INDIANA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 2Y5 



many poor cooks there are, how much poor cooking there is, and how 

 much wasting there is of good material, because the one who is doing the 

 cooking has not mastered the effect of heat upon particular articles that 

 are being cooked. So very much that ought to be palatable, and would be 

 nutritious, is absolutely wasted. If we could be taught simply cookery, 

 wouldn't housekeeping and home making be very much more agreeable 

 to us than it is? I am sure that it would be. The same is true of sewing. 

 It is amazing how much good material is wasted because one does not 

 know how to choose the material, in the first place. Just think, for in- 

 stance, of differentiation along the line of animal and vegetable fiber. 

 Well, you say, animal is more healthful than vegetable fiber; that will 

 soon take the place of linen as an article of fabric. So we find along the 

 line poor judges of material, who buy shoddy materials because they don't 

 know how to judge them, and they make them up unbecomingly because 

 they don't know how to make them. There is so much in making gar- 

 ments in a becoming style. We all know if we get a little child a dress 

 that is becoming, and make it in a way the child likes, that child will 

 wear that dress and wear it and wear it; but get a dress that is ugly, that 

 it doesn't like, that does not suit, and pretty soon that dress is past wear- 

 ing. So all along the line. Here comes the benefit of getting this kind of 

 a special education. This is given in many schools, today, very many 

 special schools; but only in a very few cases has practical manual train- 

 ing been given in the academy. Why has it not? Because it is expensive, 

 very expensive. So it is not given. 



I have a favorite theory, and I cling to it as everyone does to a favorite 

 theory. I believe the right place to give one who is going to keep house a 

 special training is in the agricultural house. I believe in having an 

 equipment that could be utilized along the line of cookery in connection 

 with the vegetable gardens of the horticultural department and equip- 

 ments already in horticultural colleges. It might be very well utilized by 

 giving girls instructions along this line. 



In the school of agriculture in Minnesota, Dr. has a very 



beautiful little museum made up largely of native birds of Minnesota. 

 Unless you would see it, you would not understand the variety in colors 

 the native birds would illustrate. He uses these birds in his class room 

 in his own particular department, but also this museum of birds is used by 

 the teacher of seAving in training girls along the proper combination of 

 colors. There is nothing finer in the way of combination of colors than 

 the plumage of birds. 



Now, along other lines, in plant life, the girl can pursue as well as the 

 boy. The girl can study that and receive as much benefit from it as the 

 boy. It is a fine study in itself. 



I am one of those who believe that the finest and best home is made 

 on the farm. I believe that people go away from the farm because the 

 women are npt satisfied, J bglieve the women ape not satisfied because 



