238 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The first thing to be borne in mind is that the minute parasites we 

 call lungi are plants. They grow, produce fruit and finally die ; and, 

 like the higher plants, each owes its existence to a parent. 



We will give a brief outline, showing how plants and animals are 

 classified, which will enable you to understand more fully the place 

 these plants occupy in the plan of nature. 



There are two great departments in nature : First, the inorganic, 

 and, second, the organic world. The earth, the rocks, and all things 

 destitute of life, make up the inorganic world. The organic world 

 consists of plants and animals. Animals make up the animal king- 

 dom, vegetables the vegetable kingdom. In classifying the members 

 of both the above kingdoms we begin with the lowest forms and ar- 

 range them according to the development of their various parts. 



The vegetable kingdom may be divided into seven divisions, 

 namely : 



1st. The Protophytes. These are the simplest of all plants ; they 

 are exceedingly minute, and for the most part consist of but one cell. 

 The minute plants, known as Bacteria, belong to this division. Bac- 

 teria are all about us ; they are in the air we breathe and the food we 

 eat; they are present in all putrefying matter, and it has lately been 

 shown that these minute plants probably cause the disease known as 

 pear blight. 



The next group of plants called Zygosporece, are mostly aquatic, 

 and are of no interest to you as horticulturists; the green slime so 

 abundant during ths summer months on ponds and all stagnant water, 

 is a good example. Oosporece is the name of the next group, and some 

 of its members are very destructive ; the white mould, {Peronosjyorm 

 infesians), which attacks the potato and causes such wide-spread de- 

 struction, belongs to this group. The disease of the vine, commonly 

 known as the American grape vine mildew, belongs to the same order 

 {PeronosporecB) as the fungus which causes the disease of the potato. 

 The next group called Carposporecti is far more important than any 

 of the preceding. Its members, commonly known as mildews, rusts 

 and smuts, are all more or less destructive, and taken collectively they 

 constitute the group commonly known as fungi. 



The three groups remaining are Bryophi/ta Pieridophyta and 

 Phanerogamia Bryophyta, the mosses, liverworts, etc. Pierido- 

 phyta^ the ferns, horsetails, etc. Phanoerogamia^ the flowering^ 

 plants. 



