14 UTILITARIAN SCIENCES 



on the varied branches of agricultural research, the study of the 

 chemistry of foods and soils, the practice of irrigation, the fight 

 against adulterations, the fight against noxious insects, and all the 

 other channels of agricultural art and practice. I can only com- 

 mend the skill and the zeal with which all these lines of effort have 

 been followed. 



The art of agriculture is the application of all the sciences. Yet 

 " agricultural education," writes a correspondent, "has not yet 

 reached the dignity of other forms of technical education." 



"The endowment of the science of agricultural research in the 

 United States is greater than in any other country. The chief fault 

 to be found is in striving too rapidly for practical applications 

 and in not giving time enough for the fundamental research on which 

 these applications must rest. The proportion of applied agricul- 

 tural science in agriculture is too great in this country. While we 

 do not need fewer workers in applied agricultural science, we do 

 need more workers who would devote themselves to fundamental 

 research." 



Two branches of applied science not specifically noticed in our 

 scheme of classification seem to me to demand a word of notice. 

 One is selective breeding of plants and animals; the other, the 

 artificial hatching of fishes. By the crossing of animals or plants 

 not closely related, a great range of variety appears in the progeny. 

 Some of these may have one or more of the desirable qualities 

 of either parent. By selection of those possessing such qualities 

 a new race may be formed in a few generations. The practical 

 value of the results of such experiments cannot be over-estimated. 

 Although by no means a modern process, the art of selective breed- 

 ing is still in its infancy. Its practice promises to take a leading 

 place among the economically valuable applications of science. 

 At the same time, the formation of species of organisms under 

 the hand of man throws constant floods of light on the great ques- 

 tions of heredity, variation, and selection in nature, the problem 

 of the origin of species. 



In this connection I may refer to artificial hatching and accli- 

 matization of fishes, the work of the United States Bureau of Fish- 

 eries and of the fish commissions of the different states. There 

 are many species of fish, notably those of the salmon family, in which 

 the eggs can be taken and fertilized by artificial processes. These 

 eggs can be hatched in protected waters so that the young will 

 escape many of the vicissitudes of the brook and river, and a thou- 

 sand young fishes can be sent forth where only a dozen grew before. 



