The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1911

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3345, 11 October 1911, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1911

The Board of Agriculture at Home is adopting an import-

To Help the Man ; on the Land. ’

ant system, _ under which the English farmer, it is hoped, ____ i.;

will be made quite up-to-date m bis methods. It is proposed that a special expenditure of £50,000 should be made ■each year for a system of agricultural research which will secure for each group of the problems affecting rural industry a share of attention roughly proportional to its economic interest; (2) the concentration of the scientific work on each group at one institution or at institutions working in combination ; (3) grants for special investigations for which provision may not be otherwise made; (4) the grant of scholarships with a view to the increase of the number of men fully qualified to undertake agricultural research; (5) the carrying out of investigations into problems of local importance, especially those involving the application of modern research to local practice, and the provision of scientific advice for farmers on important technical questions. The Board of Agriculture, it seems, has been impressed with the importance of securing continuity in work which is necessarily of considerable duration, and at the same time of providing staffs of specialists and experts who will be permanently engaged on work arising from the investigation of the same group of problems. By this means concentration and economy of effort will ,it is felt, be better secured than it would be if a number of institutions were dealing at the same time with the same group of problems. It is also considered important to avoid the giving of undue attention to one part of the field of agricultural research to the exclusion of other parts which are of equal scientific and economic importance. With these considerations in view, it has been arranged that grants should be made for research in the following groups of subjects :—Plant physiology, plant patho,iogv and mycology, plant breeding, fruit growing and the treatment of plant diseases: plant nutrition and soil problems, animal nutrition, animal breeding, animal pathology, dairying, agricultural zoology, and the economics of agriculture. It further appears that a sum not exceeding £3OOO per annum will be available for assistance in respect of special investigations for which provision is not otherwise made. In order to secure the services of a number of carefully trained men for work in connection with the scheme, the Board of Agriculture will offer in each of the years 1911, 1912 and 1913 twelve scholarships of the value of £l5O per annum, tenable for three years. Grants will also be made to certain universities. university colleges, and agricultural colleges in England and Wales for the purpose of enabling them to supply scientific advice to farmers on important technical questions and to carry out investigations into problems of local interest which can be more conveniently studied on the spot than at one of the research institutions. By means of these grants it is hoped to provide an expert staff possessing both scientific and practical qualifications who will devote themselves to solving difficult local problems, and in other ways endeavor to secure the application of science to practice.