EXPERIMENT FARMS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 24 December 1925, Page 4

EXPERIMENT FARMS.

’ IHEIR USE AND ABUSE. FABER BY Mil. E. GILL ANDERS. At the Just Ha-wcra Rotary Club luncheon, Kotarian F. Gillaliders gave a paper on ‘,‘The Use and Abuse of Experimental farms.” - As Mr. Gilia naers has had practical experience, being a former manager of the Moumahaki State Farm, his address will have greater weight than would, otherwise he the ease. ..The full text was as follows : In a country like this Dominion, where we may safely say eighty-five per cent, of the population derive their living from the land, well conducted ana properly equiped experiment farms ivomcl, in niy opinion, be of very great value to the farming community,, and indirectly of great value to the whole Dominion. It we care to read the agricultural history of the older countries of the world, u d stiurv the agricultural conditions and customs adopted, we will immediately see that tne great b'luk of the people who tackle farming ior a living nave been brought up on the land and have a thorough training in that direction genet silly; whereas, in this country, large numbers of people tackle farming who have never had an opportunity of gaining experience in agriculture, or what may be termed a general knowledge of farming. . To men so situated an experiment farm will he of very great service. Therelore, seeing that almost- all civilised countries have'gone in largely for experiment farms, it appears to me that a country like this Dominion should Have more that an ordinary claim to instuiions of the kind.

In advocating the adoption of experiment and demonstration farms, 1 cannot do better than give you a short outline of the hold that these farms have got in almost all civilised countries.' Some years before the war, the United States Department of .Agriculture collected data and compiled a brief history of what tvas being done on almost, an the ekpeiithom. raiihli throughout .the civilised world, the only country unrepresented being Greece, which at that time had not got a single institution of the kind. Strange to say, Russia had by far the largest number of institutions of the kind, including three experimental forests. ' Germany had 87 experiment farms. France 74, Austria 4.0. Great Britain 32, India 12 experiment farms, and 2d botanical aim municipal gardens. Australia had 35, 'which 1 should (think included two in X>ew Zealand. Goth the United States and Canada have a large number of these places which they call “stations.” At each station they specialise largely oil some particular class of work, while in both the States and Canada they cairn to have profited very largely by toe information they have gleaned oi countries. 'lbis iiiforma-

. h . enabled them t - s|)eeiaiise and run fatrhs on lines which up to the present no .other conn cry has atempted. ’ ,