The Dominion. MONDAY, JULY 4, 1910. AGRICULTURE AND SCIENCE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 859, 4 July 1910, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, JULY 4, 1910. AGRICULTURE AND SCIENCE.

It is something more than a coincidence that Loud Plunket, in his List, speech in Wellington, and Lord Islington, in his first public addross here, should each have called attention to one of those- questions of first-rate national importance which are practically left alone by our workaday politicians. Lord Plunket's subject was the vital iraportanco to New Zealand of a large population, Lord Islington's the vital importance of improved agriculture. Since New Zealand is, more than most countries, extremely happy in its natural conditions, and certain, under any sincere and honest and economical Government, to make great and sound progress, it is natural that to the broad and unbiased view of either of our Governors the really largo and vital things should tower above the smaller problems that wo .quarrel about every, day.

Lord Islington's reference to the value of agricultural study had the appropriate setting of a capping-day speech, and though addressed directly to academic ears, deserves, and, we trust,- will obtain, tho attention of tho public as a whole. Agriculture, as ho pointed out, is the chief industry in New Zealand, although this fact is so generally forgotten by the public and Parliament that tho statement of it has always the freshness of surprise, and almost of novelty. Agriculture, moreover, must remain the central prop of the nation for long after tho youngest of us is dead, and it is quite obvious that we can only turn our country's agricultural potentialities to advantage by keeping our foreign markets. So far as wool is concerned, there will always be a certainty of a fair market, but .one cannot speak with tho same confidence in respect of meat and dairy products. For the present we have a good outlet at fair prices for all the meat, butter and cheese that we can produce, but there is already looming the shadow of a competition ithat will not be to our advantage unless we can lessen the cost of production and in certain directions show good cause, in the shape of quality, for keeping our place amongst the suppliers of food to industrial Britain and Europe. Lokd Islington declares that only the very highest standard of excellence in our products will bring us a largo increase in the value of our exports, and he is therefore a keen advocate of the application of science to agriculture. Ho has seen much of the disadvantages of unscientific agriculture in Britain, and like most of us ho is aware of the debt of Canada to the agricultural college at Montreal.

During late years the Government has done something to bring about improved methods in the dairying industry, but what has been done is a trifle compared with what could and ought to be done in the reduction of the whole business of agriculture to something like an exact science. One of the lirst things that ought to be done is the foundation of Chairs of Agriculture at all our colleges, the end to bo kept in view being not the manufacture of trained farmers so much as the manufacture of such experts in the science of agriculture as will keep tho dairyfarmer, the shecp-brcedcr, and the grain-grower well-informed as to the methods they should pursue to obtain the best kind of cow, the most useful sheep and tho most profitable wheat and oats. Although it is probably true that the farmers' pons of this generation give more thought to the science of farming than did their fathers or grandfathers, yet all over the country slipshod methods are being followed. Mb Shout breeds be claimed to be tho finest liomneys in the world, but hp is only one man who has had the time, the patience and tho opportunity to perfect one bnced of sheep. What of the thousands of farmers, big and small, who "do well enough" with their sheep, but who would do much better if they knew the right kind of sheep for their land and how to get them. So it is with dairy cattle, and so it is with grain. From older countries it is possible to get the fullest and most exact information on nearly every conceivable aspect of farming, obtained by longand careful observation and experiment by experts. But hardly any of this is of use to the New Zealand farmer, who requires the same kind of information based upon observation and experiment upon local soils and local climate. The Government could do much in this direction if it had the will and the, means to do it, but before wc could have an Agricultural Bureau like that of tho United States we should require a constant supply of trained investigators. Our dependence upon the primary industries will make itself felt very clearly when, as must sooner or later be tho case, wc have to face the competition of great quantity and great quality from larger and keener producing countries than this. The country should therefore bo willing to make a large sacrifice to ensure that in the struggle wc shall have all the advantage that agricultural science can give us.