•^ EDITORIAL 1^. 



One of the things that is the matter with botany is the 

 Academic Mind. An individual laboring under this handicap 

 would much prefer data on the structure of fibro-vascular 

 bundles, the nature of the nuclear spindle, the position of the 

 chromosomes in karyokinesis, and the chemical composition 

 of the anthocyanins than to have the run of the finest garden 

 or park in the world. It is the academic mind that inclined 

 botany teachers to require their classes to draw cross-sections 

 of a pickled seaweed conceptacle with the aid of the compound 

 microscope, when they might I)e observing the vegetation of 

 field and wood or studying the insects that pollinate the flow- 

 ers. The teacher with the academic mind does not subscribe 

 to the botanical journals. He does not have to keep up with 

 the advances in botany. His courses in plant study were cut 

 and dried, especiall}' dried, long ago and he means to keep 

 them in that condition. But all this reacts unfavorably upon 

 the flower-loving public which contributes the money for the 

 upkeep of the schools and wants its children taught something 

 about plants that they can use. Such questions as "What is 

 the name of this plant?' '"What is it good for?" How can 

 you grow it?" Where does it grow?" "How can you mul- 

 tiply it?" 'To what other plants is it related?" "Is it help- 

 ful or harmful?" are all too rarely heard in the school room. 

 We know of at least one high school in a large city where ag- 

 riculture is taught out of a book. Just imagine a.sking an 

 able-bodied boy aching to get out into the soil on a spring day 

 to stand up in class and describe plowing from the description 



