THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 105 



Again, botanic gardens afford botanical students oppor- 

 tunity for research in plant biology and pathology. One can 

 hardly place a limit to the benefits that agriculture and horti- 

 culture have derived and may derive from researches in this 

 direction. Our modern science of genetics, for instance, is 

 derived from the studies of Mendel in a monastery garden in 

 the last century. By work on the lines indicated by this dis- 

 covery, races of useful plants are being multiplied and modi- 

 fied so as to be more exactly suitable to the variable conditions 

 in which, economic plants are grown and to produce far greater 

 crops than their ancestors. Studies which lead to such results 

 can best be carried on in botanic gardens, where there ought 

 to be found a greater amount of material and more scientific 

 appliances than are possible in most private establishments. 



Besides the scientific function of botanic gardens there 

 is their educational aspect. In an article on this subject in 

 Science, June 29, 1917, it is well remarked that the notion 

 that knowledge can be acquired from books is too prevalent ; 

 the idea that one can read about nature and thus acquire 

 knowledge of nature is as misleading as to suppose that one 

 can acquire knowledge of business by reading about business,. 

 We must distinguish between information and knowledge. 

 Information may be obtained by reading, but knowledge can 

 only be acquired by contact with and experience of realities. 

 Hence botanic gardens open to the public a source of real 

 knowledge of plants; and there is no more pressing problem 

 today than to learn how to grow plants and how to grow them 

 in increasing quantities and of increased value in every pos- 

 sible situation. — Nezus Imperial Department Agriculture, B 

 W. I. 



