1 2 TIPPO 



during the last five decades in the field of Plant Science, or papers relating 

 Botany to human affairs. These articles, which promise to be of great general 

 interest, will appear in subsequent issues of the American Journal of Botany 

 and then will be published in book form as the Jubilee Volume. 



10. Finally, the Society has decided on this occasion of its fiftieth anniver- 

 sary to honor fifty living botanists by awarding certificates of merit for their 

 outstanding contributions to Botany and Plant Science. The plan is to award 

 one or more certificates each year at our future annual meetings. 



An occasion of this kind is not only an occasion for taking stock, but also 

 a time for looking toward the future. One of the regrettable features of con- 

 temporary Botany is its fragmented nature. There is no one botanical society 

 to which all botanists belong; instead we have a dozen or more small organi- 

 zations representing special professional areas. In the past (namely, 1906) our 

 botanical forebears decided it was the path of wisdom to merge the separate 

 Botanical Society, the Society for Plant Morphology and Physiology, and the 

 American Mycological Society. Perhaps in the future we may expect the 

 emergence of a single Botanical Society in which all botanists — all plant scien- 

 tists — will hold membership. If this happy event does not come to pass, per- 

 haps we may be able to persuade all plant scientists as a matter of principle 

 and professional obligation to belong to the Botanical Society as well as to 

 hold membership in special plant-science groups. At least this is one of the 

 important problems facing the Council and the membership of the Society 

 as a whole. Two committees are working in this area. One is the Committee 

 on Relationships of the Society to Other Plant Science Organizations, which 

 hopes through representation from all areas of plant science to explore ways 

 and means of achieving some sort of unity among plant scientists. The other 

 is the Membership Committee, which is constantly striving to convince bot- 

 anists of all persuasions that they should affiliate with the Botanical Society 

 as well as with their special groups. 



Eventually our Society may become sufficiently mature professionally to 

 tackle the important and complex problem of the best type of organization 

 of botanical work in colleges and universities. Should it be organized in 

 separate botanical departments or in biology departments? What about the 

 wisdom of siphoning off special segments of botanical work into separate de- 

 partments of microbiology, genetics, plant pathology, plant physiology, etc.? 

 What is the best type, if there is a best type, of beginning course? Should 

 it be a botany course, or a biology course? 



Eventually we may want to come to grips with the problem which is of 

 great concern to all botanists in the colleges and universities — how can we 

 attract more, and more competent, botanical majors? At the present time, ten 

 to fifteen majors seem to be the maximum for even the largest universities. 

 We must devise ways and means of attracting our fair share of undergraduate 

 majors. It is a strange paradox that in this day and age when there is such 



