Scientific Agriculture, 



52 



[July, 1911. 



the eucalyptus honey he had found in 

 that island, dark in colour, and gathered, 

 as he stated, by black bees about half 

 the size of the European insect. The 

 story went the round of the newspapers, 

 and it appears that some persons in 

 Sydney pricked their long ears at the 

 prospective profits of the new trade, 

 and purchasing a quantity of so-called 

 'black' honey, gathered sometimes on 

 the Clarence River in large quantities 

 by natives and shipped to Sydney in 

 casks, poured eucalyptus oil into it until 

 they thought it had enough of the smell 

 and flavour of that extract and sent it 

 off to London. About that time there 

 appeared in the British Bee Journal 

 some paragraphs on the horrible ' euca- 

 lyptus ' smell of the new Australian 

 honey, which threatened to stink visi- 

 tors out of the Agricultural Show where 

 it was exhibited. The British Bee 



Journal is, or was at that time, 1891, 

 edited by Mr, Thos. W. Cowan, F.L.S., 

 F.G.S., &c, &c. ; a distinguished scien- 

 tist who had made a hobby of micros- 

 copes and bees, a member of the famous 

 family of paper manufacturers in Edin- 

 burgh. An uncle of mine, also with a 

 hobby for bees, was a personal friend 

 of Mr. Cowan's, and had written to him 

 on the prospects of a market for his 

 Australian nephew's honey. Mr.Cowan's 

 reply is in my possession, in which he 

 assures my uncle that ' if his nephew's 

 honey is no better than the Australian 

 honey he had seen and tasted, he (the 

 nephew) would have a difficulty in dis- 

 posing of it.' Mr. Cowan mentioned at 

 the same time that Australian honey 

 fetched from 25s. to 30s. the cwt., 

 and was bought by diuggists. (It was 

 then the time of the great influenza 

 epedemic") 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE 



THE CENTRALIZATION OP AGRI- 

 CULTURAL RESEARCH. 



(Prom the Louisiana Planter and Sugar 

 Manufacturer, Vol. XLVI., No. 17, 

 April 29, 1911.) 



Agriculture, in the modern sense of 

 the term, is a many-sided subject, and 

 requires for its successful advancement 

 the work of many men who have been 

 trained, not only in different branches 

 of natural science, but also along very 

 different lines. The two extreme types 

 of men interested in the advancement 

 of this most important branch of human 

 knowledge are represented by the 

 practical planter on the one hand, and 

 the academical scientist on the other. 

 Midway between these stands the man 

 entrusted with the care of field experi- 

 ments, who must be possessed not only 

 of a general knowledge of the nature 

 and value of the different branches of 

 scientific investigation, but also of the 

 methods and conditions of practical 

 agriculture as exhibited in the district 

 to which his work is intended to be of 

 service. 



Now it is part of the nature of scienti- 

 fic research that the general conclusions 

 at which it arrives are, in many cases 

 applicable to practical methods over a 

 very large area, when once they have 

 been modified to suit local conditions. 

 Consequently, the number of individuals 

 required to investigate the scientific 

 side of any problem is relatively small, 

 while the number of practical workers 



to whom they may be of value is large. 

 The channel by means of which the 

 results obtained in the laboratory are 

 usually conveyed to the practical 

 workers in any agricultural district is 

 through the man entrusted with the 

 conduct of field experiments. The num- 

 ber of these men must depend either on 

 geographical conditions or on the extent 

 to which land is under cultivation. The 

 functions of the middle man referred 

 to above are three-fold. In the 

 first place, he must test the value of 

 laboratory results as applied to the 

 production of crops under local condi- 

 tions, though the lines along which these 

 tests should be made must be indicated 

 by the scientific investigator who inter- 

 prets the results. In the second place, 

 he is required to give advice when 

 needed to the practical worker, in the 

 light of the knowledge acquired from 

 the tests conducted, so that the inform- 

 ation obtained may be thoroughly dis- 

 seminated. Lastly, he may from his 

 experience of local problems suggest 

 lines of investigation, which would be 

 of value, to be conducted by the appro- 

 priate members of the laboratory staff. 



The body of academical scientists is 

 generally composed of men who have 

 been trained in one of four special 

 aspects of natural science. They may- 

 be concerned with the determination of 

 the composition and properties of sub- 

 stances employed in agriculture (Agri- 

 cultural Chemistry) ; with the study of 

 plants of economic importance (Botany) ; 



