THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 525 



vision which is properly extolled as the highest form of science. It 

 seems to define a third stage in the advance of consciously organized 

 knowledge : the first was the subjective stage, marked chiefly by de- 

 duction from ill-generalized and often subconscious experiences; the 

 second was the objective or Baconian stage, marked by induction from 

 clearly realized experiences; and the third is the directive (or panur- 

 gic) stage, marked by the combined investigation and control* of phe- 

 nomena. The three orders of thought are emotion, cognition, cona- 

 tion; the phases of faculty pass into invention, and are maturing in 

 creation. Knowledge in the first stage was largely accidental; in the 

 second chiefly incidental; in the third it is a means to ends. The 

 progress was and is normal; just as objective science arose largely as 

 applications of subjective principles, so directive science has arisen 

 largely as applications of both subjective and objective knowledge 

 whereby nature is rendered subservient to the power and prosperity 

 of men and nations. The trend does not mean that science is enfeebled 

 or degraded, but only that definite knowledge has been made common 

 knowledge. 



In the light of this trend, the role of the federal department is 

 clear: Jointly with the strictly scientific associations, it is the custo- 

 dian of established principles, not merely as the sum of knowledge 

 concerning the natural elements, but as a means of control over these 

 elements. So viewed, the entire department is in proper sense a sci- 

 entific institution, and both in size and advanced position the fore- 

 most in existence. Viewed in the same light, indeed, America is par 

 excellence a nation of science, and this all the more truly because of 

 the general application of definite knowledge to every-day affairs. It 

 may not be denied that the very abundance of knowledge conduces to 

 an ease of life opposing that always rigorous and often unprofitable 

 research required as a basis for continued progress; herein lies the 

 chief need for a national institution of science too firmly founded on 

 established principles to be swayed by passing opinion or popular 

 pressure, yet too near the actualities of national welfare to drift into 

 the realm of unreality; and here has lain the function of the depart- 

 ment during a dozen years of wise administration. 



In the department the division of the work is both logical and 

 practical, and the methods combine investigation and direction of 

 phenomena: they deal with the substantial basis of individual and 

 national existence — the earth as vitalized and fecundated by the powers 

 of air and water and sun. The primary line of work in logical order 

 pertains to the productive surface as affected by climate and by its 

 own life and growth; the correlative branch of the department is the 

 Bureau of Soils. The second in order pertains to climate; its correla- 

 tive is the Weather Bureau. The third pertains to the flora, native and 



