THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 435 



men willing to give the requisite amount of time necessary to work out 

 these problems. After years of study there is not great compensation, 

 except in the results, attached to positions of this kind, which are almost 

 all governmental ; yet men make a living by them, so why could not 

 women ? 



The day is not far distant when the private garden will be as regu- 

 larly inspected and treated as the orchard. Why should not women do 

 some of this work? As yet many of the subordinate inspectors are not 

 graduates of an agricultural college. 



The laboratory holds out much more to interest and inspire, and 

 women have already distinguished themselves along these lines: Miss 

 Charles of the Agricultural Department at Washington, D. C, is the 

 expert on fungous diseases, and Miss Elizabeth Smith of the University 

 of California is well known for her original work. 



Plant pathology is but one of the many ramifications of laboratory 

 work. Have you ever stopped to think whence comes this perfume — ■ 

 what makes the violet blue — w^hat causes doubleness in certain flowers? 

 Do you know that you might be the one to find out, if you cared enough 

 about it? Two English women are working on the problems of color 

 and doubleness — Miss Muriel Wlieldale and Miss Edith Saunders of 

 Cambridge. Think of it! Could anything be more poetical than to 

 discover what causes that velvety red color in the petal of a rose? No, 

 it would be like any other laboratory work, messing with test tubes and 

 retorts, in a big apron, and thinking, thinking, thinking. 



Many women have been successful in decorative work, which can often 

 be combined with some other business, and if one has taste, and above 

 all originality, she could build up a good business in any town of four 

 or five thousand inhabitants. 



What is this mysterious operation called hybridizing, which in its 

 wider sense is known as plant-breeding ? Simply this, man reaching out 

 to assist Nature in her evolution of the vegetable kingdom to a more use- 

 ful and beautiful existence. The woman who enters this field should pre- 

 pare herself for it by a college course, if possible ; if not, there are books 

 to be studied asrain and yet aorain. Botany, of course, as a foundation, 

 then Darwin, Bailey, De Vries, Bateson, Punnett and many others. 

 Novels will cease to allure when once one becomes interested in this 

 fascinating work. All the world and his wife may go by but her eyes 

 will be fixed in the heart of a flower. 



When we stop to think of all the marvclously beautiful cultivated 

 plants we wonder if there can possibly be room for improvement, but 

 here is where imagination soars and if your soul is receptive Nature will 

 whisper in your ear, and out of the Infinite, flower forms will float 

 before you, an ideal ^nll be fixed in your mind and a determination to 

 realize this ideal, for in the floral kingdom ideals may be realized. 



Women Avith but small gardens may experiment and who loiows what 

 the results may be? Dr. De Vries in his "Species and Varieties" 

 encourages the owners of small places to be ever on the alert for muta- 

 tions that occasionally occur and may be of great benefit or beauty to 

 mankind. But they must remember that they are entering into a part- 

 nership with Nature, that experiments are costly and that success comes 

 only with a high ideal, patience and labor. They will gain only what 

 they give their work. If they put capital and good business judgment 



