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ture, and the consequence has been that our work has increased! 

 enormously. 



Although the means and the number of men at my disposal are infinitely 

 mall as compared with the resources at the command of the Government 

 of the United States, we try to follow at a very long distance the aims 

 and the methods adopted by them. Dr. A. C. True, the Director of 

 the Office of Experiment Stations in the United States, has lately given 

 a lucid exposition of the objects and work of these Stations, and an ex- 

 tract from his Bulletin will very clearly illustrate what we should 

 always be striving after here. Dr. True states what the objects are as 

 follows : — 



" An agricultural experiment station is an institution in which scien- 

 tific and practical investigations are made with a view to improving 

 the methods of agriculture and introducing new crops or industries. 

 The primary object of an experiment station is to apply scientific 

 principles and methods to the problems of agriculture. It seeks to use 

 for the benefit of agriculture the stores of knowledge regarding the 

 operations of nature which science has accumulated, and to employ in 

 the service of agriculture the trained brains and hands of scientists. 

 Taking advantage of whatever- has been discovered in any line of 

 scientific research, the experiment stations should institute investiga- 

 tions to increase accurate information regarding the great principles 

 which underlie the growth of plants and animals and to make new 

 applications of well-known principles in the practical work of the farmer. 

 It is very important that we should keep clearly before us the concep- 

 tion of the experiment station as primarily a scientific institution. This 

 will enable us to understand its proper functions and prevent us from 

 misjudging much of its work. 



" The importance of scientific investigations as related to the arts has 

 long been recognized in many industries. Hidden away in almost every 

 factory may be found a chemist, microscopist or electrician, busily en- 

 gaged in endeavours to solve the problems of the industrial arts. These 

 men are working on the materials used in the arts, and have in view 

 practical result s, but they are using scientific methods and are employed 

 solely because the manufacturers hope that rich rewards will result from 

 the application of scientific principles to practical ends. The wise em- 

 ployer leaves these men to work in their own way — he does not expect 

 that the chemist will use the blacksmith's bellows, or the grocer's scales, 

 or the carpenter's tools. He must have the apparatus of the chemist 

 and he must be free to follow the methods of the laboratory rather 

 than those of the workshop. The factory chemist may have large 

 wages, he may spoil much valuable material, and he may work for 

 months without any result that will bring a single additional dollar into 

 the manufacturer's treasury, but as long as there is a reasonable hope 

 that something profitable will result, the chemist is kept at his task. 

 One day he may find out something which will give the employer the 

 advantage over his competitors and pay a thousand times over for all 

 the expense which the chemist has caused. There is always the risk of 

 total failure, but experience has shown that in the long run the arts 

 have profited exceedingly by the labours of scientists. 



" What manufacturers have been doing for themselves because they 

 found it very profitable, the Government has undertaken to do for the 



