National and Educational Interests. 



11 



of bulletins are popular, and it would seem as if they demand 

 different treatment ; and, in fact, the necessity for comment 

 in this connection is not suggested so much by the bulletins 

 as by the attitude of critics. 



Another common misapprehension of the proper sphere of 

 experiment station work is the supposition that all the work 

 of the stations must be experimental in its character. The 

 stations exist in order "to aid in acquiring and diffusing" 

 practical information, and to "promote scientific investiga- 

 tion and experiment. " It is therefore legitimate for the station, 

 now and. then, to collate particular matter from reliable sources, 

 if the matter is of such a character as to afford "useful and 

 practical information on subjects connected with agriculture." 



About twenty-five of the experiment stations have a horti- 

 culturist on the staff, and most of these officers have appeared 

 before the public in bulletins. The work which they have 

 done covers a wide range of important subjects, but the favorite 

 line of investigation appears to be the ordinary testing of va- 

 rieties. This is the cheapest and least satisfactory work which 

 the horticulturist can do, unless he has some ulterior aim. To 

 test varieties for the purpose of familiarizing himself with the 

 species in hand that he may discover its laws of variation, or 

 to make tests in order to determine what varieties are adapted 

 to particular purposes or regions, are high aims of experiment, 

 but to test simply because new varieties are put upon the mar- 

 ket is quite the reverse. To be sure, the horticulturist must 

 grow new kinds to a great extent as a matter of general infor- 

 mation, but it is doubtful if his special work can profitably lie 

 in this direction. Varieties are so largely influenced by soil, 

 climate and treatment, are often so variable in themselves, 

 and their values are so largely determined by the purposes for 

 which they are grown, that the experimenter can not often 

 hope for much satisfaction from his labor, particularly if he 

 endeavors to study many species. At the present time, the 

 judgments of commercial growers are worth more than those 

 of experimenters. 



Many of the horticulturists have felt the inadequacy of 

 tests of varieties, and it was largely this feeling which called 

 together the horticulturists of the stations at Columbus, Ohio, 

 last June. It was then determined that the variety tests of 

 all the stations should be collated by the Office of Experi- 



