78 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 



undertaken by advanced students of a practical turn of 

 mind, than that relating to these parasites. Fortunately, 

 or unfortunately, as you choose to regard it, these organ- 

 isms are to be found in abundance about us, and, with a 

 good library, we are now prepared to pursue this study to 

 advantage. 



Technical training is not complete without a knowledge 

 of certain branches of botany. The engineer who is en- 

 gaged in pioneer work must, of necessity, be well versed in 

 forestry. To understand the manipulation of the micro- 

 scope, and by its aid to recognize the innate cause of the 

 difference between good and bad timber, adds intelligence 

 to his work. The decay of timber, like the disease and 

 death of plants, is usually the result of the insidious attacks 

 of certain fungi, which destroy its structure in building up 

 their own. Knowledge of the means of holding these 

 destroyers in check, rests fundamentally upon an understand- 

 ing of their life history and of the conditions which are 

 favorable and inimical to them. We look, too, with some 

 expectation, to direct botanical returns from a greater 

 recognition of this department of science in technical train- 

 ing or, perhaps it would be better to say, preparatory to 

 technical courses ; for the young engineer or surveyor is 

 not infrequently called by his duties into regions that are 

 difficult of access, and have been but imperfectly explored 

 botanically, and, knowing the simple means of preserving 

 specimens for the herbarium, he is often in a position to 

 render good service to the cause of science. Many most 

 valuable collections have already been made by persons at- 

 tached to surveying and exploring expeditions; but much still 

 remains to be done in the less accessible parts of the 

 country. 



The immediate value of botanical knowledge to the ex- 

 plorer has been often demonstrated in the evil consequences 

 that have attended the use of noxious plants under the 

 impression that they were edible; and plants that are mild 



