2 1 6 THE NA TU RE-STUD Y KE VIE IV [5:8— nov., 1909 



"By such experiments as this the pupil learns many valuable 

 facts, but more than this his mind should be developed so that he 

 can apply the same form of reasoning to experiments outside the 

 school room and answer for himself questions which may arise in 

 the mind of any normal boy or girl. 



"But we do not stop even here. After hitting a point from as 

 many sides as possible, we go out into the garden and try to apply 

 our knowledge. If the knowledge learned in the laboratory can- 

 not be applied in the field, then it is useless. We plant our seeds, 

 we give them air and moisture, and after they begin to grow, we 

 till the soil to give air to the roots and to retain moisture. 



"What is farming but the production of plants and animals? 

 What science should be most valuable to the farmer? I would 

 say that if one science is more important to the farmer than 

 another, that science would be the one that relates itself most 

 closely to the laws governing the growth of plants. Botany is 

 the science that confines itself to the subject of plants and the 

 laws governing their growth. Botany must be the foundation 

 of future work in agriculture. We cannot teach fruit growing or 

 the diseases of plants or the growing of vegetables and flowers and 

 field crops scientifically until the pupil has had botany. A model 

 course in horticulture, marked out by a committee appointed by 

 the Association of Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, 

 requires three years of botany to two of chemistry. Chemistry is 

 important, and physics, as the foundation of all science, also. 

 But botany cannot be properly taught without drawing on chem- 

 istry and physics and other sciences. 



"In the coming year botany will be the agricultural science. The 

 method of teaching it will be the same as for general science. In 

 fact, it will be made a sort of advanced course in general science. 

 A text-book will be used as a sort of frame work around which to 

 group the experiments and garden work. 



"As some of the practical outdoor work we will plant trees, both 

 fruit and shade. When we stud3^the structure of stem and consider 

 the cambium layer we will naturally take up the subject of graft- 

 ing and give much practice in the different modes of budding and 

 grafting. I hope to interest the class, too, in plant improvement. 

 We will handle the matter of seed selection in general, and then 

 I want the class to take up a special fruit and a special flower to 

 hand down to the next class for them to follow out and improve. 



"Chemistry will be given this year, as a foundation for a course 

 in soils and for the domestic science work. Manual training or 

 carpentry will be given as a part of the course in agriculture. 



"What will the work described lead to? The advanced courses 

 marked out for work after this year are only tentative, and I 

 am sure will be revised before the year is over. Agriculture is the 

 production of plants and animals useful to man, and the uses of 

 such plants and animals so far as they are closely related to their 



