class. They take up special subjects, and the professor, by assigning to them topics for investigation on which he desires information, is able to extend his ideas and get more good work done, than he alone could possibly accomplish.

The Graduate School, therefore, it is believed will be a valuable part of the institution, enabling many young men to obtain training in special investigation, and at the same time greatly increase the volume of the investigations that can be handled. As the teaching work is limited to graduate students, the number of students attending the institution will naturally be comparatively small. There is, however, an increasing demand for highly trained men, and it is hoped that this branch of the work will ultimately become important.

AIMS AND IDEALS

It is highly important that the public fully realize the nature of the work this institution is expected to do. The organization of the government and state activities in agricultural lines is so complex that one not fully in touch with the work may become confused. We must clearly distinguish that a college of agriculture has three distinct functions or branches: (1) investigation, (2) college teaching, and (3) extension work. The last of these, designed to extend the knowledge of agriculture to farmers, is in reality a teaching function but not performed at the institution.

The work of the Citrus Experiment Station and Graduate School of Tropical Agriculture, as now organized, is concerned primarily with only one of these functions-investigation. Our teaching being limited to graduate students only, becomes in reality only an adjunct to the investigation.

The discoveries made at the Experiment Station are expected to be carried to the people through the agency of the extension department and the farm advisers. It is not thus the function of the Experiment Station and the investigators to attempt to carry their discoveries to the people through their individual effort. We want the investigators to be free and have their time to experiment and develop new things.

In the tremendous effort that is now being put forth to extend agricultural information and increase production, we are liable to forget the quiet investigator toiling diligently toward the solution of some problem. He is not seen to any extent. He would not be doing his work if he were. We must understand what his work demands, and its paramount importance if advance is to be made.

Up to the present time, the tendency of our agricultural institutions in meeting the war emergency has not been to increase the investigational work, but to increase greatly what we usually desig

nate as extension work. This we shall probably all agree has been a wise action, but it is creating a new situation where increased investigational activity is greatly needed and will doubtless soon be demanded.

A farm bureau with a farm adviser in every county of every state has become nearly a reality. This is an agency largely intended to carry agricultural education to the farmer on his farm. The farm bureau system as I have observed it, is carried on in an intensive way, with the agents working at high speed under pressure. The organization campaign stimulates interest and starts the farmer to thinking. He begins to realize that there are many things he doesn't know. He comes to the farm bureau meeting for an explanation of his problems. The county farm agent, however able a man he may be, is certain to be confronted with very many questions that he cannot answer-many indeed that no expert in any department can answer. To be successful he seeks answers for these questions from the specialists of the experiment stations and the Department of Agriculture. But a considerable number of problems put before him cannot be answered with any positive information, and he is likely to be led into hazarding a guess, which he substitutes for real information. This will react on the agent, who is likely to blame the research men for not being able to give him the desired information.

We are stirring up a tremendous demand for information and providing a tremendous machine for transmitting information, without providing in like measure for securing the information to be supplied. To teach, one must have information to impart. It is true that we have a large amount of trustworthy scientific knowledge regarding agriculture, but in general, agricultural practice is pretty well abreast of scientific discovery; this is particularly true in the field of horticulture. The county farm agent or farm adviser will certainly assist very greatly in extending the knowledge of scientific agriculture, but he will not be able ordinarily to add anything to our body of knowledge.

The investigator is the man that will discover the new agricultural principles. That is his business; whether he succeeds or fails depends upon whether he has the ability to discover new facts and principles and properly correlate them. It is to him that the county farm advisers and extension agents the country over must look for new methods and new principles, the introduction of which will improve agriculture. The farm adviser may find a plant disease that is doing much damage in his section, but he is not supplied with the facilities or the time to conduct an investigation as to the cause and method of treatment of the disease. A new forage plant may be introduced into a section, the value of which in feeding, should

be determined. The farm adviser must turn to the investigator to conduct the feeding and digestion experiments with the plant. Some intricate problem of fertilization may arise that requires a careful investigation, and only men with the proper training and time at their disposal are in position to seek a solution of the problem. Our exact agricultural knowledge is still so fragmentary that hosts of problems are every day brought to the attention of our agricultural men that cannot be answered on the basis of any exact knowledge. These should not be answered by guesses. If any one is to do the guessing, it is better that the farmer himself should be the one.

My purpose in discussing this situation is not to detract from the importance of the work of the farm bureau or the county farm advisers, but to endeavor to make clear to you the function of the investigators and to bespeak for them your support and sympathy. The aim of this station is to investigate agricultural problems of fundamental nature in a thoroughly scientific way. This requires time and patience, but after all it is the "big thing." What we most desire is the discovery of new truths and important new methods that will advance our agricultural standing.

THE FIELD FOR THE INSTITUTION

The field for the work of the Citrus Experiment Station in southern California is very broad. The central branch of the Experiment Station is at Berkeley, five hundred miles away. The agriculture of southern California, important and rich though it is, is yet new and undeveloped. Already problems of the greatest import confront our principal industry-problems that are likely to result ultimately in a marked change.

The greatest problem before the station is the solution of the mottle leaf question, which is coupled with the early decline and failure of groves. Already the investigation of this problem points to the principal cause as being directly or indirectly connected with the lack of organic matter in the soil. This is naturally an arid section, and there is too little rainfall to allow the accumulation of humus. The organic matter formed in the winter is largely burned up during the succeeding hot, dry summer, by slow oxidation. This has resulted in our soils usually being very low in organic matter and nitrogen. The valley soils that are usually the coldest, are the richest soils, and the foothill lands, which are the warmest and would naturally be the best for citrus and general fruit culture, are comparatively sterile. As pointed out elsewhere in this address, animal manure has apparently proved to be the best fertilizer for these soils, but there is not sufficient of it produced to treat properly all of these foothill lands. We can do much toward their recovery by the regular

use of leguminous cover crops, but this is not sufficient, if they are meanwhile cropped regularly. Alfalfa hay could doubtless be used directly as a fertilizer to recover these soils properly, and this is being done to some extent.

The facts at our command indicate that in many sections there should be a relocation of our industries. Many citrus groves are now planted on cold valley lands that are poorly adapted to citrus culture but are apparently fitted for dairying and general agriculture. Many groves that do not pay expenses, and certainly pay no profit, are continued year after year. Such groves located on cold valley lands should be used for firewood and the land devoted to betterpaying crops.

In the interior valleys, particularly where the greatest difficulty from decline and mottle leaf is experienced, it seems probable that the citrus groves should be limited to the warm foothills; while the valleys should be used to produce alfalfa and stock, thereby supplying the manure for the citrus groves on the foothills, which under such conditions would probably develop in vigorous and productive condition. The time would seem to be approaching when every citrus grower should own his own dairy or establish such coöperative relations with a dairy or stock-feeding ranch, as to assure him an abundant supply of manure near at hand.

Dean Van Norman, a specialist in dairying, has at my request developed this theme in some detail at our morning session. Dairy and general farming communities, while not built on the get-richquick plan, are almost uniformly thrifty stable communities; and I feel that the development of communities of sound financial character in our interior sections should be established on the principle, ́ ́cows in the valleys and orchards on the foothills.'' Our agriculture should in large measure be rendered self-sustaining. We should not be dependent on German potash and Chilean nitrate of soda. We can certainly grow our own fertilizers and make a profit for the community in doing so.

The field for the station is broader than horticulture alone, and its problems should probably be extended to include general agriculture. The problem of problems in the arid Southwest, including southern California, is the utilization of the vast areas for which there is no irrigation water available. Our systems of dry-land farming are poorly developed, and almost no attempt has been made to keep such soils up in fertility. The crops suited for such culture are limited and all of them new importations or new adaptations. The tepary bean introduced by the Arizona Experiment Station about five years ago, is already one of our most promising dry-land crops.

We have scarcely scratched the surface of this problem as yet.

California, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Texas, in coöperation with the United States Government, should establish a commission to study the desert areas of the world and import and test all promising plants. New plants of value are continuously coming to light, and the study has not been focused especially on this great problem. Our Experiment Station takes up the problems on which information is demanded by industries already established, as the appropriations are made for these purposes. This great problem remains untouched, as there is no group of citizens to demand its investigation. This station has land suitable for such work, and it is a problem that should be thoroughly investigated.

The range of crops that can be cultivated in southern California is probably greater than in any other section of the United States. Our lands, ranging in elevation from 300 feet below sea level to 11,000 feet above sea level, furnish wonderful opportunities for varied industries. Where else is the country that cultivates successfully apples, peaches, pears, cherries, and all temperate zone fruits, and just as successfully grows oranges, lemons, dates, avocados, guavas, and many tropical and subtropical plants? Where, again, alongside of these can one find thousands of acres of alfalfa, beans, sugar beets, cotton, corn, sorghums, and the like? God has furnished us with wonderful natural possibilities; it remains for us to endeavor as best we can to realize the heritage that should be ours. Is there a field for the work of such an experiment station as this in southern California? Does not this great range of possibilities of culture render such a station, centrally located as this is, indispensable and necessary? If properly supported and organized, the importance of the work of this station should be second to that of no other station in the United States. What the station becomes, however, and what the school becomes, depends mainly upon the people of southern California, and only in secondary measure upon the staff of workers employed. Work cannot be carried on without the support and good will of the people. This, thank God, is a republic, and we must all know and understand and desire.

THE FUTURE

I come now, friends, to my last heading, The Future. It is too early to predict what this institution will become. It is just beginning. The foundation of such an institution is accomplishment. What it will become is thus unalterably bound up with what it accomplishes. I can only say that I look forward to the future with confidence. A loyal group of men striving to succeed, in a loyal community lending freely its help and support, and working under the glorious flags of the United States and the University of California