April 5, 1913 



HORTICULTURE 



517 



intimate touch not alone with the or- 

 dinary details of the growing of plants, 

 but they must know the principles 

 which underlie the process of plant 

 breeding; they must know of the 

 micro-organisms at work in the soil 

 and the various chemical actions 

 which are going on in the soil and add 

 to its fertility and productiveness; 

 they must know the nature of the vari- 

 ous insects and diseases which prey on 

 plant lite, in order that they may suc- 

 cessfully combat these enemies. There- 

 fore, while the physical environment 

 of the plant has much to do with its 

 growth and development, a knowledge 

 of these factors alone is not sufficient 

 if one is to become a specialist. 



In the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 College two years of the four required 

 are devoted to cultural and fundamen- 

 tal studies. There are few definitely 

 agricultural or horticultural studies be- 

 fore the junior year. The men then 

 elect their major subject and the in- 

 structor in charge of the course in 

 which they elect their major work acts 

 as an advisor regarding correlated sub- 

 jects which should be studied. In this 

 way the student gets a well-balanced 

 course. As an example, he elects flori- 

 culture as his major and his advisor 

 requires that he also take courses in 

 plant pathology, entomology, plant ma- 

 terials, soils and fertilizers, or chemis- 

 try. Each of these courses is given by 

 a man with special training, which fits 

 him for his work. In this way the man 

 graduates with a general knowledge of 

 all branches of floriculture. If he has 

 had several years of practical work in 

 a range of greenhouses before taking 

 his college course he derives better re- 

 sults, for he has a clearer insight into 

 his subject and can get much more out 

 of it. While this course turns out men 

 well equipped in fundamental studies 

 and in general principles of floricul- 

 tural knowledge, it does not, of course, 

 turn out specialists. Neither does it 

 turn out men who have mastered all 

 the details of the practical work. It 

 does, however, equip men with a splen- 

 did foundation on which to build a 

 strong life of service in the business. 

 If the men are to become specialists 

 this specialization must come later by 

 concentration on some one branch of 

 the industry and a determination to 

 master that branch in all its details. 

 This may be brought about partly by a 

 period of practical work on the special 

 branch in some large range where the 

 specialty is grown to its best perfec- 

 tion, but it seems to me that the great- 

 est benefit may be derived if this prac- 

 tical experience is later supplemented 

 by a period of graduate work at the 

 Agricultural College. I might say in 

 this connection that I am now consid- 

 ering a project with the head of the 

 graduate school whereby our gradu- 

 ates who go out into practical work 

 may return after a prescribed period 

 and after a supplementary scientific 

 study of their specialty be given the 

 degree of Master of Science in Flori- 

 culture. 



But not everyone can afford to spend 

 four years or longer in study of funda- 

 mentals, nor is it for the best interests 

 of the industry that they should. To 

 meet the needs of these individuals, 

 the college now offers a special course 

 for men of mature years who have had 

 a high school training and who want 

 to devote a little time for special train- 



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ing. These men come to the college 

 for one or two years and take special 

 work in those definite subjects in 

 which they are especially interested. 

 For the most part these same subjects 

 are given to the regular junior and 

 senior students. These men are given 

 no diploma or certificate. They come 

 only for what they can get out of the 

 courses offered. 



Then again the college offers excep- 

 tional opportunities by a ten weeks" 

 short course during January, February 

 and the first of March when men may 

 come to the college to get in a con- 

 densed form in this short time much 

 that is given in the longer courses. 

 They meet men with kindred interests 

 and derive much benefit from an inter- 

 change of ideas. Practical men come 

 to the college for lectures on special 

 subjects and these men give to the 

 students many suggestions which their 

 experiences have proven to be valu- 

 able. 



Then there are correspondence 

 courses in floriculture for those who 

 cannot leave their home duties. To 

 my mind these courses are of minor 

 importance, for my experience with 

 them has seemed to prove that this 

 subject does not lend itself to those 

 courses. The lectures, text books and 

 questions are sent out to the people 

 taking the courses, but in the majority 

 of cases these individuals do not take 

 suflacient time to read over the subject 

 matter and to transpose it into their 

 own language. They look up the an- 

 swers to the questions in the lectures 

 and text and answer them verbatim in 

 the words of the lecturer or the writer 

 of the text. It seems that the Individ- 

 ual gets little lasting benefit from such 

 a course. 



I believe, however, that there is a 

 splendid opportunity for extension 

 work in floriculture along other lines. 

 Massachusetts is a state where the 

 industry ranks of major importance 

 and where the amount of capital in- 

 volved is considerable. I believe there 

 is room for one or two extension 

 schools of floriculture in this state and 

 I should like to see these started per- 

 haps in connection with some of the 

 horticultural societies in Boston or in 

 Western Massachusetts. The Connec- 

 ticut Valley is well cared for by the 

 Smith's Agricultural School and the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College. 

 Courses such as these would give the 

 industry a splendid impetus and they 

 would be the means of giving many 

 young men who are already engaged 

 in the business, on private estates, in 

 retail establishments and in commer- 

 cial ranges, a chance to learn much of 



beneflt at a minimum expense of time 

 and money. What the industry needa 

 today is a higher grade of workman 

 and this will never come until the 

 young men have better chances for 

 learning the business. One of the most 

 prominent New Jersey growers told 

 me recently that he was convinced 

 that it paid him to employ a high qual- 

 ity of labor even at higher wages, and 

 I know for a fact that another large 

 corporation is employing men of this 

 grade as managers and foremen in the 

 different departments. Too frequently 

 men employed in the larger ranges get 

 training only in one or two branches 

 and therefore are not well balanced in 

 their development. They are special- 

 ists in the narrow sense of the word. 

 There is then again an unfortunate 

 opinion among some growers that it is 

 detrimental to their best interests for 

 young men to learn the secrets of their 

 success. As in every industry where 

 competition is keen, there are certain 

 methods which any grower may legiti- 

 mately keep to himself, but there is 

 much general information which might 

 be given to the younger generation 

 without injury in the least to the busi- 

 ness of any individual. 



I believe it is up to the present gen- 

 eration of florists to expand and to 

 get out of narrow conservative ruts, it 

 there be such, and to give the coming 

 generation such a preparation for their 

 life work that the business will take 

 on new value and dignity because of 

 the increased mental vision of the men 

 engaged in it. 



The gardeners and florists of today 

 are as a class broad-minded, progres- 

 sive men, but we who are bound up 

 heart and soul in the interests of the 

 Industry want the next generation to 

 go far ahead of the present in every 

 phase of the work. 



THE BLOSSOM. 



Only a little shrivelled seed — 

 It might be flower or grass or weed ; 

 Only a box of earth on the edge 

 Of a narrow, dust.v window ledge; 

 Only a few scant Summer showers. 

 Only a few clear, shining hours — 

 That was all. Yet God could make 

 Out of these, for a sick child's sake, 

 A blossom wonder as fair and sweet 

 As ever broke at an angel's f^eet. 



Only a life of barren pain. 

 Wet with sorrowful tears of rain; 

 Warmed sometimes by a wandering gleam 

 Of Joy that seemed but a happy dream; 

 A life as common and brown and bare 

 As the box of earth in the window there. 

 Yet it bore at laast the precious i>loom 

 Of a perfect soul in a narrow room — 

 Pure as the snowy leaves that fold 

 Over the flower's heart of gold. 



— Dr. Henry Van Dyke, In 



Rural i^ozu Yorker. 



