12 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



than encouraged. The botanist is now a man of affairs upon 

 whose knowledge the whole world depends for the successful 

 development of many important enterprises. 



Our waning timber supply is raj^idly bringing the subject 

 of forestry into the foreground and has started an ever increas- 

 ing demand for young men who can grow crops of trees in the 

 most economical manner. This work calls for a wider knowl- 

 edge of botanical matters than the student of an older day could 

 bring to bear upon it. The requirement is not that the forester 

 know the names of his specimens — though that is essential — 

 but that he be familiar with the needs of his plants as well and 

 skillful in supplying the things which they lack. He must be able 

 to recognize at sight the insect and fungous pests that harm 

 them, quick to apply the most effectual remedies against their 

 inroads and he must also know the value of tlie different spe- 

 cies under his care and the uses to which they may be put. 



Within a generation, agriculture has ceased to depend 

 upon the old hit-or-miss, rule-of-thumb methods of growing- 

 plants and has advanced to the position of a science with a cor- 

 responding reliance upon the botanist. Plant breeding is no 

 longer left to a few experimenters but has become part and 

 parcel of the up-to-date cultivator's employment. The plant 

 breeder now takes an order for a certain type of pod and style 

 of seed in beans, or for a certain amount of oil or starch in 

 com with as much nonchalance as the grocer's boy would 

 take an order for a bushel of potatoes. With the aid of the 

 botanist the farmer is learning how to double his returns from 

 the land without the addition of a single extra acre and not 

 only makes two blades of com grow where but one grew be- 

 fore, but proposes soon to have at least half a dozen in the 

 place of the one. 



The success of the botanist upon land has been followed 

 by a like success in the waters w^here, turning his attention to 

 the sea flora, he has found millions of dollars worth of sea- 

 wee<:ls, some edible and other useful in the arts, awaiting his 



