1922.] 



Science and the Farmer. 



217 



SCIENCE AND THE FARMER. 



Professor J. Arthur Thomson, M.A., LL.D., 



University of Aberdeen. 



The makers of new science have often been reproached for 

 thinking more of knowledge for its own sake than of " the relief 

 of man's estate." That this reproach is in general unjust may 

 be proved by an appeal to history, for it is quite certain that 

 most of the more striking inventions that have profoundly 

 changed the life of man have sprung from very abstract re- 

 searches. First light, and then fruits, as Bacon said. The 

 search for Principles always pays. But there is another answer 

 to the unjust reproach, and that is to point to the ever-increasing 

 body of* new knowledge which has direct practical applicability 

 and yet is left unutilised. A perusal of the stimulating Report 

 which Mr. V. E. Wilkins has recently drawn up for the Ministry 

 of Agriculture* shows what a wealth of useful knowledge there i-s 

 which is not in general circulation : for here we find scores of 

 discoveries of obvious practical value to the farmer which are 

 not being applied except by a few. This is partly because we are 

 in many departments life in process of transition from the 

 empirical to the scientific ; it has not become natural to the 

 farmer to seek expert advice except from the veterinarian. It is 

 all too characteristic of the Briton to stick to methods that vield 

 tolerable results, instead of pressing on to new-fashioned ways 

 which promise something much better. x\nother reason for this 

 Gallio-like indifference is that in days past valuable research was 

 often, as it were, tied up in a napkin of technicality and hidden 

 in the ground of a blue book. But we have changed all that. 

 The record of recent scientific achievement which Mr. Wilkins 

 has written is as clear as crystal and as interesting as a novel. 

 It is a hand which science stretches out and it is for the 

 farmer to grip it. When he does so he will find his reward. 



The philosophy of the subject is plain. The nation's higher 

 progress* (in the life that is more than meat) depends on improved 

 health and increased wealth. But more wealth means greatei 

 command of the resources of nature, and the chief of these is 

 food. The fanner is the fundamental food-producer, and thus 

 progress largely depends on him. But British Agriculture is 



* Agricultural Research awl the Farmer: A Ibronl nf Pccenl Achieve- 

 ment. Published by II. M. Stationery Office, Imperial Elouse, Kingsway, 

 W.C.2. Price 2s. 6.1. net ; obtainable through any Books* Her oi direct from 

 the Publisher 



