MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 51 
was promptly vetoed by President Buchanan. It passed 
again, however, and was approved by President Lincoln, 
July 22, 1862. Thus did the United States in the early 
days of the Civil War lay the foundation for a national 
system of agricultural and industrial education, and thus 
originated the so-called land-grant college. 
Each state accepted the lands and proceeded to establish 
its college according to local conditions and its peculiar inter- 
pretation of the Morrill Act. In the East the land t 
was turned over to existing institutions, whose faculties Fie 
little and cared less about what the law intended to accom- 
plish. In the West the funds were generally used to start 
universities that too often devoted their energies to the inter- 
est of general education rather than to the peculiar educa- 
tional ideals which the Morrill Act was supposed to establish. 
ie or gear yf sir ee course i pursued. 
ichigan and Pennsylvania already possessed each an agri- 
cultural college, and in both cases the proceeds of the land 
grant were turned over to these institutions, and all energies 
were devoted to agriculture, ignoring for many years the 
mechanical interests provided for in the act. These new 
institutions simply did the best they were able, as they were 
without teachers, without matter, methods, or ideals, and, 
above all, without an enthusiastic clientele, for farmers at 
that time generally ridiculed book-farming. That this is 
not the case to-day, however, is clearly illustrated by the 
large attendance at the various colleges of agriculture. 
At the Massachusetts Agricultural College, courses in bot- 
any and horticulture were offered by Prof. Clark, then presi- 
dent of the college, as early as 1878. In 1896 all the so-called 
horticultural work was turned over to Prof. Maynard, this 
including pomology, floriculture, market gardening, for- 
estry, plant breeding, etc. In 1902 Prof. Waugh came to the 
college to take charge of these courses, and the actual ad- 
vancement dates from that period. The time soon came 
when he could not handle all this work, and in 1904 the 
floricultural department was turned over to Mr. Francis 
Canning. On account of the popular demand for this branch 
of horticulture, and realizing the value of men trained along 
this line, in the fall of 1 the college began offering a 
specialized course in floriculture under the direction of Prof. 
E. A. White. In 1908 the courses became still more special- 
ized, and from the meager beginning in 1878 has developed 
the present department of floriculture. 
About this time a number of other state institutions began 
to divide up the horticultural work. Illinois, in 1908, estab- 
