AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH. In its modern aspects agricultural research began with the series of field experiments started by Jean Baptiste Joseph Dieudonne Boussingault about 1834 on his farm at Bechelbronn, in Alsace. He had already made a name as an adventurous traveller in South America, but at the age of 32 he settled down to field experiments which he carried on until Alsace passed into the hands of the Germans. Unfortunately the farm was not preserved, and in consequence this first experimental station has long ceased to exist.
The scientific foundations had already been laid by the de Saussures, Jean Senebier, and other plant physiologists of the Geneva school and elsewhere, and considerable information had been gained by Sir Humphry Davy; but these results could not be interpreted in field terms without field experiments. Boussin gault used quantitative methods; he weighed and analysed the manures applied and the crops obtained and at the end of the ro tation drew up a balance sheet showing how far the manures had satisfied the needs of the crops, and how far other sources of supply, air, rain, and soil, had been drawn upon. This method, patiently and carefully applied, solved the problem of the feeding of crops, and it remains the basis of all modern field work. The facts gathered by this and other methods were reduced to order by Justus von Liebig in 184o and subsequent years in his brilliant generalizations on plant nutrition and crop production.
In 1843 J. B. Lawes and J. H. Gilbert started their experiments at Rothamsted, which are still carried on, so that Rothamsted remains the oldest agricultural station in the world. These ex periments led almost immediately to the discovery of artificial fertilizers, the effects of which on the soils of Britain were so striking that similar experiments were soon made in most coun tries where conditions were sufficiently settled. Although the re sults were not always as clear and definite as in Great Britain, the experiments opened the way to new knowledge of soils, crops, and animals; in the United States, where water supply is often the limiting factor in crop production, they led to important de velopments in soil physics; in France, to George Villes' important contributions on the use of fertilizers; in Russia, to far-reaching studies of soil morphology.
Soil bacteriology (q.v.) began in France as the result of an in vestigation by J. T. Schloessing and C. A. Mintz; further fields were opened up by P. E. M. Berthelot. Striking advances were made by Sergei Winogradsky, who introduced new conceptions and more precise methods, raising the subject to the rank of a science. Animal nutrition was studied first by Lawes and Gilbert at Rothamsted and then considerably developed in Germany. Right up to the time of the World War there was continuous ex pansion; agricultural colleges and experiment stations were founded in almost every civilized country, and notable contribu tions to agricultural science were being made not only in the larger but in the smaller countries, Holland, Denmark, Switzer land, Sweden and others.
Since the War there have been many and striking developments. Although impoverished, the European countries have maintained and even extended their organizations for agricultural research, and in every country except one or two in south-eastern Europe there are experiment stations owned and financed by the State; frequently also others financed by agricultural societies. Indeed, the belief of the modern farmer in agricultural education and re search is one of the most hopeful features of the times.
The Guelph Agricultural college had been founded in 1873 but it grew only slowly and in 1883 it had only nine graduates. Then came the awakening of Canada to the need of agricultural re search. In 1884 a select committee was appointed by the Cana dian parliament to study agricultural conditions and this com mittee recommended the establishment of an experimental farm. In 1887 this was done, and the farm was started near Ottawa under the direction of William Saunders. It has since grown out of all recognition and has now become one of the foremost agri cultural experiment stations in the world. Branch farms were es tablished in different parts of the Dominion, some of which, such as Indian Head (Sask.) and Lethbridge (Alta.), have by reason of their special conditions been able to carry out researches which could only with difficulty have been achieved elsewhere. The present director of the Ottawa station is E. S. Archibald, who succeeded J. H. Grisdale, the second director, in 1916.
Australia has, in Farrar's wheats and many field experiments, done much for arable farming and the solving of pastoral prob lems; still more recently the setting up, at Adelaide, of the Waite Agricultural Research Institute in 1923 under Dr. Richardson, and of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research under Dr. Julius, have opened up great possibilities of future development. In New Zealand the Cawthron Institute was established at Nelson in 1915: South Africa has probably the largest and best veteri nary research station in the world at Onderspoort under Dr. P. J. Du Toit. In India the large experiment station at Pusa was started in 19°3 by the aid of a generous gift by Mr. Phipps, an American. In other tropical regions there have been very great develop ments. The Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture was founded in 1924 at Trinidad to give the training which could not be pro vided at home. The research institute originally founded by the Germans at Amani in Tanganyika has been restarted since the World War under the directorship of Dr. Nowell. The Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratories at Khartum are maintaining and extending their studies of soils and micro-organisms, important in tropical conditions, and each of the African territories has its own agricultural officers. Perhaps even more significant, the grow ers are organizing and financing their own experiment stations on broad and generous lines that augur well for the future: the Rub ber Research Institute of Malaya, inaugurated in 1926; the Tea Research Institute of Ceylon, inaugurated somewhat earlier, are examples. Altogether the progress of agricultural research in the empire in the post-War period has exceeded the most sanguine expectations.
Until recently, each of the separate parts of the empire con ducted its own researches independently of the rest. In Oct. 1927, however, an imperial agricultural research conference was called for the first time and the first steps were taken towards co-opera tion and co-ordination so far as this might be possible. It was decided to set up bureaux in Great Britain, for soil at Rothamsted, animal nutrition at the Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen, and animal health in London; also correspondence centres for plant genetics at Cambridge and Aberystwyth, fruit at East Malling, animal genetics at Edinburgh and agricultural parasitology in London; these are in addition to the already established bureaux for entomology and mycology; while a further object that they have is to keep in touch with all agricultural research workers in the empire, provide information, and generally give any further help in their power.
Cambridge university.
Animal nutrition. Rowett Research Institute, Aberdeen.
Plant physiology. Imperial College of Science and Technology, London.
Plant breeding. Cambridge university.
University college, Aberystwyth. Scottish plant breeding station, Edinburgh.
Fruit. Long Ashton, Bristol.
East Malling, Kent.
Glasshouse industry. Cheshunt, Herts.
Animal breeding. Edinburgh university.
Dairying. Reading university.
Animal pathology. Cambridge university.
Royal Veterinary college, London.
Scottish Animal Diseases Research Association.
Agricultural parasitology. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Agricultural economics. Oxford university.
Agricultural engineering. Oxford university.
The amounts expended on agricultural research in Great Brit ain have increased continuously since 1 gog, the original develop ment fund having been substantially increased when the Corn Production Act was repealed and the State commitments were commuted by the grant of f I,000,000 which, at the request of the farmers themselves, was devoted to agricultural research and education. In 1926 the grants amounted to £329,705, including f6o,000 advisory, £g,231 rural industry, and £23,70o Scottish grants. The total research grant for England and Wales was there fore L236,774. Besides the State funds, grants are periodically made to institutions by the agricultural societies.
The Federal Department of Agriculture, created by an Act of Congress and signed by President Lincoln in 1862, is the most extensive agricultural research agency ever established, its work covering every field of agriculture and rural life affairs. Through its Office of Experiment Stations it has general supervision of the State Experiment Stations, with which it carries on a large num ber of co-operative investigations. Its great research bureaus expend over ten million dollars a year in fundamental investiga tions in addition to about the same amount expended by the Experiment Stations, making a total annual expenditure for re search of over twenty million dollars. Recent estimates of financial returns for these expenditures published by , the United States Department of Agriculture show that each dollar thus expended yields an annual return of over five hundred dollars. This explains in part the increasing support given to this type of work. There are also a certain number of private establishments. Some of these have become merged in the State institutions, such as the experi ment station at Storrs, Conn., which, founded as an agricultural school, became a college and then, through the activity of one of its most distinguished members, Atwater, an important centre of research. Of the newer institutions which still retain their indi viduality perhaps the most notable is the Boyce-Thompson, founded in 1 9 24.
Enormous sums of public money are expended in the United States on agricultural research. In 1925 and 1926 the amounts included: 1925 1926 Federal Funds . . . . . . . $10,3oo,000.
Hatch, Adams and (in 1926) Purnell Acts I,44O,000. 2,400,000.
State appropriations 5,827,871.6,000,000.
$17,267,871. $I8,7OO,O00.
In 1927 the total spent was $21,000,000.
Some of the experiment stations are in receipt of large total incomes: in 1925 Ohio received $736,164 and California $665,861. But great as these sums are, they represent only six cents per acre per annum of the cultivated land in the United States and thus they are relatively not much greater than the expenditure in Great Britain, which represents four cents per acre; per $I,000 of farm produce obtained each year the United States spends on research $2.5o while Great Britain spends $1.40.
France.—ToFrance, as already described, belongs the honour of having begun the first field experiments. The college of agri culture at Grignon, founded in 1827, continues its activities. George Villes' experiments from 1848 to 1863 were made at Vincennes; Grandeau's at the Station Agronomique de l Est founded at Nancy in 1871 and still associated with soil investi gations. The experiment station at Montpellier is associated with vine investigations and with the soil studies of Delage and Lagatu. The chief organization in Paris is the Institut Agronomique; but the Institut Pasteur, although not an agricultural body, carries on researches in plant physiology and microbiology of great im portance to agriculture, supplemented by the work at its sub station at Brie-Comte Robert. It is hoped at an early date to develop a great national institute for agricultural science near Paris.
Germany.—Althoughthe agricultural college of Hohenheim was founded as far back as 1817, there was no experiment station till 1851, when one was started at Mochern in Saxony under Emil Wolff. Others were set up later; at Munich in 1857, where much work was done on soils, and at Popplesdorf, where there had been an agricultural high school since 1847. There was a rapid expan sion after the federation of the German States in 1871; in 1861 there had been only nine stations, but by 1881 there were at least 53. Most of these were attached to universities and under close Government control; they were also charged with certain respon sibilities in regard to control of fertilizers, feeding stuffs, seeds, etc. Some, however, were under the agricultural societies. In 1888 the association of experiment stations was formed for the purpose of securing uniformity in methods of investigation and inspection of these various articles.
By 1914 the German experiment stations had much further in creased, both in number and in size, and had attained great repute all over the world. There has, however, been some change in subject matter; much more attention is now devoted to ferti lizers in consequence of the enormous strides in the output of synthetic nitrogenous compounds. Among the larger State insti tutions are those at Halle for animal nutrition, agricultural chem istry and microbiology; at Konigsberg i. Pr., Bonn-Popplesdorf ; Landsberg (Warthe) for soils, plant nutrition, animal husbandry, and plant pathology; at Bremen and Landsberg for moor culture; at Breslau, Hohenheim and Gottingen for agricultural chemistry and bacteriology; at Berlin and Leipzig (Mockern) for many branches of agricultural science. In addition to these, there are great private institutions owned respectively by the nitrogen syndicate, the potash syndicate and the superphosphate manufac turers' association.
Russia.—TheRussian experiment stations have been com pletely reorganized since the revolution. Those best known to the outside world devote much of their time to soils; those deserving mention are : Perm University biological Station Voronezh Agricultural institute Gorki (White Russia) Agricultural academy Leningrad. Dokuchaiev Institute of Soil Science.
State Institute of Experimental Agronomy.
Moscow. Scientific Institute of Fertilisers.
Kazan. Forestry and Agricultural Institute.
Saratov. Institut fur Landwirtschaft and Melioration.
Ukraine.
Kiev Forestry and Agricultural Institute.
Odessa. Agricultural Institute.
Holland.—Ofthe smaller countries Holland deserves special mention because of the admirable research work carried out in Dutch East Indies at Buitenzorg in Java, the experimental gardens and station of which are models of efficiency and activity. The results are published in The Bulletin of the Botanical Garden. In Holland itself there are several well-known stations, the largest of which is at Wageningen, known, among many other things, for the work of Quanjer on plant pathology, Hissink in soil, and others.
Italy.—Italypossesses agricultural stations at Rome, Pisa, Turin, Portici, and elsewhere : the scientific results are published in Le Stazioni sperimentali agrarie Italiane.
Denmark.—Serious agricultural research began in Denmark of ter the termination, in 1864, of the war with Germany. The Danes sought, in the words of one of their distinguished states men, "to gain within their borders what they had lost without," and they proceeded to intensify their agriculture, developing a system which has become the admiration of Europe. One of the first stations to be set up was the veterinary and agricultural high school in Copenhagen, which from 1860 onwards published a series of admirable reports on the feeding of farm animals. As it ex panded it covered other subjects of agricultural importance. Since the war agricultural research has developed considerably in Den mark. The method has been to set up a number of stations, each dealing with specific subjects ; at the same time to establish field experiment stations in various parts of the country, all these being directly under the State. The veterinary college remains the centre for animal husbandry, forestry, and horticulture; it is, however, primarily a teaching institution. The more important of the newer research stations, which may be regarded as off shoots from Copenhagen, are at Lyngby and Hillerod, North Seeland.
Much of the knowledge recently gained at the experiment stations can be appreciated only in relation to the whole subject with which it is concerned, and is therefore dealt with under the proper headings. Some of the outstanding results are, however, referred to here. In the study of soils the most important ad vance has been in the knowledge of the changes taking place when salts are added to the soil. In principle the changes are simple, being merely the usual exchange of bases and acids; the consequences of these changes, however, are often far-reaching and they have been found to explain many of the phenomena of acidity and alkalinity, and also the deterioration of irrigated land. These phenomena were always taken to be quite inde pendent, but now they seem to be closely related. With fuller knowledge of the causes the possibility is opened up of designing effective methods of treatment. A better knowledge of soil biology is opening up a new chapter in the field of soil formation and fertility.
Great progress is being made in the field of soil amendments and fertilizers, especially as regards the use of concentrated fer tilizers.
Another striking development has been the recognition of the Russian work, which has been slowly developing during the last 40 or 50 years. This had been published in Russian and only briefly summarized in western languages, so that it remained in accessible to western European and American students. In 1909 Dr. Glinka expounded some of this work to the European soil investigators assembled at the soil conference in Hungary, and in 1922 Dr. Waksman, at the request of the United States depart ment of agriculture, translated many of the Russian papers into English. Soil workers then found a great mass of knowledge in regard to classification of soils, which was new to them. The basis of the Russian classification is that the soil type is largely determined by the environmental conditions ; indeed it can be predicted once these are known. The recognition of this depend ence has revealed the close relationship between climatic and oro graphical factors with soil type, which knowledge promises greatly to simplify the work of the soil surveyor.
Great advances are being made in the study of diseases of ani mals and plants, especially those carried by insects and mites, such as the tick fever, discovered by Theobold Smith of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the mosaic or virus diseases carried by plant lice and leaf hoppers.
In plant breeding efforts have been directed largely to the pro duction of disease resistant varieties, disease playing an increas ingly important part in limiting crop production. Rust in wheat still baffles the investigators, and, worse still, new diseases brought into the different countries sometimes spread with considerable rapidity and do much damage before resistant varieties can be found. The problem of immunity has been much studied but no satisfactory explanation is yet found, while the cause of the virus diseases remains as elusive as ever. In Canada a search is continually being made for new varieties of wheat with short growing periods more suitable to the short seasons of the northern parts. There has been a steady pushing up of the northern boundary of the wheat growing area, and no one now would venture to set definite limits to it. In crop production the most striking development has been the manufacture of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, which is now so firmly established along broad lines as finally to remove the fear of world starvation ex pressed in Sir W. Crook's famous address to the British Associa tion in 1898.
In animal husbandry there have been steady developments in the prevention of animal disease, the subject now being regarded as in a great part a matter of hygiene and nutrition. The discovery of vitamins is opening up new fields of nutrition in relation to growth and health of men and animals. Great attention has been paid to the mineral nutrients, lack of which has_been found respon sible for serious diseases in Africa and elsewhere. Deficiency of phosphorus is one of the most serious, but deficiency of calcium and possibly of iodine is also responsible for animal disease. Fortunately, the remedy can be found as soon as the causes can be diagnosed. Considerable progress has been made in the treat ment of diseases by various sera. In dairying, great strides have been made in the production of clean milk.
In every country in the civilized world the economic situation in agriculture has been profoundly altered by the great advances made in our knowledge of the effect of temperature on agricul tural produce. Research laboratories have been set up particularly for studying the effects of low temperatures, and refrigeration is steadily being reduced to an exact science. In the United States, particularly in the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the State Experiment Stations, much attention is now being given to eco nomic and sociological research in reference to agriculture and rural