426 * BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



their parts with each other, the relations which they have in com- 

 mon are all summed up and their differences recorded in every 

 possible point of view. The causes of those relations and differ- 

 ences are carefully inquired into and a survey is taken of the 

 bearings of the whole group to its proximate allies, and, finally, 

 to all equivalent assemblages in organized nature. Who can rise 

 up from such a study and not feel mentally strengthened? The 

 mind in such an exercise must gain in both its anyalytic and syn- 

 thetic powers." 



Another argument of great moment in favor of botanical pur- 

 suits arises from the endless number and variety of ejects for 

 investigation everywhere presented to view whereby the attention 

 is awakened and all the powers of the mind kept in a condition of 

 activity. In mathematical and classical studies the lack of interest 

 often entirely hinders progress aud tends to beget dullness and 

 inattention. In the training of young men to become intelligent 

 and progressive farmers and gardeners, the value of this kind of 

 mental culture and discipline can hardly be overestimated. The 

 records of worthless experiments which fill our agricultural libra- 

 ries attest the truth of this assertion, and show that more educa- 

 tion is imperatively demanded in this profession. 



It has been said that a person might be an excellent botanist 

 without knowing the name' of a single species. While this is not 

 literally true, it expresses with great force the fact that the names 

 of plants do not constitute the science of botany. They bear 

 about the same relation to it that a Webster's spelling-book does 

 to English literature. The word botany means a plant, and every 

 plant lias once existed in a single cell. All plants are either 

 single cells or aggregations of them, and differ from each other 

 only in the number, form and mode of combination of these their 

 constituent elements. The foundation of our science, therefore, 

 is seen to lie fn a knowledge of the vegetable cell and the. changes 

 of which it is susceptible. By the aid of the compound micro- 

 scope we learn that a uui-cellular plant consists of a globule of 

 protoplasm enveloped in a thin membrane of cellulose. This pro- 

 toplasm is in an albuminous fluid, somewhat like the white of an 

 egg, and usually containing one or more granules floating in it, 

 which are apparently analogous to the yolk. Under the influence 

 of the mysterious force which we call life, this gelatinous fluid 

 exhibits a tendency, under favoring circumstances, to divide and 

 increase in quantity, producing the phenomenon of growth. In 



