126 STATE HOKTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



or flowers. Seedsmen quite often appeal to the botanist to tell them whether a 

 certain seed is genuine or not. 



The horticulturist may think he could get along without a knowledge of 

 botany. He may believe that he could learn everything by practical experience. 

 This is a very slow way. He would only acquire a moderate amount of infor- 

 mation in one lifetime, and that is all that is given to any mortal in this world. 

 We get most of our knowledge at second-hand. We can not begin at the 

 foundation of everything we come in contact with. It is true that there are 

 many good horticulturists who have but a very little knowledge of botany. 

 They have learned much of those who were botanists, or those who had directly 

 or indirectly learned of botanists. As colleges and normal schools are necessary 

 to educate the teachers, make books, and keep up an interest in education, that 

 we may have good common schools, so botany is necessary to the advancement 

 of horticulture. It is very likely that some small discoveries in horticulture 

 have been made by persons who know very little botany, but with a funda- 

 mental knowledge of plants the same person would doubtless have made much 

 greater advancement in horticulture. 



In very many respects, then, botany will make a horticulturist more capable. 

 It will make him a good observer, improve his reason, strengthen his judgment, 

 cultivate his taste, broaden his views, weaken his respect for the traditions of 

 his fathers. It will sharpen his wits, make him an investigator, and help make 

 him a better neighbor and a better citizen. 



M. H. Bixby : I would like to ask Prof. Beal if there is danger of commun- 

 icating disease from one tree to another by means of the pollen. 



Prof. Beal: You refer more especially to the yellows, I suppose? Well, 

 diseased pollen will probably have no influence in fructification and does not 

 carry disease in that way, but if the disease is caused by a fungus, which prop- 

 agates itself by minute spores, these little bodies might become attached to the 

 pollen grains and be carried down the tube of the pistil and thus enter the 

 circulation of the tree. 



Mr. McNaughton, Jackson : While in Cincinnati during the past season I 

 noted a Virginia creeper with roots like the poison ivy. Was that a sport or a 

 new variety of the species? 



Mr. Gibson : Was it not the new Japanese species? 



Mr. McKaughton : No, it was the Ampehpses quinquefolia. 



Prof. Beal: Mr. McNaughton I know to be a good observer and although I 

 have never seen the Virginia creeper with these aerial roots developed in place 

 of tendrils I am prepared to receive his testimony. 



C. A. Dutton, Holland : It it not true that the Virginia creeper varies a great 

 4eal in its ability to cling by means of its suckers? 



Prof. Beal : Yes, I have noticed this fact in my experience upon the college 

 grounds. Plants have an individuality in this respect, and cuttings propagated 

 from them will carrry the peculiarities into their own growth. 



Mr. McNaughton: This year I have tried to raise some cauliflowcx, and 

 although I have given the plants good soil, good care and plenty of water, 

 -still they have not headed satisfactorily. What can be the matter? 



Prof. Beal : The chances are that your seed was poor. 



Prof. Cook advocated the application of pure science to horticulture and 

 gave some capital illustrations of the important bearing that pure scientific 

 investigation has had upon medical practice in France. He cited the 

 microscopical researches of Pasteur, who studied the blood of animals that 

 died of malignant antiirax and found the cause of the disease in a fungoid 



