334 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE OS. Doc. 



was left the elements of agriculture. When the first lessons were 

 learned and farming was a moi'e developed industry, gradually the 

 women confined their laboi-s to the preparation of food and the 

 men to the tilling of the soil. It became a means of keeping the 

 family together and leading men to have a permanent abode. 



In the progress of nations it was found that agriculture would 

 pay a larger tribute than war and men turned to agriculture as it 

 became more complex. Now he stands in the foreground in the 

 agricultural world with woman at his side as a helper as in no 

 other business. Woman as the original farmer was the forerunner 

 of the housewife and the worker on the farm. She has not only aided 

 her husband in the work and management of the farm, but has be- 

 come an independent farmer. In 1870 there were in the United 

 States 733,332 women laborers. Twenty years later there were 

 663,209. There was a larger increase in the same time among women 

 who had charge of farms. In 1870 there were 22,681, in 1900, 

 307,706. 



(Slides were introduced illustrating women at work in various 

 lines of farming.) 



In modern times men are being educated for farming. Only until 

 recently has it been recognized that for the problems of the woman 

 in her farm home an equal education is needed. We are paying 

 more attention to the raw material than to the preparation of it 

 for human nutrition. We are paying more attention to prevention 

 of disease in animals than in humans. We are educating the boys 

 for their real work in life and paying too little attention to the 

 preparation of girls for living and helping others to live. We have 

 not yet placed an economic value on a woman's time and labor. 



The teaching of Domestic Science must become an Inevitable ac- 

 complishment of the teaching of Agriculture in rural districts. 

 Farmers' Institutes have been provided for years under state enact- 

 ment. The women on the farms have gone with the men to these 

 institutes, listened to discussions upon rations for cattle, rotation 

 of crops, and best methods for improving breeds of plants and ani- 

 mals. Women as well as men have learned to think in terms of 

 protein, carbohydrate and fat. They understand bacterial action 

 in the soil and in the cultures from cream; they have learned the 

 life history of aphids and the San Jose scale; they have studied the 

 laws governing the breeding of plants and animals. What other 

 class of women than farmers' wives is more nearly ready to study 

 intelligently rations for men, the health of the household as deter- 

 mined by knowledge of infection, the water supply and disposal of 

 waste, and the conditions for a stronger race of men? All of these 

 questions and many more come to the farm women more than to 

 other women. 



Improvements in farm machinery and equipment have arrived 

 before household improvements. Men and women have together 

 economized to buy more acres, more stock and more farm imjile- 

 ments. The household side has been forgotten and women have 

 learned how not to spend money instead of how to contrive to make 

 the kitchen a workshop run on truly economic principles. The ex- 

 perience and mechanical skill of men are needed to make hcaliiifnl 

 and convenient houses. Their business ability is needed to discover 



