402 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



drawn from experience is depended upon rather than a knowledge of 

 principles. The work of horticulturists has dealt largely with the 

 art— with the commercial and aesthetic side of the subject. This has 

 predominated to such a degree as often, and perhaps usually, to give 

 the student an imperfect conception of the field and a biased view as 

 to the needs on the experimental side. 



At no stage has there been the attempt to correlate horticultural 

 practice and problems with the sciences that there has been in some 

 branches of agriculture proper. The fundamentals of horticulture 

 have not been sufficiently developed to meet the demands of scientific 

 training, and graduate work in that subject has not been so arranged 

 as to promote investigation except in a quite limited way. 



The science has been to a large degree borrowed from the related 

 sciences, and systematic investigation in the science of horticulture 

 by horticulturists has been prosecuted only sparingly. They have 

 been too busy with the practical questions and often in conducting 

 large plantations on a commercial basis. In their teaching and their 

 experimental work they have spread themselves over too broad a 

 field. Their work has been diffuse, and there have been few who 

 have been content to confine themselves to a definite field. This has 

 necessarily made much of the work superficial; and the success met 

 with in assisting practical men has tended to engender a certain satis- 

 faction with that kind of work, and prevented full realization of the 

 need of more fundamental investigation. 



Horticulture as a science has not yet been organized, and the field 

 of horticultural investigation has not yet been surveyed and mapped. 

 Only quite recently has much consideration been given to the science 

 of horticulture and its upbuilding. It presents a virgin field. 



The meeting of the society at St. Catharines, Ontario, was therefore 

 a noteworthy one in the prominence given to this subject. In this 

 respect it was a realization of what was expected when the society 

 was organized under its present name several years ago. As a mark 

 of its interest in the subject, the society rejected a proposition to 

 change its name to that of an Association of Official Horticulturists ; 

 the sentiment prevailed that the body should retain the name and the 

 character of a society of science as related to horticulture. As such 

 it has a wholly unoccupied field, and may become a very important 

 agency for the advancement of horticultural science and the reor- 

 ganization of horticulture in the agricultural colleges and experiment 

 stations. 



In the presidential address, Mr. W. A. Taylor, of this Department, 

 voiced the great and increasing need for science in horticulture. 

 This must be developed out of thoroughgoing research, fundamental 

 in character and method, and aimed primarily at principles and laws 



