FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 77 



well ponder, since it is just this that makes her so prosperous. In 1876, 

 at the World's Fair in Philadelphia, Germany was so eclipsed by other 

 nations, in the fields of art and industry, that the German Commissioner 

 frankly cabled to Bismark, ''Our goods are cheap, but wretched." Then 

 the twenty-six German states resolved to use a part of the war indemnity 

 paid by France for the education of their workmen. Numerous industrial 

 schools were at once established, also forty commercial schools in which 

 were taught all questions affecting foreign trade — the language, tariff 

 laws, industries, productions, exchange, monetary systems, railway fares 

 and freight rates, traffic rules of rivers and railroads — in fact, all the 

 particulars of trade in the markets of the world; and thus has Germany 

 'been able "to storm the foreign markets," in less than a quarter of a 

 century increasing her manufactures ten fold, and establishing such an 

 export trade as has astonished even England. 

 The agricultural world has for some time realized the need of a general 



TRAINING FOR THE FARMERS OF THE FUTURE; 



and through the multiplication of agricultural colleges and the far-reach- 

 ing influences of Farmers' Institutes, the discoveries of science are taking 

 a firm hold on agricultural methods. Many communities are feeling the 

 broadening effect of scientific efforts exerted in the farmer's behalf; and 

 the more the farmer's son is taught that biology, chemistry, philosophy — 

 that all the utilitarian sciences may contribute to his ultimate success — 

 the more will he feel that there is no nobler calling than that of "the toil- 

 worn craftsman who, with earth-made implement, laboriously conquers 

 the earth and makes her man's." 



Our Michigan Agricultural College has recently made a commendable 

 addition in shape of a new cooking laboratory, and offers an especially 

 strong course in 



DOMESTIC SCIENCE AND HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. 



It is surprising to find how many families depend on the bakery for food 

 that is far less nutritious and appetizing than home cookery, besides be- 

 ing much more expensive. The founder of Pratt Institute has said, "The 

 man who earns |10 per week will have a more attractive and happier 

 home with a wife trained in household economy than the man who re- 

 ceives twice as much, whose wife has had no training in domestic econ- 

 omy and thrift." 



If, in our larger cities more attention could be paid to these cooking 

 schools, more general interest created in the culinary art, not only would 

 more girls be made "help-meets" for theii' future liusbauds, but the ser- 

 vant girl problem would be partially solved. 



Dr. E. Benjamin Andrews, Chicago's new school superintendent, is in 

 full sympathy with the demand for practical teaching, and thinks there 

 should be one distinctively commercial high school in that city, and that 

 the instruction in night schools should include book-keeping, stenog- 

 raphy, telegraphy, commercial law, and commercial arithmetic. 



Another phase of the child's education beginning to attract attention 

 is that of practical 



