636 Provision of Technical Advice for Farmers, [nov., 



the knowledge of skilled farmers, but as to difficulties which 

 lie outside ordinary experience, and which may demand 

 exhaustive investigation and patient research. 



Character of the Staff. 



The range of subjects on which advice may be sought is 

 very wide, and no single institution can be expected to pro- 

 vide specialists in all branches, but provision should be made 

 for the supply of expert advice in those branches of agricul- 

 ture and its allied industries which are of the greatest im- 

 portance in the area served by the College. For this purpose 

 the staff should be strengthened by the addition of officers 

 who will chiefly devote themselves to this special type of 

 work, but there would be no objection to the utilisation of 

 their services to some extent in teaching, provided that other 

 members of the staff gave approximately the same amount of 

 time to advisory work. A certain elasticity in the staff would 

 thus be secured and a wider range of subjects covered. 



In this connection it must be remembered that many in- 

 quiries on agricultural subjects, especially those likely to be 

 made by the smaller or less experienced cultivators as regards 

 dairying, poultry keeping, and gardening, can quite well be 

 dealt with by the County Staff, to whom they should be 

 referred. The object of the collegiate institutions should be 

 to deal with the more difficult questions requiring special 

 knowledge. 



Qualifications of the Staff. 



The success of the scheme depends on the selection of the 

 right type of men. The Governing Bodies of Institutions 

 should, therefore, be careful in recruiting their staff to secure 

 men who have received a thorough scientific training, and 

 who will be capable of carrying out investigations both in the 

 laboratory and in the field. They should be familiar with 

 the technique that may be necessary in dealing with their 

 special branch, and be capable of closely following the latest 

 developments in science both at home and abroad. 



As explained above, it will be the duty of the consultative 

 staff to keep in close touch with the Research Institutions, j 

 and in considering the qualifications required this factor 

 should be borne in mind. In many cases it is to this advisory 

 staff that the task will fall of first attempting to put into prac- 



