Biologie en landbouw. F.A.F.C. Went en de Indische proefstations

Abstract

Biology and agriculture: F.A.F.C. Went (1863-1935) and the agricultural experiment stations in the Dutch East Indies. From the end of the nineteenth century, Dutch biologists stressed the practical significance of their discipline, especially for agriculture. According to the influential Dutch botanist F.A.F.C. Went, progress in agriculture could only be secured by pure, scientific research. Especially from the 1880 onwards, ideas like these materialized in the tropical Dutch East Indies, were agricultural experiment stations were established with a remarkable 'scientific' character. In the course of time, however, university trained biologists had to share the field of (colonial) agriculture with agronomists from the rising Agricultural College at Wageningen, who advocated a more problem-oriented, pragmatic approach. On the other hand. Went failed to transfer the more fundamental research for agriculture to his university laboratory.