RELATIONS OF BOTANY TO AGRICULTURE. 435 



fore, that a large amount of excellent food is annually wasted in 

 our fields and forests from the ignorance of our people, who are 

 unable to distinguish the edible from the poisonous species, and 

 consequently avoid them all. Many of these might be gathered 

 and eaten, or sold in the city markets, and many more might be 

 profitably raised by our gardeners. Even the microscopic fungi 

 are sometimes useful. The mould, which epicures often plant in 

 their cheeses to impart a desired flavor, the yeast-plant, which is 

 inseparably associated with the important process of fermentation, 

 and the vinegar plant, are examples of fungi which are beneficial 

 in consequence of their power of producing chemical changes. 

 Without their aid we should have only soda or unleavened bread, 

 and neither alcohol nor acetic acid, except at great expense. 



Turning now from the least among plants to the greatest, and 

 gratifying thus our natural fondness for antithesis, let us for a 

 moment consider the importance of botanical studies in their re- 

 lations to forestry, or the care, cultivation and the utilization of 

 trees for shade, shelter, ornament or timber. Much discussion 

 upon this subject has occurred of late with special reference to the 

 preservation of forests on our public domain, and the planting of 

 useful species on the treeless prairies and plains of the West. 

 Many millions of valuable forest trees have been planted during 

 the past few years, and enthusiasm on this subject has attained 

 such force in Nebraska that the legislature has set apart a special 

 day to be annually devoted to this business. While from the 

 nature of our government, it seems impossible to accomplish much 

 toward the permanent preservation, or the renewal of our forests 

 by legislation, great good will result from the agitation of these 

 topics b/ the enlightenment of the people. Very few are fully 

 aware of the beneficial influence of growing woods upon the soil, 

 the streams, the climate, the crops and the salubrity of the atmos- 

 phere. The planting, pruning and proper harvesting of a wood 

 crop are not deemed matters of sufficient utility to be considered 

 by our land-owners. Large areas of stony, bleak and barren soil 

 exist in our own Commonwealth, which to-day would be covered 

 with a luxuriant growth of wood, except for the pernicious habit 

 of burning over recently cleared lands for the sake of one poor 

 crop of rye or a few years of scanty pasturage. While the 

 inventions of modern times have provided innumerable substitutes 

 for the wood which two centuries ago seemed so indispensable for 

 fuel, house and ship building, and a thousands uses in the arts, it 



