 of fallibility of supposed agricultural 

 principles. 



"Within the past twenty-five years great 

 progress has been made by the students of 

 agriculture and of science in general in 

 divorcing the work of life from mere men- 

 tal philosophizing and in carrying prin- 

 ciples of investigation direct to the field of 

 work. In the manufacturing line, this has 

 been done very directly. In the agricul- 

 tural field we must, without sacrifice of 

 accuracy of detail, do the same thing much 

 more definitely than it has yet been accom- 

 plished, if the students of agriculture are 

 to aid the farmer in the way that he must 

 be aided if he is to understand the relation 

 of science to his life work. The introduc- 

 tion of the agricultural college and experi- 

 ment station idea started out with this 

 thought strongly in mind, though the 

 workers were poorly equipped for the 

 ordeal. These institutions are now becom- 

 ing powerful, even luxurious in equipment, 

 and it is not at all without the possibility 

 that in our intense desire to be scientific 

 and accurate, and in our worship of the 

 high culture and the accomplishments of 

 the savant, too many of our workers who 

 are paid to investigate agricultural prob- 

 lems may only investigate for their own 



