AN UNTILLED FIELD IN EDUCATION 219 



conception whatever of the importance and 

 character of the rural phases of our industrial 

 and social life. 



It may be urged in explanation of this state 

 of affairs that the liberal study of the social 

 sciences in our colleges and universities and 

 especially any large attention to the practical 

 problems of economics and sociology, is a 

 comparatively recent thing. This is true and 

 is a good excuse. But it does not offer a reason 

 why the social phases of agriculture should be 

 longer neglected. The purpose of this article 

 is less to criticize than to describe a situation and 

 to urge the timeliness of the large development, 

 in the near future, of rural social science. 



At the outset the queries may arise, What is 

 meant by rural social science? and, What is 

 there to be investigated and taught under such 

 a head? The answer to the first query has 

 already been intimated. Rural social science is 

 the application of the principles of the social 

 sciences, especially of economics and sociology, 

 to the problems that confront the American 

 farmer. As a reply to the second query there 

 are appended at the end of this chapter outlines 

 of possible courses in agricultural economics and 

 rural sociology, which were prepared by the 



