TITF, :\rONTTTT,V BULLETIN. 131 



botanist came to be rej^arded as about the most useless intelligent mem- 

 l)cr of society. His chief concern seemed to remove him so far from 

 the general human interest that he was regarded as a harmless crank, 

 at best a man of only ephemeral interest. No such opinion could have 

 developed unless there had been some basis for it. The most unfortunate 

 result of this public estimation of botany was that it lingered much 

 longer than it was deserved ; and consequently, when the other so-called 

 sciences had won public esteem, either through their services or their 

 appeal to the wonder-instinct, botany lagged behind in public recog- 

 nition, and in most educational institutions was the latest born into the 

 family of sciences. But, finally, it also began to render signal service 

 and the appeal to the wonder-instinct. 



This is not the occasion for me to give an account of the wonderful 

 recent development of several phases of botanical activity, phasas which 

 deal with the fundamentals of plant activity of all kinds. Among 

 them, however, there is no one attracting more attention at this time, 

 both in its scientific and in its practical aspects, than plant-breeding. 

 It is not my purpose to recite the notable achievements that are to be 

 grouped under this title, for they are familiar to all who are interested 

 in the handling of plants, either for practical or scientific reasons. 

 Especially is it unnecessary to give the details to this audience, repre- 

 senting as it does an experience in the results of plant-breeding that is 

 probably more extensive and varied than in any region of our country. 

 But in passing, allow me to say that plant-breeding in its practical 

 possibilities is in its infancy, and that the immediate future has in 

 store for us achievements which we did not dream of until scientific 

 plant-breeding made them possible. Without going into details, there- 

 fore, I simply wish to use plant-breeding as an illustration of my 

 general thesis. 



The practical aspect of plant-breeding, in a certain sense, is as old 

 as the culture of plants. Long experience in the practical handling of 

 plants slowly developed a kind of knowledge that became formulated 

 in empirical practice ; that is, practice whose meaning was not under- 

 stood, but whose result experience assured. The general purpose was 

 to improve old forms and to develop new ones. The improvements 

 were numerous, and apparently were possible in any direction deter- 

 mined by the need or taste of man. It was learned that improvements 

 must be kept improved; in other words, that they would not remain 

 constant if left freely to nature. This was a laborious but profitable 

 method of plant-breeding, the method known in general as mass culture 

 or mass selection. The most desirable individuals were selected and 

 guarded through a series of generations, until the desired character 

 was built up sufficiently for commercial purposes. This is the oldest 

 and still the most widely used method of practical plant-breeding, 

 begun by unconscious selection and merging into intelligent selection. 



During all this period of plant improvement by mass culture and 

 continuous selection, the so-called science of botany was cultivating a 

 singularly distant field. In short, botany was not practical, and plant- 

 breeding was not scientific. Therefore, botanists on the one hand, and 

 agriculturists, horticulturists, floriculturists, etc., on the otlier hand, 

 were as distinct from one another as if they had nothing in common. It 



