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HORTICULTURE 



April 13. 1918 



•PRACTICE AND THEORY IN HOR- 

 TICULTURE." 



An Illualrnti'il I..iiiirf by frofpssor E. A. 



White. Corii.'ll rnlv.Tnlly. Dollvorod 



Before the llutTulo KlorlBt Clul> 



•'Under the conditions of yesterday 

 It was possll'lo for tlie machine man, 

 the ruleof-thnnil) horticulturist, to 

 turn out his third class products and 

 market them for a fourth-class price, 

 and yet live. Today, with the vastly 

 Increased difUculties confronting the 

 Oorist and the orchardist this slip-shod 

 road to success is barred. Insects new 

 to the gardener, diseases that were not 

 beard of a year or two ago are contin- 

 ually presenting new difficulties to the 

 florist and vegetable grower on the one 

 hand, while the competition in an In- 

 creasingly critical market is growing 

 sharper every day. While difficulties 

 seem to have conspired to complicate 

 the cares of the horticulturist, we 

 must not forget that he has shared 

 In the general scientific progress of 

 the times, and that his work, like that 

 of other industries had increased its 

 total content of practical knowledge 

 as a result of the accumulation of the 

 experience which practical gardeners 

 have added to the complex body of 

 facts which a gardener must master 

 before he can lay claim to any practi- 

 cal efficiency. 



The new man. the modern horticul- 

 turist, feels the need of science to aid 

 him in the practical work of his green- 

 house range or nursery. This does not 

 mean that science can take the place 

 of practice or that theory can some- 

 how^ enable one to escape hard work, 

 as some persons seem to suppose. 

 Science is nothing more than an as- 

 sembly of practical experience so or- 

 ganized and classified that general 

 truths may bo drawn therefrom. It 

 is a truth often commented upon that 

 rractical men lack science and scien- 

 tific men are not practical, and no one 

 in his senses would deny that if it 

 were possible to have only one of these 

 types of training, the practical would 

 get him farther in the work of the 

 world. The right attitude, and the 

 one best calculated to bring on the 

 progress of any department of work, 

 Is for the practical man to have as his 

 goal an ever increasing knowledge of 

 science, and for the theorist to bear 

 ever in mind that his theory is worse 

 than valueless if it cannot be applied 

 in a practical way. It sometimes 

 happens that the work of a scientist Is 

 of such an abstract nature that Its 

 usefulness is hard to see. yet we are 

 startled every day by some practical 

 application of a science hitherto 

 thought far beyond the realm of every- 

 day use. An example of this is the 

 work of Father Mendel in the field of 

 genetics. He had, in all probability, 

 not the faintest knowledge of the ex- 

 tent to which his purely theoretical 

 work with the breeding of garden peas 

 would some day influence the horti- 

 cultural world. 



I can furnish numerous examples of 

 young men who have made good with 

 the help of a college training in horti- 



culture. Whether they would have 

 ilono substantially as well without it. 

 It is of course impossible to say; but 

 it may be safely asscrtc<l thai the suc- 

 cess is much more uniform among 

 those thus trained than among an 

 equal number of men who have not 

 had tills adviuitage. We can take a 

 man of quite limited brains and. with 

 systematic training, turn out a result 

 that Is really suri)ri8lng. One must 

 always remember that the number of 

 practical men who succeed in propor- 

 tion to the number of those who at- 

 tempt is small, and for one who makes 

 good there are many who fall by the 

 waysl'.le. We occasionally meet with 

 those who are broad-minded enough 

 to see the advantage of the training 

 we have to offer, even though success 

 without it apparently lies before them. 

 .\ young man once came to me who 

 had just received a most attractive 

 offer to manage a hortloiltural estab- 

 lishment. He felt, howes'er, that he 

 was not well enough qualified to 

 render worthy service to his employ- 

 ers and. therefore, wished to take a 

 course in horticulture to supplement 

 his practical knowledge. (The writer 

 is here constrained to observe that it 

 is a pity that this attitude is not more 

 wide-spread, for in his observance 

 most park superintendents never 

 question their ability to cope with any 

 condition that comes along and hold 

 any position without the slightest 

 practical knowledge of horticulture 

 or landscape work.) 



Our instructional work is divided 

 into a number of main divisions and 

 the fundamental preparation is given 

 the student in the various departments 

 of the University dealing with sciences 

 bearing upon horticulture such as 

 chemistry, soil techbology, botany, 

 plant breeding, plant pathology and 

 plant physiology. I shall briefly out- 

 line the way in which the work of 

 these colateral sciences co-operates to 

 aid in a thorough basic knowledge of 

 the work of horticulture. 



By a study of the functions of the 

 plant, the activities of the cell, and 

 the processes of growth, respiration, 

 assimilation, and reproduction gained 

 through the study of plant physiology. 

 Apparatus designed to so control the 

 environment of plants that the effect 

 of a single growth factor may be 

 measured, are used to study the in- 

 fluence of various types of environ- 

 ment upon the living plant. The trans- 

 pirograph is an instrument for deter- 

 mining the rate at which a plant 

 transpires or gives off moisture. This 

 is shown to be at a varying rate de- 

 pendent upon whether the plant is 

 tested in a humid or dry atmosphere. 

 A considerable amount of very promis- 

 ing work has been done at Cornell 

 along the line of the etherization of 

 plants to intensify the rest-period and 

 force them into growth and cause them 

 to produce flowers in mid-winter. A 

 box. tightly lided is used to hold the 

 plants which are placed therein in 

 dr)' sand in early winter. The clumps 

 are best handled rather dry for the 

 ether like all other gases is absorbed 

 by water. Ether in specific quantity 

 is then introduced into the boxes and 

 the plant is thus treated for 24 hours. 

 It is then removed, watered, and 

 given suitable greenhouse culture. In 

 this way lilacs, astllbes, and deutzias 



arc brought into bloom in midwinter. 

 It is not yei certain whether this 

 method would be practical for the 

 commercial florist, but it la worthy of 

 investigation, for the flowers and foli- 

 age develoi>cd under these treatments 

 is superior to that of plants forced 

 without etherization. 



In the study of the soil, plants are 

 grown with various nutrlant solutioDB 

 to determine what are the essentials 

 in plant fertility. A Bcries of plants 

 Is grown with a nutrlant solution from 

 which a single (different) element Is 

 omitted in each case. Uy this experi- 

 ment, it Is possible to determine the 

 effect of the absence of calcium phos- 

 phate, magnesium sul|ihate, sodium 

 nitrate, feric chloride (iron), or potas- 

 ium upon the plant. A chemical 

 analysis of the soil can tell the horti- 

 culturist nothing; for the availability 

 of plant-food is the all-important fea- 

 ture of fertilty. A quantity of plant- 

 food far loo small to be detected by 

 the most accurate chemical analysis, 

 is capable of doubling the yield of a 

 given soil, on the one hand, while no 

 amount of unavailable fertilizer, how- 

 ever large, could increase the yield of 

 the soil. There is no chemical method 

 of ascertaining whether or not the 

 constituents of a soil comprise avail- 

 able or unavailable plant-food, the 

 plant alone can tell you this. It is 

 by the mechanical analysis of soils 

 that we can get a line on what they 

 are through the work of the labora- 

 tory. All soils are made up of four 

 component parts -clay (the particles 

 of which are the finest), silt (the next 

 coarser), sand, and gravel. It we 

 know the percentage of these consti- 

 tuents, we can predict to some extent 

 the properties of the soil, and recom- 

 mend methods for handling it. A 

 New England rose-grower in locating 

 his range, procured samples of sand 

 from various parts of New England 

 with a view to determining which 

 locality furnished the type of soil he 

 was looking for. When he finally 

 selected his location based upon these 

 investigations, the remark was made 

 by one in touch with his work that he 

 had "a veritable gold mine in his 

 soil." 



Another science subserving horti- 

 culture is that of genetics. The plant- 

 breeder has done much to give the 

 horticulturist plants that are of finer 

 beauty, better flavor, hardier, and bet- 

 ter able to withstand the conditions 

 of various environments. The work 

 of Mendel has led to the scientific 

 study of the definite mathematical 

 laws of heredity whereby the results 

 of hybridization can be predicted, and 

 a definite goal worked tor in the de- 

 veloping of a strain, or variety. We 

 have but to look at a specimen of 

 Chrysanthemum indicum recently 

 brought out by Dr. Bailey from China 

 to realize that the work of plant-breed- 

 ing is a very important part in the 

 development of our florists and other 

 crops. 



Finally let me not fail to mention 

 the great progress that has come as 

 a result of the spendid development 

 of the modern greenhouse. Compare It 

 with the little dark structure of yes- 

 terday, and realize what a tremen- 

 dous advantage we have over our 

 predecessors in the work. 



