Education and Research. From the administrative point of view the chief advance effected during 1900-20 was the organiza- tion throughout the United Kingdom of a scheme of agricultural education and research. State assistance to agricultural educa- tion may be said to have begun with the Technical Instruction Act of 1889, but organized research remained practically un- provided for until the setting up of the Development Com- mission in 1908. The scheme then adopted was furthered by the allocation of fresh funds for the purpose after the end of the war, and most of the institutions contemplated were at work in 1921. The essential feature of the scheme is the provision of institutes, each dealing with a particular aspect of the subject and as a rule associated with a university possessing an agricultural de- partment. The State exercises no direct control over the nature of the investigations conducted, other than the sanction ac- companying its annual contribution, which is in the nature of a grant in aid. General policy is also reviewed at the meetings of a research council composed of the directors of the institutes and officials of the Government departments concerned. The staff of the research institutes are not civil servants but are engaged by the respective governing bodies; the State does, however, pro- vide for a stated scale of salaries with increments and superan- nuation allowances. The annual expenditure on the scheme amounted to 140,000 for England and Wales for the year 1921- 2, and to 5,400 for Scotland for the same period, but the Irish expenditure cannot so easily be differentiated from the other commitments of the Department of Agriculture.
The Experimental Station at Rothamsted, the oldest in the world, has been greatly enlarged and developed as the Institute of Research in problems of soil and plant nutrition, to which has recently been added a second institute dealing with plant pathology, embracing entomology, mycology and helminthology. At Cambridge is situated the main institute for research in animal nutrition, and a second station also exists in connexion with the university of Aber- deen. At Cambridge, also, investigations have been made dealing with animal-breeding from the genetic side and with problems of reproduction, and the plan was to draw all these threads together so as to make at Cambridge an institute dealing broadly with animal husbandry in all its aspects.
Research in dairying problems is provided for by an institute in connexion with the University College at Reading; and a second station was projected in 1921 in connexion with the Agricultural College at Glasgow. The plant-breeding station and institute proper are situated at Cambridge; a second station, specializing mainly on grasses, clovers and fodder crops appropriate to the moister climates of the west, is associated with the University College at Aberystwyth ; and a third station was planned in 1921 in Scotland. The commercial development of the products of the plant-breeders is provided for by the National Institute of Agricultural Botany, which has also recently been set up at Cambridge largely by contributions from trade sources.
Research in fruit-growing problems is dealt with by an institute associatecl with the university of Bristol (Long Ashton) and a second station situated at East Mailing in Kent, further sub-stations being in contemplation at Cambridge for the eastern counties fruit district and elsewhere. The Bristol centre also deals with cider-making and with the various processes of fruit preservation, to which end a small commercial factory is maintained at Chiming Camden.
The Imperial College of Science in London maintains an institute for work in problems of plant physiology, utilizing for its experi- mental cultures various institutions near London, such as Roth- amsted, the Lea Valley Experimental Station which deals with glass-house problems, the East Mailing Fruit Station, and the Experi- mental Gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at Wisley. Men- tion should also be made of the John Innes Horticultural Institute at Merton, which under Mr. W. Bateson deals mainly with'genetic problems, though this institution derives its income entirely from trust funds.
Schemes for dealing with research on problems of agricultural machinery and again with veterinary science were under considera- tion in 1921. As regards the latter subject the only institution main- ly concerned with research is the laboratory maintained by the Ministry of Agriculture.
The complete scheme also provided an annual sum for grants in aid of particular investigations set on foot by individuals who might not be attached to a research institute, and again for postgraduate scholarships in order to ensure a supply of properly trained workers.
Higher instruction in agriculture is provided for by agricultural colleges, which as a rule are attached to one of the local universities and have a distinct regional responsibility as to the provision of information and technical advice to farmers occupying land in the area allocated to the college.
In Scotland three such colleges are attached to the universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow; in England there are de- partments of agriculture attached to the universities of Durham (Newcastle), Leeds, Cambridge. Reading (Oxford), and in addition four residential agricultural colleges the Harper Adams College at Newport, Salop; the South-Eastern Agricultural College at Wye, Kent; the Midland College at Sutton Bonington and the Scale Hayne College at Newton Abbot, Devon. In Wales the University Colleges of Bangor and Aberystwyth maintain similar agricultural departments. In Ireland higher instruction in agriculture is given at the Royal College of Science in Dublin and the Albert Agricultural College at Glasnevin, while there are professors of agriculture at the Queen's Universities of Cork and Belfast.
Intermediate education in agriculture is in Scotland organized by the agricultural colleges through extension lecturers attached to the various counties. In England and Wales the county councils are the responsible authorities, and the Ministry of Agriculture pro- vides an agricultural organizer for each county and gives assistance towards the setting up of a farm institute, intended to give instruc- tion by means of short courses for the sons of farmers, etc., who cannot leave the farm for the long periods demanded by the agri- cultural colleges. In Ireland intermediate instruction in agriculture is given at the Munster Institute, Cork, the Ulster Dairy School and the four regional agricultural stations at Athenry, Ballyhaise, Clon- akilty and Strabane.
Steady progress has been made in all parts of the United Kingdom in the schemes for the improvement of live stock, by the dissemina- tion among the smaller farmers of improved sires. In Ireland, where the scheme came into operation in 191 1, premiums, to which both the Department and the local authorities contribute, are given towards the purchase of approved bulls and other sires, and the success of the scheme is manifest in the improvement effected in the quality of the store cattle exported for fattening to Great Britain. In England and Wales farmers are encouraged to form societies for the purchase of a bull or the hire of a stallion, and a grant is made towards the cost of the sire, which in the case of a bull may not ex- ceed /2O or one-third of its cost. The work of forming societies for recording the milk yield of the cows of the members has been vigorously prosecuted, and the growth of the movement is shown by the fact that 637 cows obtained certificates in 1915 and 16,211 in 1921. The high prices obtained for recorded cows and their progeny show the value that farmers attach to milk records.
III. THE WAR PERIOD
For a long time after the declaration of war no special effort was made in the United Kingdom to develop agriculture and increase production of food. A measure to prevent the slaughter- ing of calves and pregnant animals was passed in 1914, but no other legislative action was taken until the close of 1916. Pro- posals which had been made, such as those of the Milner Com- mittee, to guarantee a price for wheat or to give other bounties on production, were turned down on the broad principle that any interference with the free play of the market would impair the confidence of the trader and reduce importation to a greater degree than the increase in production. In 1915 in response to the general feeling farmers had increased their acreage of wheat by 430,000 ac. and of oats by 200,000, but this increase had chiefly been attained at the expense of the barley crop, for there had been no increase in the total extent of land under the plough. In 1916, however, the wheat area went back by 280,000 ac., and a low yield per acre was obtained. The potato crop also was much below average. It may be noted here that, speaking generally, except in the magnificent harvest of 1914, the seasons during the World War were very adverse to arable cultivation, being characterized by wet seeding-times and harvests, with spring droughts. It was not until 1917-8 that there was a favour- able autumn and spring for sowing, but that promise was belied by a disastrous harvest-time for all the western and northern parts of the kingdom, with rains so heavy and protracted that no inconsiderable proportion of the corn crops were never harvested.
Intensified Production. It was not until the close of 1916 that any action was taken to stimulate production. By that time the effects of the enemy interference with the free play of the market and the indifferent output began to be apparent in rapidly rising prices for all the prime food products corn, potatoes, meat and milk. At the same time the withdrawal of labour from agricul- ture was bringing about a still further diminution in the area under wheat, of which at the close of 1916 it was estimated that 15% less had been sown than at the corresponding season in the preceding year. The appointment of a Royal Commission on
