194 Mississijypi Valley Horticultural Society. 



inating corn. The lichen and vine Uve their brief existence, and in their 

 death and dccaj' furnish a nidus which rears the solid oak, illustrating at 

 once the activity and compensating power of nature. The Rocky Moun- 

 tains are at once the fountain head and conservers of the water supply of 

 the State; but continue to destroy the timber in their canons and gorges, and 

 water will be a minus quantity when it is an imperative necessity. In the 

 possession of water, experimenters control one very important factor in the 

 conduct of an exj^eriment to a definite issue ; especially so in the testing of 

 fertilizers. In Colorado the horticulturist knows that each succeeding day 

 will bring him sunshine almost without fail, so that neither cloudy days nor 

 mildew have any terrors for him. The water for the sustenance of his crops 

 is dejiositcd in the shape of snow in the majestic E,ockies; canals and irri- 

 gating ditches convey the fruitful waters— fruitful in all the elements of 

 plant food — to the thirsty land. The laws regulating its distribution are as 

 equitable as the best engineering skill and catholic statesmanship could de- 

 sire. While all this and more might be said for it, yet water may be a dan- 

 gerous ally in the hands of those who unskilifully use it. The influence of 

 carefully kept meteorological records in enabling the college to be the center 

 of a series of local experimenters, situated in various parts of the State, 

 would be invaluable, especially in a study of the varying eilects of meteoro- 

 logical conditions, and the ability of different varieties of plants to withstand 

 the eccentricities of heat and cold, and to which the people of the State could 

 look with confidence. 



And finally, what is especially needed in regard to the college experimental 

 work is, that the different colleges work in unison, and so save a vast amount 

 of time, money, energy and materials, while at the same time reaching more 

 definite results, and be educating public oj^inion to the importance of this 

 kmd of effort, for there should be union and sympathy between horticultur- 

 ists and those who make scientific experiments their business. No one, I 

 think, now-a-days questions the value or importance of the work done at 

 these stations, the only question in doubt being as to their maintenance, the 

 topics investigated and by whom conducted. The best agricultural colleges 

 are those which send forth from their laboratory's, workshops, fields and gar- 

 dens a band of successful cultivators of the soil, admiring nature because fa- 

 miliar with her laws. And the most successful teachers of horticulture are 

 those who present their knowledge in the aspect of their gardens, and which 

 their own intelligent skill has developed into a thing of beauty and useful- 

 ness. And what an opportunity occurs in the management of such an insti- 

 tution for its president to give it vitality and character, and to impress his 

 personality on the work of its faculty and students, and for the agricultur- 

 ist and horticulturist, too, by an intelligent and scientific application of the 

 best methods of their art in developing the best possibilities, resoui'ces and 

 proper surroundings of a happy home. Owing to the great diversities of soil 

 and flimate incident U> this State of Colorado, it is necessarily im])Ossil)le to 

 make any general a])plication of the results of experimental work to any con- 

 siderable portion of the State. 



