id A le eld i ie ee 
SCIBNCE AND BDUCATION 77 
must rest upon a successful management of the lands of the 
earth, because food provides the only source of energy for the 
support of human life. 
The methods of the study and the teaching of agriculture are 
the methods of science, and one great reason for teaching 
science is to develop in the pupil the faculties of exact observa- 
tion, precious conception, logical analysis, and correct conclu- 
sions. 
To these ends the physical sciences are especially valuable ; 
none more so than agriculture. For precise methods no science 
equals mathematics, although chemistry is a good second; but 
when observation, analysis, induction, and deduction are all 
involved, no subject equals in teaching power the physical 
sciences, and of all physical sciences agriculture is the most 
concrete, the most human in its applications, and the most 
fundamental in its results upon the welfare of man. 
In general, science must not be relegated to the fringes and 
fads of our education, but it must constitute the background,— 
indeed the very warp and woof of a system of universal educa- 
tion. This is because science is only another name for facts 
that are definitely ascertainable, and of all the body of knowl- 
edge or supposed knowledge, facts of this kind studied in their 
relations and in their human meanings are eminently educative. 
This is not decrying those forms of knowledge or of philoso- 
phy that cannot be definitely set down. They, too, are useful, 
but they have no presumptive rights. True, the soul of man 
needs food that is not tangible, just as truly as the body needs 
nourishment, but even here much of the material involved is 
purely secondary. For example, while literature is inspira- 
tional, language is mainly a tool for its expression and under- 
standing. 
The correct teaching of agriculture, too, soon leads the 
student into the field of obligation, of achievement, of useful- 
ness, of contact with God’s creatures, of partnership in His 
Plan, and of a wholesome philosophy of life in living. No con- 
sistent student of agriculture can be either an atheist or a 
loafer. He cannot sleep well nights unless he does his duty day 
by day and works with the Lord in the feeding of His people. 
