Miscellaneous. 



04 



[July, 1912. 



From what has been said it must be 

 obvious that the ordinary college course 

 can not be considered an adequate pre- 

 paration for the life work of the agrono- 

 mist, whether he be engaged in teaching 

 or in research, but that this must be 

 supplemented by at least three years' 

 work at the university. Conversely, it 

 must be equally obvious that he who 

 would succeed in the fullest degree in 

 his scientific achievements in the domain 

 of agronomy must also be familiar with 

 the subject as an art, and if this know- 

 ledge was not acquired at home on the 

 farm, before the beginning of the 

 college course, it should surely be 

 made a part of his equipment before 

 entering upon the university course. 



The demands of these times make im- 

 perative not only a knowledge of the art 

 of agronomy and the possession of the 

 foundation contributed by the college 

 and university, but they demand that 

 the teacher or investigator keep con- 

 tinually in touch with the work of others 

 in this and other countries, and to this 

 end a reading knowledge of French and 

 German, and if possible of other foregin 

 languages, is essential. The argument 

 that it is sufficient merely to read the 

 abstracts of papers is specious. The in- 

 vestigator should never be content with 

 anything short of the original, since 

 ideas as to the relative importance of the 

 different parts of an investigation are 

 often widely variable, dependent upon 

 the outlook or particular experience of 

 the abstractor. It, therefore, not infre- 

 quently happens that a point which may 

 be passed over as insignificant is vital 

 to the work of some investigator, who, 

 if confined solely to consulting the 

 abstract, might never be able to profit 

 by it. 



It is obvious that the teacher must 

 have sufficient time at command for 

 daily recreation if he expects to maintain 

 himself in condition to present his 

 subject matter year after year to his 

 classes in a clear and forceful manner. 

 The same thing is necessary for the in- 

 vestigator in order that he may be keen 

 and alert in the pursuit of his problems. 



He is then in condition to recognize 

 points of attack which the man pressed 

 and wearied with many duties might 

 pass by unnoticed. To him who would 

 be a strong, full man, capable of im- 

 parting inspiration to his students or of 

 attacking problems of research with the 

 true enthusiasm which is essential to 

 success, time must not only be allowed 

 for renewal of physical strength and for 

 abundance of reading, but also for un- 

 disturbed and consecutive thought. This 

 means that no institution can long 

 expect to be a leader in the field of 

 education or in research, if its policy is 

 to demand so much by way of other 

 duties or so many hours of teaching that 

 its employees can become leaders neither 

 in thought nor in research in their chosen 

 specialities. A university president, in a 

 recent address, announced that those 

 teaching at his institution were here- 

 after to be measured for their fitness by 

 their output in research. Such a policy, 

 while prompted by a commendable spirit, 

 might be more nearly applicable in a 

 new institution in which the teaching 

 demands are reasonable, but it is likely 

 to work the grossest injustice if applied 

 immediately in a college where worthy 

 professors have grown old in a treadmill 

 of exacting service, which has left no 

 time for gathering inspiration nor for 

 work of research. Such men, if given 

 the opportunity at the right time, mi^ht 

 have won a national or world-wide 

 reputation as investigators, for they 

 may have been original, diligent and 

 fired with an enthusiasm which the in- 

 stitution itself gradually smothered and 

 snuffed out. Such men should not be 

 cast aside like an exhausted sponge, for 

 the institution and the state owe them 

 a debt which they can not repay. Again, 

 a col lege professor can not always do his 

 best work if made to feel that his tenure 

 of office depends upon his yearly output 

 in research, Such avowed watchfulness 

 by a president or by a committee on 

 efficiency is likely to lead to superfic- 

 iality, to hasty publication, or to create 

 unrest disastrous to research of a high 

 order and to bring many disastrous con- 

 sequences in its train, 



