86 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



There are few illustrations of the power of national cooperation more 

 striking than those shown in the achievements of the Department of 

 Agriculture. I have no time to touch on the varied branches of agri- 

 cultural research, the study of the chemistry of foods and soils, the 

 practise of irrigation, the fight against adulterations, the fight against 

 noxious insects, and all the other channels of agricultural art and prac- 

 tise. I can only commend 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 ap- 

 plications must rest. The proportion of applied agricultural 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 hatch- 

 ing 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 selec- 

 tion of those possessing such qualities a new race may be formed in a 

 few generations. The practical value of the results of such experi- 

 ments can not be over-estimated. Although by no means a modern 

 process, the art of selective breeding is still in its infancy. Its prac- 

 tise 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 questions of heredity, variation and selection in nature, the 

 problem of the origin of species. 



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

 zation of fishes, the work of the United States Bureau of Fisheries and 

 of the fish commissions of the different states. There are many spe- 

 cies 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 thousand young fishes can be 

 sent forth where only a dozen grew before. 



Medicine. 

 In the vast field of medicine I can only indicate in a few words cer- 



