74 



There will always be a large field for the so-called short courses in agri- 

 cnltnre, domestic arts, and engineering. Such worlc, however, is intended for 

 mature i)ersons only, men and women who hMvt> i»assed the usual student period 

 of life and are already in some vocation. The finiction of the short course is 

 to improve those who are at work. These elementary courses, which extend 

 over a few weeks, or months at most, can have l)ut little of pure scienc(> in them. 

 Such courses should l)e recoimnended to young peoj^le, if at all, with the aim of 

 getting them into school, trusting to interest them in education and to intlueuce 

 them to go on to something higher and better. 



The four-year com ses in the land-grant colleges are to furnish the same lib- 

 eral training as the liter.ary and classical courses in other colleges. They are 

 to give the same ])rofessional efficiency in agriculture and engineering as do 

 schools of law and medicine. They must rest upon a four-year pi'eparation. 

 This preparation nmst be strong in algebra, geometry, physics, biology, and 

 chemistry. Pure mathematics and pure science must hold a conunanding posi- 

 tion during the first half of the college courses. But it is just as grave an error 

 to give nothing but pure science to prospective scientific agriculturists and engi- 

 neers as it is to give none at all. Pure science is not in the curriculum because 

 it affords a superior training, but for the very utilitarian reason that it is abso- 

 lutely essential as a preparation for applied science. I'ure science is narrow, 

 isolated, and gives but a partial view of any applied-science problem. Applied 

 science is cosmopolitan, comprehensive, and connected. Let me illustrate. Soil 

 fertility, which is an applied science, embraces parts of the four pure sciences — 

 chemistry, physics, bacteriology, and ecology. The chemist analyzes the soil 

 and discovers what elements are lacking and what fertilizers should be applied. 

 Put, like one test for a poison, this may or may not reach the problem. And so 

 while an agronomist must be a chemist a chemist is not necessarily an agrono- 

 mist. The physicist prescribes a treatment for the soil which will enable the 

 air to circulate freely through it and conserve the moisture. He gives direc- 

 tion as to methods of cultivation, sunnner fallowing, plowing under green crops, 

 and breaking up the capillaries. But he sees but that one phase of the problem. 

 Soil fertility is more than physics. The bacteriologist makes his diagnosis. 

 He discovers nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the roots of legunnnous plants and 

 that the success of crop rotation with clover and alfalfa is due to the pres- 

 ence of these bacteria. He prepares to inoculate the soil with the germs, and 

 bacteriology becomes a factor in soil fertility. Last conies the ecologist and 

 takes up the questions of mixed crops, cover crops, rotation of crops, and weeds. 

 And thus parts of four pure sciences coud)ined in the right proportion make up 

 the one applied science of soil fertility. But four men working separately, 

 each along his peculiar line of research, would never solve the problem, but 

 one man combining work from the four view points will succeed. 



The problem of irrigation is likewise composite. The civil engineer builds 

 the ditch and constructs the head gate. He can measure the water that passes 

 through the weir. Put the agriculturist nuist give instruction as to the rela- 

 tive amounts of water required by different crops and different soils, how often 

 the water should be put on, and at what season of the year, for he understands 

 the effect of water on plant growth. But now the seepage water begins t») 

 evaporate on the next field below and brings to the surface the alkali of the 

 soil. Immediately the chemist is requested to make an analysis, and the result 

 foreshadows the ruin of the field. The civil engineer is recalled to put in a 

 drainage system which will draw off the water turned on at the head gate. 



A new insect pest appears in the cotton region, and at once the entomologist 

 begins a series of experiments to determine the best method of limiting the 

 affected area and ultimately to destroy the pest. At the same time thi' i>lant 

 breeder undertakes to produce a variety of cotton with sufficient power to resist 

 the pest. Each problem in applied science is complex and composite. It is the 

 function of applied science to organize the separate facts of pure science into a 

 coherent whole. Each individual science yields a part of the case, which, like 

 any other half truth, nniy have the effect of a falsehood. A point is finally 

 reached when the mathematician must either become an engineer or turn over 

 his work to an engineer. The lK)tanist nuist do likewise with the horticulturist. 

 Every director of ai»plied science has ex])erienced trouble because the chemist 

 climlu'd over into the field of the biologist or the botanist undertook the solu- 

 tions (W i)rol)lems properly within the jirovince of the bacteriologist, strife and 

 duplication being the result. The solution of this vexed question involves the 

 training of men of sufficient breadth to handle such problems as animal and 



