varieties of plants here available would constitute an 

 especially valuable material for experimental investiga- 

 tion of the widest scope. 



It is coming to be generally agreed that, while govern- 

 ment agencies, such as the Department of Agriculture 



at Washington and the State Agri- 

 Relations of State and |, i r^ 11 j t^ •• ' 

 Endowed Institutions cultural Colleges and Experiment 



Stations, have fully proven their 

 value and justified invoking the taxing power of the 

 state for their support, they can by no means meet the 

 needs of the situation as it now exists. Governmental 

 institutions must, from the nature of their sources of 

 support, aim to meet immediate exigencies in agriculture 

 from year to year, and especially must devote themselves 

 to the work of directly aiding the farmer and nurseryman 

 in the application of known methods of culture, crop- 

 feeding and the prevention of disease. Their service 

 in the control of plant diseases is rather that of practising 

 physicians than of research pathologists. But we have 

 now reached a period in plant science, where further 

 advance demands the experimental investigation of 

 fundamental problems, extending over long periods of 

 time and requiring in many cases costly apparatus. It 

 is difficult to pursue such work in laboratories that are 

 under more or less changeable political control; the 

 endowed institution with its more stable organization 

 and greater freedom is practically indispensable. 



[9] 



