466 AGRICULTURAL APPROPRLATION BILL, lft24. 



equipmont. In so far as possi})le. laboratory studies have been made 

 oi the materials and operations involved, and critical examination 

 made of available literature, and as a result some information has 

 already been made public and considerably more awaits publication. 

 A practical outcome of such work is that it enables the housekeeper 

 to save mone}' by prolonging]:, without undue labor, the usefulness of 

 clothino: and household equipment. For example, good household 

 ways of mending china and wood have a technical as well as an eco- 

 nomic interest. To learn why some cements, for instance, are superior 

 to others in mending porcelain \vill take one far into physics and 

 chemistry. 



STUDIES OP THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE HOME AND ITS EQUIPMENT. 



The Office of Home Economics has done considerable work in the 

 collection of material for the discussion of important problems such 

 as the origin and development of the house and its equipment, of 

 the manners, customs, ana social usages, since these in great measure 

 determine the distribution of the income in household expenditures, 

 and are equally important in the discussion of the whole question of 

 household management. The time available for such work has been 

 limited, but nevertheless it has been carried on to such an extent that 

 some generalizations at least can be made. 



Special equipment, such as apparatus for the study of accelerated 

 wear, is a necessity if one is to study the question of relative durability 

 or wearing quality of textiles and other materials. I believe that all 

 who are familiar with the problem would a^ee that the development 

 of such devices is time-consuming and costly and that nothing of the 

 sort has yet been provided which is entirely satisfactory; and, 

 furthermore, that it is not possible to discuss such ciuestions except 

 relatively until such measurements are possible. It is a step forward 

 in the march or research to reach a point where one can see the way. 

 That point has been reached and useful work can be done. The cost 

 will be considerable in terms of mone}', and it seems to me that the 

 development of such equipment might suitably be a cooperative 

 project in which several Government agencies should unite. 



In the experimental work carried on with food, mention should be 

 made of the stud}' of food storage problems in which the respiration 

 calorimeter is used, a kind of work which is highly technical. How- 

 ever, it provides data immediately useful to those interested in 

 comnu'rcial cold-storage ]n-ol)lems, and also which will prove very 

 imj)oitant in the questions of farm and home storage. The case is a 

 parallel with that of canning, pickling, and brinhig, and dehydration 

 of food, projects which doniaiid and are receiving special study fn)m 

 the wholesale or manufacturer's standpoint, from the household 

 stand])oint, and in some cases, at least, from the farm stanilpoint as 

 regards (uiantity. While it is true that in such cases the fundamental 

 biological, chemical, and physical principles can be studied inde- 

 pendently «)f the aj)])li(ution, wherever facilities are available, the 

 application of the j)rinciples ant! e\])erimental study of the pro- 

 cedures re(juisit(^ in each case are of ijreat value. Since procedures 

 and e(piij)m('tit desirable dinVr with the (piantities of material used, 

 there is as distimt a held for such stiuly and research on home 

 ])roblems as there is. for those which concern the large manufacturer. 



