THE College, in common with the other two Scottish Agricultural Colleges, is collaborating with the Department of Agriculture for Scotland in a programme of investigation into the economic position of agriculture through the study of the financial accounts of farms. The objects of this work are to place in the hands of the Colleges material on which to base an economic advisory service for the benefit of the farmers in their areas, and at the same time to permit the Department to assess with some accuracy the economic status of the various forms the industry takes, with a view to the consideration of agricultural policy. As an advisory method, such work is in its infancy in this country. It is being developed extensively in the *United States of America, particularly in Illinois, and has been used, to some extent, in our own country in the Bristol province.