2 30 ® The American Naturalist. [March, 
THE BIOLOGICAL WORK OF AMERICAN 
EXPERIMENT STATIONS: 
BY CLARENCE M. WEED. 
A was to be expected, nearly all of the published work of the 
~ > biological departments of American experiment stations (and 
for the present purpose I mean, by these, the departments of zool- 
ogy and botany, including entomology, ornithology, and mycol- 
ogy), up to the present time, has been of a purely practical nature, 
usually having an immediate application to agricultural procedure. 
This is perfectly right and exactly what has been needed. There 
has been, and is yet, a great demand for this sort of work, and it 
must be satisfied so far as possible if the enterprise is to continue 
to receive encouragement and support. The problems of spraying, 
of remedies for the great crop pests, whether insect or fungous in 
nature, of the effects of rotation and fertilization upon the increase 
of insects and fungi, and many similar subjécts, furnish opportu- 
nities for a vast amount of useful work, which must on no account 
be neglected. But, nevertheless, is there not a tendency to confine 
ourselves too strictly to these purely practical problems, when ` 
very often a somewhat wider study would not only shed light 
upon the case in hand, but add much useful knowledge besides? 
Should not our work be organized and conducted on so broad 
and comprehensive .a basis that our results will be cumulative, 
in the years to come aid in the formulation of general 
biological laws ? 
We are so used to hearing about economic entomology, eco- 
‘nomic botany, and economic ornithology, that I fear even some of 
us have an idea that the main field of entomology, or botany, or 
ornithology, is not economic, but belongs to that department of 
pure science possessing, in the words recently quoted by Dr. 
‘ This paper, in substantially its present form, was prepared for the Entomological Sec- 
tion of the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations at its 
o Int á 3 EAE E ST TURT ohare R ests a 
