Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-21

TRAINING SCIENTISTS FOR
WORK OF THE GOVERNMENT


northern climates, and that is just what
you want to grow here.
Il have given you few samples OF our
work among plants and animals; let me
now tell YOU of some of the difficulties we
have to encounter. The colleges, with their
growing tendency toward extreme special
ization, are producing men well trained
along lines, but unable to coordinate thelr
knowledge along other lines. In agricul-
tural work make little use of such
|. specialized men. An ordinary chemical anal
ysis will not tell what is going on in plant,
no matter how well equipped the chemist.
In order to find out what we want to know
the chemist must add to his knowledge
plant physiology and physics, and realize
chat he IS working with a living organism
which is quite different thing when killed.
He can't get the knowledge we need by
specializing in all these lines; he must spe-
cialiZe and then take another special course
in applying his knowledge. Such a broad
course, | admit, could not be crowded into
four years, and perhaps not into six; 1t
might take eight. But If the universities
will not attempt the work, we will.
Our forests are disappearing all over the
country, and we are now training several
young men in forestry and cooperating
with private owners In reforesting and pre-
serving their trees. One hundred thousand
trees will be sent out this year to different
states. Our universities have begun to re-
aliZe the Importance of this, and Columbia
and Yale have established schools. But the
study of soil is still almost unknown, and
we ere testing anu experimenting all the
time as to their possibilities and adaptable
tiles, with hundred students at work.
This has had some practical results al
ready We have been paying millions to
Sumatra for wrapping tobacco, but we
found the right kind of soil in Connecticut
and Massachusetts, and H,0O0,o0O worth was
raised there last year. We have now found
soil in the United States which will grow
fine aromatic filler tobacco, and that will
soon be opened up. One of our objects, in
fact, is to find everything which can be pro-
duced in our ATTITUDES. We buy annually
$4OO, 600 600 worth of products abroad half
of which might be produced in the United
States and in our tropical possessions. The
true policy would be to grow everything we
car here, and let our possessions grow what
we cannot, throwing our markets open to
their products In this way we would help
them more than In any other way. Our de-
partment Is now sending agents to them to
teach them how We could grow all the
sugar In the United States which we needed
and probably all the wpriced tea. We
are looking into the growing of the null
berry tree and the production of silk thus
giving profitable light employment for the
young in our warmer sections.
Education is necessary for all these
characterization such as has been neglect
ed by our higher institutions of learning.
Sixty-five per cent of our exports farm
products and are grown by men with no
special training save the tradition of the
farmer. The education in this science should
begin in the common school and be rounded
out in the secondary schools and colleges.
If the schools and colleges gave what is
needed by practical farmers more would go
TO them. At present institutions which are
getting large annual incomes from the fed
eral government to train farmers are di-
verting the money into other departments.
They are not equipped for the work, and
say, when asked why. that there is no de-
mand. They rob children of the soil for
the sake of a few more professional men
who are not so imperatively needed"