§ SIR JAMES RANKIN (Herefordshire, Leominster)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether he will consider the desirability of establishing promological stations in convenient parts of the country for the purpose of making experiments in the growth of the apple and pear, so as to enable persons employed in the fruit industry to obtain reliable information.
§ *THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE (Mr. HANBURY,) PrestonStations for agricultural and horticultural experiments have not hitherto 856 been established directly by the State itself, and in the case of apples and pears, which depend so much upon the climate in which they are grown, no one central station would be of much use, and it is only by local agency that experiment stations could be established in so many varying districts. Both in the North and South of England there are institutions aided either by the local taxation grants or by direct grants from the Board of Agriculture, in which experiments are made in the growth of pears and apples, and this appears to be the proper system to be adopted in those districts such as Herefordshire, where there is a special interest in the growth of these fruits.