Domestic science

“ If, then, domestic science is to be made a subject of serious study and is to be accorded a permanent place in the school curriculum, if the household is to profit by the educational progress of the day, it can only be after the university has taken the initiative and has made all matters pertaining to the house and home a subject of scientific research. ”

“ Evolution has at last been accepted as applying to man as well as to animals. In his inaugural address, November, 1909, President H. J. Waters, of Kansas Agricultural College, said: “... for every dollar that goes into the fitting of a show herd of cattle or hogs, or into experiments in feeding domestic animals, there should be a like sum available for fundamental research in feeding men for the greatest efficiency.... We have millions for research in the realm of domestic animals and nothing for the application of science to the rearing of children.” ”

“ Not only will the usual scientific courses be touched upon, but we will show how Science is applied to Domestic Economy. We will have Chemistry put before us without needing a laboratory, and we will experiment in Physics without elaborate apparatus. ”

“ For convenience in arrangement we may group this survey along the lines of practical applications of service to mankind, such as occur in medicine, agriculture and kindred industries, domestic and social life, and those which have to do with the acquisition of knowledge and with education.
Applications of biology in medical science, in agriculture and in domestic life have in many cases assumed such intimate and essential character that we often look upon them as applied sciences more than in any other way. ”

“ Therefore it ought to be made possible for our experiment stations, and, indeed, made part of their duty, not only to teach their constituents how to use such knowledge of agricultural science as the world now possesses, but also to aid in increasing the common stock of knowledge. They should be originators as well as distributors of science. Can any one doubt, in view of the past history of science, that such a course would be of lasting benefit to agriculture? ”

“ The improvements in method which the scientific efforts of all nations have secured are eagerly distributed to the remotest corners. The agents of the governmental Bureau of Agriculture, the agricultural county demonstrators, the rapidly spreading agricultural schools, take care that the farmer's “commonsense” with its backwardness and narrowness be replaced by an insight which results from scientific experiment and exact calculation. Agricultural science, based on physics and chemistry, on botany and zoölogy, has made wonderful strides during the last few decades. ”

“ It is but fair to admit that the farmer is earnestly endeavouring to improve his art, and that he is willing, nay anxious, to obtain the co-operation of scientific men, in order to increase his knowledge of the theory as well as the practice of his ancient calling. Indeed, he not only admits the utility of science in agriculture, but often places an undue degree of value upon the theories of the chemist, of the botanist, and of the geologist. ”

“ We showed by what secret and silent steps the progress and gradual diffusion of modern scientific discoveries had imperceptibly led to great improvements in the agriculture of the present century—by what other more open and manifest applications of science it had directly, and in the eyes of all, been advanced—to what useful practical discussions the promulgation of scientific opinions had given rise—and to what better practice such discussions had eventually led. ”

“ However, our chief interest is, perhaps, in those institutions that are formed purposely and especially for agricultural education and which are usually supported out of public funds. There are three great fields of endeavor in which these institutions are working. The first step is to know—to know the truth. So in agriculture we must know. Know what? Know how nature works. So the man of science studies the soil and finds out what plant-food it contains, how the water acts in it, what heat and air do, and the inter-relation of all these elements. ”

“ But, if in each of the sciences, with perfected equipments of research and a comparatively narrow field, it is so hard to add anything new to the stock of knowledge, how much more difficult must it be when the attack is made upon a whole group of mutually dependent sciences! The farm, taken as an arena of experiment, is itself a congeries of laboratories. The phenomena involved are physical, chemical, geological, meteorological, and broadly biological—that is, embracing the economy of vegetal and animal life, from mildews to fruit-orchards, from insects to vertebrates. ”

“ The agriculture of the peasant and of the old-fashioned farmer was scientific to the degree that they had observed a causal relation between manure, lime, moisture, seasonal changes, varieties of soils, animal and plant pests, and the success or failure of their crops. But science is superior to common sense in its methods of experimentation, measurement, and comparison, in its isolation and intensive study of problems from mere scientific curiosity, without regard to the practical application of its results. ”

“ The impulse and the necessity to obtain possession of all the natural resources to this country are, besides this, in full activity; and there is, in consequence, a great deal done, both by government and by individuals, to promote the extension of practical science. Geology and the physical sciences flourish; the different States send out scientific men to examine new districts within the States, and institutions are established for the advancement of useful knowledge, especially in natural history and mechanics. ”

“ Thus, to all such as are occupied in the production, exchange, or distribution of commodities, acquaintance with Science in some of its departments, is of fundamental importance. Each man who is immediately or remotely implicated in any form of industry (and few are not) has in some way to deal with the mathematical, physical, and chemical properties of things; perhaps, also, has a direct interest in biology; and certainly has in sociology. ”

“ No class of the rural population is more alert in utilizing the newest researches and discoveries in all lines of agricultural science, and none keeps in closer touch with the agricultural colleges and experiment stations. ”

“ These efforts by both men and women have meant independent scientific research, [127] which is often the only available knowledge for the housekeeper. It is bringing to them in their “business” of life the same help that the men on the farm and elsewhere are receiving in theirs. ”

“ With these materials, with the systematic study which is being carried on in government laboratories, in experiment stations, in agricultural colleges and universities of the chemistry of the soil and of the food and metabolism of plants, with the industry of the fertilizer chemists, and with the awakening of the farmer to the needs of such knowledge, we can hopefully expect a bountiful food supply for the world's table.
The aid of science is noteworthy in increasing human vitality,—one of the principal factors in national efficiency, and a form of conservation. ”

“ To discuss rural conditions in a natural and systematic way, beginning with the family and working out into the social life of the community; to study the economic side of life first on the farm and then in the neighborhood, getting hold of the underlying principles of agriculture, becoming familiar with the action of various soils and crops and the best methods of cultivation and protection from harm, to prepare by a few simple lessons in household science for the responsibility of the home, is to provide the bases of success and happiness for the boys and girls of the country. ”

“ The national institutions for education should, indeed, have farms and workshops; but the foremost object of these should be, not to afford simple employment to young men, but to give them, in connection with their studies in the sciences, what may be called laboratories, where they can see science applied in as practical a manner as possible—laboratories, whether field or shop, where they can see sciences limited by the necessities of practice. ”

“ The end and design of the institution are stated to be—“to promote and encourage the knowledge of the antiquities of America, and of the natural history of the country, and to determine the uses to which its various natural productions may be applied: also, to promote and encourage medical discoveries, mathematical disquisitions, philosophical enquiries and experiments; astronomical, meteorological and geographical observations, improvements in 298agriculture, arts, manufactures, commerce, and the cultivation of every science that may tend to advance a free, independent and virtuous people.” ”

“ Thirdly, the social sciences, in their relation to the rural problem particularly, must receive a consideration commensurate with the importance of the industrial, the political and the social phases of the farm question. In research, for instance, the colleges should make a study of the history and status of these aspects of agriculture. As a matter of fact, we know very little of these things. There have been but few scientific investigations of the economic features of the industry, and practically nothing has been done in the more purely social questions. ”

“ This will serve to stimulate greatly the movement already begun for the reduction of the materials of agricultural science to 'pedagogic form' for use in colleges and secondary schools, and for the reorganization of agricultural institutions of research on the basis of the divisions and subdivisions of agriculture, instead of physics, chemistry, botany and other primary and secondary sciences. ”

“ Scientific Agriculture.—All the foregoing movements have combined to make agriculture a science as well as an art. The influence of the agricultural colleges and experiment stations extends to the remotest regions, and everywhere the trained scientist is helping the farmer to solve his problems and to make his farm more profitable. ”

“ I am confident, in discussions I've had with a number of major agri businesses, that we are doing the science. We're working hard to make sure that folks understand the safety and security that we take into consideration as this science is being developed. ”

“ The specific problems of the farmer that are economic need elucidation alongside the study of soils and crops, of plant-and stock-breeding. And these economic topics should be thoroughly treated by men trained in social science, and not incidentally by men whose chief interest is technical agriculture. ”

“ Very briefly, then, consider how the application of scientific knowledge has changed the aspect of the productive industries. Thanks to science, farming is no longer a haphazard trade. The up-to-date farmer knows the chemical constitution of the soil; understands what constituents are needed by particular crops and what fertilizing methods to employ to keep his land from deteriorating. He knows how to select good seed according to the teaching of heredity; how to combat fungoid and insect pests by chemical means ”

“ WHEN, in 1851, a small local society of German farmers at Möckern, Saxony, realizing that scientific investigation could help solve the many obscure problems of their life, contributed from their own resources and asked their Government for aid to establish an experiment station to study such problems, a new epoch was begun in the history of agriculture. ”

“ The same artificial means which have been used to produce a competition in learning, may be equally successful in restoring agriculture to its primary dignity in the eyes of men. It is a science of the very first order. It counts among its handmaids the most respectable sciences, such as Chemistry, Natural Philosophy, Mechanics, Mathematics generally, Natural History, Botany. In every College and University, a professorship of agriculture, and the class of its students, might be honored as the first. ”

“ In geology we make a pretty fair showing, perhaps, because of the great facilities for research offered by our surveys and exploring expeditions. The newness of our country has also been of advantage to our zoologists, who have not failed to improve their opportunities. But in chemistry and physics, the two sciences most intimately connected with our greater industries, we have accomplished very little. ”

“ There must be scientific training and investigation in economic theory, history, and statistics, especially in their application to the household, and an increased popular knowledge of all scientific subjects concerning the home, those which secure the prevention of economic and material waste in the household as well as those which concern the questions of production for it. The educational forces must “pull from the top” and draw domestic service into the general current of industrial development. ”

“ I should have seen with peculiar satisfaction the establishment of such a mass of science in my country, and should probably have been tempted to approach myself to it, by procuring a residence in its neighborhood, at those seasons of the year at least when the operations of agriculture are less active and interesting. ”

“ First let us dissipate this alarm about the sciences, as affecting the mere question of profit in business. The farmer will be able to deal with science as he deals with his tradesman, or his lawyer, or his doctor. ”

“ The slow progress which agriculture has hitherto made as a science is to be ascribed to a want of education on the part of the cultivators of the soil, and to a want of knowledge, in such authors as have written on agriculture, of the intimate connection that subsists between the science and that of chemistry. ”