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Show FUNCTION OF AN EXPERIMENT STATION. Rcccntfy in conversation v-Mlffa: g ntlcmau of considerable influence ;md experience in agricultural matters mat-ters the question of the duties or function of a State Experiment Station Sta-tion arose. This gentleman contend cd that the main duty of the station was to analyze soils and give out information in-formation as to the kinds of crops most suitable for those soils. The gen-t'eman gen-t'eman seemed very much surprised when we told him that in our judgment judg-ment even if for the sake of argument, argu-ment, the station was capable of doing do-ing such work, this was a very small part of the work of an Agricultural Station. The chief and primary object ob-ject of an experiment station is to discover new truths truths that will be of rcail value to the agriculturist, based on thoroughly scientific investigations investi-gations and capable of practical application ap-plication by the farmers themselves. The Station can not properly undertake un-dertake an analysis of soils for every ev-ery tax payer in the State. Such work would involve the use of a small army ar-my of men and an annual oullcy of thousands of dollars. Besides this the data obtained would be of litt'c :oal practical value since an analysis mpriifj6nc' iSM3not,jm&h of a criterion cri-terion as to. its productivity. y'hc Experiment Station in Utah has been of real service to the people of this State. In its investigations i garding the value and use of irrigation irri-gation water, in its arid farming work, in its work with insect pests, (especially (es-pecially the codling moth and the white fly) in its poultry investigations, investiga-tions, and in its feeding experiments with Utah fodders the station has discovered many new truths tlwt arc iti use by Utah farmers today. Notwithstanding Not-withstanding the many changes in the personnel of the station staff, the fact that many of the experimenters have been men trained and educated in the east and unfamiliar with western conditions, con-ditions, and the incompetency and lack of the proper investigational spirit displayed of a few yet the results re-sults as a whole, stand out as a complete com-plete vindication of the wisdom of Tounding and maintaining Agricultural Agricult-ural Experiment Stations. |