*702 EXPEBIMENT STATION RECORD. 



A study of the catalogues issued by the colleges of agriculture shows 

 that there is a wide range in the amount of instruction in plant 

 physiology and in the number of credits given it by the different 

 institutions. In some, work in plant physiolog}^ is required of stu- 

 dents of agriculture, while in others it is optional. The place it comes 

 in the curriculum may be anywhere from the freshman to the senior 

 year. In some institutions with which the colleges of agriculture are 

 affiliated the students in the so-called arts courses are given opportu- 

 nity to take more work in plant physiologA^ than is given to the 

 student in agriculture. Some institutions apparently offer no in- 

 struction that can in any way be called a course in plant physiolog}\ 

 Some give it a limited amovmt of attention in a general course in 

 botany that covers one year's time. In these cases there are no state- 

 ments indicating the relative amount of time given to this part of the 

 general topic. 



Most of the colleges offer definite courses in plant physiology, 

 which range from a weekly lecture or recitation and a laboratory 

 exercise for one semester, to three or more lectures and a correspond- 

 ing amount of laboratorj' work running through an entire year, 

 with optionals for additional study along the same line. Unfor- 

 timately the latter class is in a considerable minority. This is hardly 

 as it should be. The student of agriculture is vitally interested in 

 plant life and should be given ample opportunity to learn the normal 

 behavior of plants, for it is upon the proper development of his crops 

 that his success as a farmer will depend. 



In nearly every catalogue examined the course in botany included 

 classification as a rather important part of the work. While the 

 amount of time and relative importance assigned to it are less than 

 formerly, yet it is retained to the at least partial exclusion of other 

 studies. This is due probably to the historical position it has held 

 in college courses, and the conservatism of some who have the mak- 

 ing up of the curriculums. The classification of plants and calling 

 them by their scientific names are not to be condemned in themselves, 

 but they are not all of botany any more than the memorizing of 

 symbols and atomic weights are all of chemistry. Fortunately, more 

 attention is now being given to the plant as a living organism ; and 

 in order to provide sufficient opportunity to more completely study 

 the plant as such, some of our greatest institutions no longer attempt 

 to equally cover all the branches into which botany has been divided, 

 but content themselves with specializing along a few lines. This 

 principle could safely be adopted by others, leaving to special in- 

 stitutions those branches of the subject that do not immediately 

 articulate with the general course of training. In making such an 

 adjustment the agricultural colleges should frequently give a larger 

 part to plant physiology than is now given it. 



