Winter Meeting. 349 



cording to this theory, are culture studies. There is a reason for this 

 idea. Our present schools have come down to us from the monastery 

 of the middle ages. In this institution Latin only was studied. He who 

 was a sfood Latin scholar was cultured. He who had not studied Latin 

 was uncultured. Later Greek was added to this and still later Mathe- 

 matics. Within the memory of many people now living these were re- 

 garded as the only necessary subjects to be studied. The man who had 

 taken a course in Latin, Greek, and Mathematics was a cultured man. In 

 the first half of the nineteenth centyry a little Science was added. Chem- 

 istry, then Physics or in some instances Physics came first. Biology, as 

 a distinctive subject came still later. None of these additions were made 

 without a battle. At the present time some of the universities, notably. 

 Cornell, have so many courses that it is estimated it would take a man 

 working six thousand years to complete all of them. The term culture 

 is still used with reference to the languages and literature, and the sciences 

 are not generally recognized as culture studies. We believe that this is 

 a mistake, and that whatever subject or truth is presented in a peda- 

 gogical way it carries with it culture. Just now Agriculture and Horti- 

 culture are claiming a place in school sttidies, and we believe that properly 

 taught they are equal to any other subject as a means of culture. We be- 

 lieve also that we should not look backward to the Periclean age as the 

 golden age in the world's history. The 20th. century is unquestionably 

 better than any preceding century. If literature and language alone give 

 culture, then such men as Newton, Huxley, Faraday, Tyndall and Agassiz 

 were uncultured men. 



^Missouri is a great fruit growing State. It has more apple trees per 

 capita than any other State in the Union. It sends to market more 

 strawberries than any other State. Its strawberries are the finest in the 

 world. In simple justice therefore the children of this magnificent State 

 should get in the public schools at least an elementary knowledge of fruit 

 growing. Instead of cat or crayfish dissecting let them study the straw- 

 berry. Instead of racking their brains and making physical wrecks of 

 themselves over the obscure poems of Browning, take them out into the 

 apple or cherry orchard. Visit the best fruit growers in the neighborhood. 

 See how they cultivate their trees and plants ; learn how they conserve the 

 moisture in the soil ; how they prune ; how they spray and how they mar- 

 ket their fruit. 



In the happy time coming every school will have its own garden, 

 where each child may grow some useful plant. Many schools in Germany 

 and all schools in France have these now. Shall Imperial Missouri re- 

 m.ain behind the rest of the world? In the name of progress, and in the 



