Miscellaneous. 



160 



[February, 1912. 



With the large areas and wide interests 

 covered by the Department of Aerricul- 

 ture of the United States and the 

 various organizations concerned there- 

 with, there is little doubt that such an 

 effort at specialization as is here sug- 

 gested will be of immense service in 

 economizing the energies of those en- 

 gaged in the various duties and in in- 

 forming the public for whose benefit 

 these organizations or institutions exist, 

 of the real nature of the duties they 

 profess to undertake. In this way the 

 public is enabled bo judge more accu- 

 rately of the value of the work that is 

 done, and incidentally to form a clear 

 idea of the needs of the institutions and 

 to ensure the proper appropriation of 

 funds, and of other means of support 

 and management. 



To scientific workers in agriculture, 

 the specialization aimed at would prove 

 to be of great assistance. The immense 

 volume of agricultural literature renders 

 it impossible for any individual to deal 

 with more than a very limited portion, 

 and there is always the fear that some 

 important point may escape notice ; 

 while the feeling also exists that valu- 

 able time may be lost by expert workers 

 in reading much material having solely 

 for its object the presentation of well- 

 known, established facts in a form that 

 will render them attractive and ulti- 

 mately serviceable to less informed 

 readers. 



What is said with regard to public- 

 ations may in a great measure apply 

 to the institutions themselves. Under 

 the large conditions of the United States, 

 it is possible to ask for a marked degree 

 of specialization in the work of various 

 institutions dealing with agricultural 

 matters in their different phases ; hence 

 as time goes on, an increasingly complete 

 severance of such functions as teaching 

 and investigating, and of specialization 

 in these branches themselves, may be 

 expected. Wirh large communities and 

 complex conditions, specialization is au 

 essential feature of development; but 

 one which, if carried to extremes, brings 

 concomitant disadvantages. 



In turning attention to colonial and 

 particularly West Indian conditions, it 

 is readily seen that these preclude speci- 

 alization in any high degree ; indeed, a 

 feature of colonial life is its require- 

 ment of ability to cope with a wide 

 range of conditions and circumstances 

 and to perform functions that, in older 

 or larger communities, would be assigned 

 to special experts. This phase was 

 largely in evidence in the United States 

 until quite recently, but appears, at 



least in populous centres, to be passing 

 away. It is a state that still exists to a 

 considerable extent in communities in 

 the West Indies. 



This condition is reflected in the work 

 of local Departments of Agriculture in 

 the West Indies, with their associated 

 Botanic and Experiment Stations. 

 Popular conception, rarely precise, 

 demands of these most diverse duties- 

 duties that fluctuate largely from year 

 to year with the changes in local condi- 

 tions and needs. These institutions are 

 required to combine the functions of 

 experimenting in the introduction of 

 new crops and new methods of the im- 

 provement of old ones ; of performing 

 the duties known as extension work, 

 that is to say the efforts at popularizing 

 and applying the knowledge so gained ; 

 while at the same time they are called 

 upon to act as centres for the distri- 

 bution of plauts and seeds needed for 

 local industries, thus undertaking many 

 of the functions which in larger places 

 devolve upon commercial nurserymen. 

 Further, they are regarded as the reposi- 

 tories of information concerning local 

 agricultural industries, and particularly 

 as regards difficulties or troubles that 

 may arise, as tor example, in connection 

 with pests or diseases, or imperfect 

 methods of dealing either with soils or 

 products. There is the added fact that 

 in the majority of cases the work is 

 carried on in surroundings having the 

 nature of parks or gardens, regarded by 

 the public as places of resort for pleasure 

 and recreation. 



No doubt this must be accepted as 

 essential to the particular stage of 

 development; but what is implied by 

 the conditions should be cleaily evident 

 to the minds of those responsible for 

 maintaining and working agricultural 

 institutions under these circumstances. 

 As has been indicated, the state of 

 evolution of the experiment station in 

 the West Indies necessitates its employ- 

 ment in several various directions and 

 for many differeut needs. It is there- 

 fore the duty of the worker in it care- 

 fully to discriminate between the pur- 

 poses for which it is employed ; while 

 those for whom it exists should be able 

 bo take a broad view of the range of its 

 activities, in order that they may appre- 

 ciate the fact that its work cannot be 

 made subservient to any limited set of 

 interests. 



The matter under discussion required 

 this digression from the consideration 

 of the purposes fulfilled in the issue of 

 publications, to that of the many siddd 

 work of the experiment stations. To 



