SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4900, 9 November 1925, Page 4

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH.

THE POSITION TO-DAY. ESSENTIAL TO PROGRESS. “Without the application of scientific research and the use of scientific methods in agriculture there can be no further progress in the producing industry. The producer has gone as far as he possibly can without the aid of science, and if he is to advance further modern scientific methods must be applied.” The foregoing briefly sums up the point of the remarks of Dr. Johannes, Losty, the noted Dutch scientist, who arrived in Wellington recently.. Many farmers and others, said Dr. Lotsy, took the view that s'cience was rather a superfluous thing. There was some truth in that, for man bred sheep and cattle long before the advent of the scientist. It was a mistake, however, to under-estimate the value of science and to regard it as superfluous. The breeder was a scientific - man because he had power of observation and was able ,to draw 'conclusions from his observations. If he did not have those qualifications there would be no good breeds in existence today. Men who were usually called scientists had a certain knowledge of methods which allowed them sometimes to explain how the breeder had achieved his results, or, more often perhaps, when he had made mistakes in particular cases. The scientists were unable to give recipes for general use. They were, not dealers in cure-all patent medicines. The laws of heredity were still imperfectly known, so that much research was required. No one felt that more than the scientist himself, and if he had failed in the past to achieve results it was chiefly due. to lack of funds. A GOOD INVESTVESTMENT. . “I do not think there can be a better investment,” said Dr. Lotsy, “than to put money into research, because without research no further progress is possible. The breeder .has reached the highest point it is possible for him to attain without making use of modern methods, and it is due to him to supply him with funds for the application of those methods. If all combined it could be done at a trivial cost to each.

“Let us suppose that every sheep farmer contributed one penny for each head of sheep a year. A fund would be created which would enable ah enormous amount of research to be done. This is no fantastic idea, for something’similar has been done in Java by the planters of sugar cane. They contribute Is 6d per; acre for research work, and all over Java there have been established experimental stations which advise upon modern methods of application in .the sugar cane industry. Large salaries are paid to-the best scientists procurable. This syjstem, which has been in operation for something over thirty years, has not only placed the sugar cane industry in Java far ahead of that in any other country, but it. has also saved the industry in Java. / “The only mistake one could say has been made in Java is that the funds were not raised before the industry was on the point of collapse. That, I think, is a mistake which is fairly generally made. Breeding or cultivation goes wrong, and not until then are those concerned willing to contribute any amount of money for investigation or application of corrective methods. Then .they expect

to get immediate results. Now, that simply cannot be done. “It is very clear,” remarked Dr. Lotsy in conclusion, “that progress can only be made if institutions are established for research work in connection with agriculture, breeding, etc. Although I think we can say we have a certain amount of knowledge of the general laws of heredity, the application of those laws its a very different thing.”