98 



Agricultural Research and the Farmer. [May, 



The Ministry will shortly issue a report on Agricultural 



Research which describes clearly, for the benefit of farmers and 



Agricultural others, the scientific work now in progress 



•n T- , m in the interests of agriculture. Hitherto, if 

 Research and the J f 5 , ■ , 



Farmer * a * armer inquired what the research 

 worker was doing for his industry, 

 he could only be referred in the main to technical 

 papers published in scientific journals, and these, even 

 if intelligible to him, contained results which might 

 be apparently remote from farming practice. The practical 

 man realises that while these highly scientific investi- 

 gations may not immediately help him in securing increased 

 returns, they are vital to the industry 7 , for progress depends 

 on the acquisition of knowledge. The farmer and gardener reap 

 the benefit of research after it has passed through various expe- 

 rimental channels, and when the results have been put to the 

 crucial test of experience in the field. This may be some years 

 after the patient toil of the scientist in the laboratory. Many 

 farming operations which are commonly practised to-day can 

 be traced back to discoveries made years ago by scientists who 

 at the time had only a faint conception — if any at all — of the 

 use to which their results would eventually be put. 



For some time past, however, the need has been felt for a 

 comprehensive and readable account of the- important research 

 which is being conducted in agriculture and horticulture- 



The Ministry consequently commissioned one of its officers, 

 Mr. V. E. Wilkins, to visit Institutions where research is being 

 conducted, and prepare a report which would not only describe 

 the work in a readable and non-technical style, but would 

 link together as far as possible the various phases of investiga- 

 tion, and show their relation to the practical problems of the 

 farmer. The report deals with all aspects of research, and con- 

 tains ten chapters, devoted respectively to the soil, plant breed- 

 ing, plant physiology, fruit growing and preserving, plant dis- 

 eases, animal husbandry, animal breeding, dairying, animal 

 diseases, and farming as a business. A list of Research Institu- 

 tions and Advisory Centres in England and Wales, and a Biblio- 

 graphy giving the titles of papers published by research workers 

 in 1920 and .1921, are included as Appendices. A prefatory 

 note has been written by Sir Arthur G. Boscawen, 

 Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, in which he refers to the 



* Agricultural Research and the Farmer : A Record of Recent Achievement, 

 Published "by H.M. Stationery Office, Imperial House, Kingsway, W.C.2. 

 price 2/6 net ; obtainable through any Bookseller or direct from the Publisher. 



