ical Science, Psychology, Speech, the Psychopathic Hospital, the Extension Division, and the State Historical Society of Iowa. All these departments give their share of service and aid the work from the standpoint of their special influence on the development of the child. To this list on the one side must be added the county officials on the side of the community. Following the preliminary study of the community, such as historical background, physical environment, population, social, educational, and religious influences, and, as well, the farm, the school, church, and individual homes with all attendant factors entering into their makeup, further scientific studies include careful physical measurements as well as educational and medical examinations. In other words, a complete survey is made of the child himself and of the things which make him what he is. All tests are made by heads of departments and their assistants; the results are kept in confidence and little publicity and no propaganda has been given this undertaking. This study will throw very definite light on the problems of the child in relation to the suburban community. Cooperation with the Child Welfare Commission.— Three special studies made by the station have been placed at the disposal of the Iowa Child Welfare Commission: Child Legislation in Iowa, Iowa Child Welfare Legislation Measured by Federal Children's Bureau Standards, and A Directory of Child Welfare Agencies and Bibliography of Child Welfare Literature in Iowa. At the request of the commission, a compilation of existing Iowa statutes relating to child welfare was made by the station. The Research Station will contribute to the commission for the ensuing year one full time specialist in child welfare. During the remaining portion of our discussion, I shall outline briefly some of the other lines of activities and principal findings of the Research Station. Physiological Findings.— Good mental development and good physical development go hand in hand. Good health and normal physical development are the best allies of good mental and moral growth. The research work at the station shows that mentally superior children are, as a rule, physically superior. That there is a direct relationship between social and moral age and physiological maturity, needs only to be mentioned to be evident. Some girls at a given chronological age are sufficiently mature to meet the social conditions which may arise, while others are not. It is apparent that in dealing with children, especially delinquents, between ten and eighteen years of age, there is a tremendous problem involved which rests directly on the physiological age of the individual. Girls face this problem earlier on the average than do boys. In a particular case it may mean a social misfit for life with another child involved, or the individual may be subject to remedial social training and development. The Study of Mental Development Begins at Birth.- Mental tests for infants are being developed at the Research Station. We find that a baby has to be about six months old before it will listen to the tick of a watch. By seven months it usually takes a few swallows out of a cup of water or milk held to its lips. At nine months it will pick up a sugar pellet or crumb between thumb and forefinger. At twelve months it can tap a bell to make it ring and at fifteen months can put a cork in a bottle. So the baby's development can soon be measured just as we now measure the mental development of school children. Social Values. Happiness is a right of childhood. To anyone watching the happy children working or playing in the Pre-School Laboratory, the human worth of the experiment is evident. One little girl calls it "the fairy school". And so indeed it is to many little children, giving them a large part of their childhood heritage of joyous living. Little children tell tales out of home. If the school child is a good index of the sort of teachers it has had, the pre-school child reflects even more completely its home. A child is not provided by Mother Nature with a set of social attitudes, or with a spontaneous and finished technique for getting along with his fellows. It follows the patterns that adults set for it. If it receives fair and honest treatment, it has a basis in experiences for getting along with people; if it has been teased or bullied, what more natural than that it should tease and bully others when opportunity presents itself? The pre-school child in a play group unconsciously tells many tales about the home from which it comes. When is a child old enough to do things for itself? Can a baby of three years take off and put on its own wraps, carry its bottle full of milk and wash the empty bottle, put away its toys, start a phonograph, play agreeably with other children; in short, can it, within its little world "do things myself?" The children at the Pre-School Laboratory can. It is a joy to watch them lose their fear of strangers, their helpless dependence on adults, their timidity in the face of new situations, and their selfconscious showing off" before visitors. In the friendly, interesting environment of the school, the children become confident, active little personalities, free from the fears and restraints which have led psychologists to say that young children are not social beings. For them, the road is clear to a full, happy, social development. Cooperation, the keynote of modern civilization, cannot be learned too early. Taking turns at the slide and sand table, working together with the blocks or tools or clay, playing "train", in fact countless daily occupations at the pre-school furnish a veritable garden for the cultivation of fair play, consideration, sympathy, responsibility, and all the attitudes that go to make a "good citizen'. This is Tests have been constructed for measuring good citizenship. the day of intelligence tests. Mental measurement is being more and more widely used in solving the problems of the school, the court, and the factory, but character measurement has been neglected. Obviously a person may be highly intelligent and still be a useless or even a dangerous citizen, while a person of only average intelligence may be a valuable citizen because moved by social enthusiasm and altruism. The problem in which the Research Station is interested is how to develop altruism and good citizenship in childhood. How can home life be made more favorable to the upbuilding of public spirit in children? How can school courses be made more serviceable in character building? How can religious training be used to make greater contributions to altruism in the young Scientific answers to such questions depend upon having a good measure of citizenship and social idealism, for them it will be possible to tell what methods of character building are most effective. To this end the station has been at work for several years developing a test of social attitudes and interests. Human Service. Besides the services mentioned in connection with the different divisions, the station cooperates with many national child welfare agencies, with the Extension Division and the various educational and medical departments of the University of Iowa in all phases of child welfare work. The station has in its files a volume of correspondence from persons in the state and elsewhere, who desire information about child welfare problems. Mothers of young babies, or of school children, ask advice from the nutrition division of the Child Welfare Research Station in regard to proper methods of feeding.. Presidents of study clubs inquire about programs or speakers on child welfare, or about bibliographies and lists of references on special phases of education, on vocational guidance, on physical growth, on mental tests, and on similar topics bearing on the conservation and betterment of the child. Social workers, teachers, and parents desire information about schools and institutions, or laws concerning the status of the child. Community leaders inquire about the best methods of stimulating interest in child welfare work. Social agencies request assistance in regard to types of record forms and the organization of reports and publicity material. Many of these inquiries are referred to other specialized departments of the University, but the fact that persons in isolated rural places confidently appeal to the station for help is significant of the very real service the Iowa Child Welfare Research Station is rendering in the state and in the nation. HOW TO BUY AND USE LIMESTONE. Dr. W. H. Stevenson, Vice-Director, Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa. Fully 75 per cent of the soils of the state are acid. The value of limestone on the acid soils of Iowa has been fully proven, for the best growth of alfalfa, clover and other legumes. Sometimes also this material increases yields of small grains and corn. In many cases clover and alfalfa show very fine profits from lime applications. Concrete illustrations on this point may be found in Bulletin 213 of the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station. All Iowa farmers are urged to study this bulletin carefully. It contains a large amount of useful information on the use of fertilizing materials including limestone, which may be used to increase the crop yields. Our field experiments have proven the value of limestone on acid soils, but there is a special value in what Iowa farmers say, about liming. The following is a very brief summary of reports from 147 Iowa farmers, prepared by the Soils Extension service of Iowa State College. Acreage? Total area limed about 2700 acres. Rate of Application? Rates varied from 1 ton to 7 tons. Most common rates were 2, 2 and 3 tons. How Spread? 40% used lime spreaders (satisfactory) 45% used manure spreaders (generally satisfactory) For What Crops? In a great majority of cases for alfalfa or clovers. In a few cases, applied directly for corn, small grain and other crops. Effect on Corn and Grain? Majority reported "none" or little effect. Several reported "good", "fair" or "slight". (Note: Effect on corn and grain seldom very great until after clover crop has been grown.) Effect on Legumes? About 80% reported "good" or "'excellent''. About 20% reported "none" or "slight". Hay Yields Where Limed? Varied from 1 ton to 9% tons per acre. |