42 BRITISH COLUMBIA 



imbibed that which is making them successful and up-to-date, from several 

 sources, and none of them directly in the first place. The distribution 

 of literary matter by the various Agricultural Departments and Agricultural 

 Colleges, by Household Experiment Stations, Schools on Home Economics, 

 and so on, make an appreciable difference in the reading matter of 

 country homes. Then, too, the Women's Magazines and the Home Depart- 

 ment of Agricultural papers, while there is still room for great improve- 

 ment, are more scientific and more interesting than they were some years 

 ago. The daughters are now returning from Colleges where Home 

 Economics play a part in the curriculum and are bringing to their motners 

 the results of their studies. A great factor is the formation of rural 

 home organizations. Country women are receiving by these meetings 

 courses in technical education and the more energetic women are taking 

 full advantage of all these opportunities. It was perfectly plain at this 

 Congress that an upward and onward movement was in full swing among 

 farm women, and this fact, so important to the life and growth of the 

 future race, is the greatest guarantee of the continuance of country life. 

 It must be apparent to the most casual observer that agricultural develop- 

 ment both in Canada and the United States is dependent upon the women 

 who maintain homes in the country. The permanent settlement of the 

 country demands homes and the importance of improving the conditions 

 of rural home life was acknowledged by all the men speakers. The 

 Minister of Agriculture for the Dominion, Hon. Martin Burrell, stated 

 that the national prosperity depended upon the country home. The 

 President of the Dry Farming Congress, Mr. Widsoe, said that no work 

 more important devolved upon the nation than the preservation of rural 

 home life. 



SCIENTIFIC HOUSE-KEEPING. Possibly more emphasis was 

 directed at this Congress uhan will be the case at future ones to scientific 

 house-keeping. By the tinae of another Congress it will be pretty generally 

 recognized that farm homes all over our continent are equipped for 

 scientific- house-keeping, and that such as are not so equipped are IKK 

 thus for lack of knowledge but for other reasons. The most up-to-date 

 methods in home-making were discussed, chiefly from the point of view 

 of labor and time saving devices. Papers were given dealing with kitchen 

 equipment, laundry and cleaning methods and such modern household 

 appliances in water supply, heat and light as can be undertaken in 

 conjunction with farm machinery. The future prospect or co-operation 

 between farm and domestic machinery was discussed, as was also that 

 of the members of the family on the farms. Your delegates were pleased 

 to note ^hat all of these holsehold improvements had been discussed in 

 our Institutes. Further than that all the up-to-date literature on these 

 subjects spoken of at this Congress had been in the hands of the Secretary 

 of the Advisory Board of B.C. 



PROGRAMME. The programme for these eight sessions of the Con- 

 gress was very full and the general comment was that there were too 

 many papers, and too little, discussion. No doubt considerable difficulty 

 was found by the officers in arranging that the different organizations of 

 the country should be represented, but some of the papers might have 



