Pomona College Journal of Economic Botany 



121 



sole and only work is the study of insect and fungous pest control, and other 

 pertinent problems, and they all say most emphatically that it pays. 



One man on the staff must have a thorough knowledge of horticulture in all 

 its bearings — plant-breeding, selection, culture and soil tillage, and fertilization. 

 Another man should have a thorough and complete knowledge of soil and plant 

 chemistry. These men must be had! If the youth of Mexico can be educated to 

 a practical knowledge of these subjects so much the better, for local conditions 

 are more thoroughly understood by them. In the mean time the world's best ex- 

 perts must be employed. 



The demonstration farms may or may not be operated in connection with 

 the experimental stations, but in either case they can easily be made to pay their 

 running expenses, if not become more or less remunerative. The superintendent 

 of each of these farms should have a thorough working knowledge of all the gen- 

 eral phases of scientific agriculture and should put this knowledge into daily prac- 

 tice. The field of work must be supplementary to and following up the work of the 

 station, and under the direction of the nearest station director. Results, methods 

 and anything else worked out at the stations must be taken up at the demonstra- 

 tion farms on a large and paying scale in order that the public may be shown 

 beyond question the value of the new methods, or crops. 



The third method named is a direct appeal to the private farmer, whatever 

 his nationality. One of the secrets in the rapid advance of American agriculture 

 as it is carried on by the average farmer, is the fact that the farming population 

 in nearly all localities is most cosmopolitan. Thus, ideas from all countries and 

 from all sorts of minds are brought together and the best, or a combination of the 

 best, takes precedence over the rest. Such a farm as that at Roma, Vera Cruz, 

 which was mentioned above, will do as much for the advancement of the nation's 

 welfare through its agriculture as almost anything else which could be attempted. 

 The appeal now is for adoption of approved scientific farming by those now en- 

 gaged privately in Mexico and, also, for others, of any country whatever, to take 

 up practical, sensible scientific farming in some part of the Republic, and dem- 

 onstrate to all the doubters the real value of such a course and the great folly of 

 following any but the most up-to-date methods. 



For the private farmer who wishes to make his living in agriculture, for the 

 capitalist who wishes to invest in a safe and paying proposition, for the expert 

 scientist — entomologist, mycologist, horticulturist, pomologist, agronomist — what 

 more inviting field for labor will be found than in Mexico, with all its wonderful 

 possibilities now beginning to unfold? 



By opening its doors to applied science and improving; the almost unimagin- 

 able possibilities thereby, Mexico could become one of the leading agricultural 

 centers of the world. To bring this about will require the closest co-operation be- 

 tween people and government in all respects. The time when this condition will 

 arrive will be determined by the readiness with which the government takes the 

 initiative in founding many more, and better equipped, experimental stations and 

 introducing horticulturists and other technically and practically trained men into 

 the staff of these stations. With adequate demonstration of work in progress, we 

 may rest assured that the private farmer will not hesitate to follow up the oppor- 

 tunities thus opened to him. 



