THE ANNUAL MEETING. 125 



in importance was due to the entomologist for his systematic warfare againsc 

 insect enemies. The botanist discovered that bees and some other honey-loving 

 insects were his friends, so far as visiting flowers was concerned. They take 

 from flowers only what was placed there in surplus pollen, or in nectar to induce 

 visits for the benefit of the plant. The botanist alone can collect and plan a 

 botanical garden and give instructive lessons on the subject, and on most of the 

 interesting plants which it contains. The botanist points out the affinities and 

 relationships of plants, and has never failed to name those which might very 

 likely be successfully grafted on to each other. He can often foretell the 

 effect which a certain stock will produce on a scion. He would know better 

 than to attempt grafting a chestnut on a horse-chestnut, as I have seen done by 

 a "practical" man. I use the word "practical" as too often misused. 



A knowledge of botany set Professor Burrill to experimenting on blight of 

 the pear and apple tree to find the fungus which very probably causes disease. 

 Botany explains the process of raising mushrooms in the dark, rich mould. It 

 led to the discovery of the cause of potato rot, the cause of blight in lettuce, 

 mildew of the grape vine, rust in wheat, smut in Indian corn, — with some sug- 

 gestions as to the best remedies. It discovered the fungus which caused the 

 death of silk worms, wasps, hornets, and flies. Probably horticulture has only 

 just begun to reap the benefits from this department of botany, which is yet 

 destined to solve many vexed problems. Another advantage of having some 

 knowledge of botany is this : You can learn to be accurate in the names of 

 plants. The common names of plants are very unreliable, because everybody 

 in any part of the country is all the time giving his own common name to any 

 plant which is ncAV to him. The plant very likely is not what he thinks it is. 

 He gives it a new name. Our grasses are in inextricable confusion among all 

 but botanists, and even they are pnzzled in some cases. The late Senator 

 Chandler pulled a handful of red-top and other wild grasses from one of his 

 hay stacks and showed it to a crowd of friends with the exclamation, "Here is 

 your fowl-meadow grass, pure and unadulterated." He supposed he bought 

 seed of fowl-meadow grass in Vermont. So he did, but it was mixed, or the 

 grass for the stack in question came from a piece of wild marsh. Many people 

 would not have known the difference between red-top and fowl-meadow grass. 



A similar confusion exists in the names of many of our forest trees, orna- 

 mental trees and shrubs. We have two kinds of maples, indiscriminately called 

 soft maple; two kinds of elms, called the white elm. Trees and herbaceous 

 plants of certain kinds indicate the nature of the soil. Botany is often a great 

 help to a man in detecting a new weed, when it has first been sparingly intro- 

 duced. If then attacked, it may be easily subdued before spreading all over 

 the farm. This is often the case with Canada thistles and quack grass. Bot- 

 any is valuable for bee-keepers, an industrious and amiable class of persons 

 becoming quite numerous. Every time a bee-keeper discovers his bees busy on 

 a plant, he wants to know what it is, because he thinks he has found something 

 new and of great value. These persons often send a plant to the botanist for 

 identification, and he tells them it is Solidago canadensis, Diplopappus um- 

 bellatus. Aster niacrophyllus, Eupatorium sessilifolium, Scrophularia modoso, 

 or some other name equally intelligible to them. The fact is we have about 

 1,600 good bee plants east of the Mississippi river. 



For the florist some knowledge of botany is indispensable. Farmers, bee- 

 keepers, florists, vegetable gardeners, — all classes of inquiring minds are often 

 anxious to learn the names of some plant which is new to them. The botanist 

 is often called on to identify the seeds which are bought amoug those of grasses 



