IL.8.C. 24 Procs. of the Asiatic Soc. of Benyal. [N.S., XVIU, 
indulgence for a few minutes when I propose to say a few 
words on the Scope and Limitations of Agricultural Research. 
Research of all kinds demands in the worker, a sound 
knowledge, a quick perception and a wide imagination, but 
Agricultural research, in addition to the above, is beset with 
peculiar difficulties. First of all, it has to be remembered that 
Agriculture is but an Art, namely the art of producing crops 
and it includes the rearing of domestic animals; but the prac- 
tice of this art is governed by the application of a number of 
sciences, even a greater number of sciences than there are sec- 
. . . 
tions in this Congress. An intimate knowledge, fairly of a 
sciences. Such wide acquirement of knowledge being impossible 
in these days of rapid scientific progress, specialisation has come 
in, and Agricultural research requires, therefore, the coordina- 
tion of the intellectual energies of a number of scientists. Now 
this explains why some Provinces which have a full comple- 
ment of scientific experts have gone ahead of other Provinces 
not yet fully staffed. 
The second important point in which Agricultural research 
something of the art in this land of hoary traditions, wherein 
d 
sciences to the art. 
irdly, the conditions for the carrying on of Agricultural 
worker. Soils vary from place to place in their physical and 
chemical characters, one season is not like another in rainfall, 
when, what appear on the surface to be, reliable results are 
obtained from experiments in the field, there is the question of 
probable error to be solved 
e 
stimulate scientific research, in general and Agricultural re- 
search in particular, in Great Britain, it is no wonder that 
the scientific expert offers these results, through the agency of 
the District Agricultural staff, for adoption by the actual culti- 



