248 State Horticultural Society. 



g-ardening. According to the wishes of its honored founder, the gar- 

 den now supports six scholarships. Upon the graduation or resigna- 

 tion of any of the students from this course, the scholarship is awarded 

 to young men who have a rudimentary knowledge of the English 

 branches, and who are 1o be given free lodging and wages sufificient 

 to insure a bare sustenance during the time devoted to their studies; 

 when they practice all the operations of the garden, from the most 

 menial to the most responsible, at the same time they are given theoretical 

 instruction in the direct line of their work, and in such subjects as book- 

 keeping, surveying, botany, entomology and other subjects that are con- 

 sidered necessary for a trained, intelligent gardener. The course ex- 

 tends through a period of four years. 



In a day like ours when specialization is the lot of most men it 

 becomes very necessary that every young man should equip himself 

 along some special line of work. Because of this fact we have now 

 six students who are receiving a salary and others at the garden 

 who are bearing their own expenses. Very often I have been asked 

 why I took up this line of work. I remember one instance in par- 

 ticular when working in one of the chrysanthemum houses. A bright 

 young man asked me this question and said that botany seemed any- 

 thing but interesting to him. T gave him my reasons and then when 

 the opportunity presented itself, I told him he might have his choice 

 of any six of the two thousand most delicately colored and perfectly 

 developed blooms (such as v/ere seen at the garden during the month 

 of November). If you could have seen him selecting those six chrys- 

 anthemums you would have agreed with me that he made a grave 

 mistake when he said that botany was not interesting to him. For 

 how were these magnificent blooms produced? At one time the 

 chrysanthemum was only an inferior flower measuring less than an 

 inch in diameter. But by the untiring efforts of the gardener, who 

 (through a knowledge of botany), by cultivating, fertilizing and hybrid- 

 izing, developed the chrysanthemums until today we have flowers i8 and 

 20 inches in circumference. 



So I may sa^ that everyone Avho is a lover of flowers is interested 

 in botany. 



In former years botany stood as a scientific diversion or pastime 

 for men whose serious business in life was of a very different nature ; 

 but in a day like ours when labor is divided and sub-divided, or we 

 may say in a day of specialization, we see some men who are able to 

 devote their entire time to scientific research and by a succession of 

 experiments and discoveries gather a vast amount of valuable knowl- 

 edge, which will sooner or later be used for the benefit of all men. 



