50 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
FLORICULTURAL EDUCATION 
_ We are living in an age of intense specialization. This 
specialization is very apparent in all phases of agricultural 
work, but in horticulture it has been most marked. So 
rapidly has this branch developed that in the last twenty- 
five years it became necessary to divide it into the separate 
or special departments, such as pomology, landscape garden- 
ing, olericulture, forestry, and floriculture. Of these highly 
developed departments, none has progressed as rapidly as 
floriculture, and this has to some extent been due to the 
ae who have been trained along practical and scientific 
nes. 
In order to appreciate fully the subject of floricultural 
education and the methods that are being followed by our 
American agricultural colleges, it is necessary to have a con- 
ception of the nature and scope of the institutions carrying 
on this work. An agitation for agricultural schools was 
brought about by the agricultural societies which came into 
life late in the eighteenth century, immediately following 
the American Revolution, and a number of such institutions 
were established, one in Maine in 1821 and one in Connecti- 
cut in 1824. The natural conditions, however, did not seem 
to justify this movement on an extensive scale, and it was 
not until the great West began to develop, in the late forties — 
and fifties, that the demand for agricultural schools became 
apparent. At this time higher education was primarily the 
business of the church, and colleges existed on private sub- 
scription. Pennsylvania and New York had agricultural 
colleges, but as both were supported by private donations, 
their existence was a struggle and came to an abrupt end 
at the beginning of the Civil War. Only one state, namely, 
Michigan, fared a little better. Here, in 1850, about the 
time the agitation was at its height, some far-sighted man 
introduced a clause in the constitutional convention making 
it obligatory upon the state to establish and maintain a col- 
lege or school of agriculture, and in 1857 the college was 
opened for students. Many of our pioneer agriculturists, 
among them L. H. Bailey, Eugene Davenport, and President 
Butterfield of Massachusetts Agricultural College, received 
their education at this institution. 
Further development occurred in 1837 when Justin. P- 
Morrill, then a member from Vermont serving in the lower 
house, introduced into Congress a bill providing a grant of 
land to each state for the purpose of establishing agricul- 
tural and industrial institutions. The bill had the usual 
experience of new projects. Once it passed both houses, but 
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