SOIL PROBLEMS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVIII, Issue 201, 8 August 1928, Page 3

SOIL PROBLEMS

SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE. PUBPOSE OF ROTHAMSTEAD STATION. Wellington, Aug. 7. At a luncheon by the combined New Zealand University Clubs, Sir John Russell, director of the Rothamstead Experimental Station, traced the development of science as applied to agriculture. The knowledge gained a hundred years ago about how plants grew and about essential salts in soil had been shelved and forgotten, like much other scientific knowledge, but recently that knowledge had been rediscovered and pressed into practical service. The lesson for the future was that pure science must have a free hand, unfettered by restrictions and unhampered by being asked what ws« the use of it all. Subsequently would come along a master hand to piece together the isolated discoveries made by pure science and apply them to everyday needs. It was therefore essential to have universities or schools where pure science could be studied, and it was also essential that all knowledge thus gained should bo made available as quickly as possible. Agricultural problems were much the same the world over, and. this being realised, the Imperial Soil Bureau, which had been formed at Rothamstead would bo in a nosition to co-ordinate the efforts of 100 skilled soil scientists Thev would pass on information gained from other countries would tost new methods and apparatus amt would by its advice, be able toassist the struggling farmer whever ho. might happen to be. “The object of mv visit,” concluded Sir John Russell, ‘‘is to confer with your agricultural experts, for we cannot afford to fail in our venture, and it is only by co-operation and coordination that we will meet with success.”