82 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 



A knowledge of what has been done in American botany 

 and a recognition of a part of that which has not been done, 

 together with a study of the tendencies of the times, may 

 not be without value in forming our plans for advanced in- 

 struction, as well as that of a more elementary character. 

 It is especially necessary for the former, that we may avoid 

 a waste of energy on that which has already been well done. 

 It has been wisely said that *' a reaper cannot expect to 

 cut a full swath, following in the track of another," though 

 the opportunity for the gleaner is far from discouraging in 

 any field of study or research. 



Systematic botany so far as the flowering plants of 

 Europe and North America are concerned, is far from being 

 a terra incogniiay and if, as all botanists pray, Dr. Gray 

 shall be spared to complete his Flora of North America, 

 our entire country will be nearly as well provided for as 

 the Eastern States now are in the Manual, or the Southern 

 States in Chapman's Flora. Yet it must be long before 

 we can hope for a work comparable with Watson's English 

 Topographical Botany, the production of which must result 

 from a faithful study of local floras over the entire country. 

 The study of cryptogams or flowerless plants, as a branch 

 of systematic botany, is still largely to be made. It is 

 more than half a century behind that of the flowering plants ; 

 and the multiplied synonymy of American fungi is the 

 strongest argument for increased facilities for training 

 those who are to make this study their life work. 



I have already spoken of the value of a knowledge of the 

 life history of these plants iu commenting upon the practi- 

 cal applications of botany. To teach what is already known 

 is the smallest part of imparting this. The same remark 

 may be made with equal truth of the physiology of all 

 plants, and of their minute structure as connected with 

 their vital processes. Properly developed, I see in these 

 directions the greatest usefulness in the prosecution of ad- 

 vanced and independent research that this or any American 

 school of botany can aspire to. 



