MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 37 
in science the narrow field of a single species is sometimes so broadened by 
study and comparison that the work of one lifetime only clears the way for an 
’ intelligent beginning. It is a curious thought that one day the human mind 
will find itself out of material. All wiil have been pushed to the limits beyond 
which Tyndal vainly attempts to pass, and which he so eloquently described 
in his Belfast address. Men will understand how all matter mingles and 
combines to produce the objects and phenomena of the universe. Perhaps 
they will then be able to see why. Iam afraid they will never be satisfied if 
they do not. P 
' The student of Botany is very soon brought face to face with the per- 
plexing lack of definite characteristics between the plants he studies. He 
will even be in doubt many times as to whether a specimen is a flowering, 
or a non-flowering plant, the broadest distinction in Botany. But these 
troubles will gradually melt away, as he studies more, and he will learn to 
recognize points of difference which are only appreciated by the educated 
eye afid mind. It is wonderful to what extent the power of observation 
may be cultivated. There are a hundred who can talk, to one who can think ; 
but there are many who can think to one who can see. The educa- 
tional world is just discovering this truth. It is only within a few years 
that it has been thought necessary for a student to use his eyes for any 
' other purpose than to pore over text-books. It is no wonder that science 
did not thrive, and that classical studies predominated. But the tide has 
reached its ebb, and we everywhere see evidences of a strong flow in the 
right direction. The kindergarten system which twenty years ago would 
have been thought the height of absurdity, is now liberally employed in 
teaching target-practice to the young idea. There is an increasing demand 
for science in our public schools, and an increasing willingness to supply 
the apparatus with which to illustrate it. In colleges, the reaction is still 
more marked. We see its effects in the well-stocked laboratories of the 
university in whose halls we meet to-day. In these laboratories text-books 
are secondary, while habits of observation are carefully inculcated. 
Students see the actual conditions of the materials in the different stages 
of chemical and physical operations, the mere description of which could 
give but a vague idea. 
Fungi have been universally admitted into the vegetable kingdom. Of 
the two great classes, they belong to the Cryptogamia, or flowerless plants. 
The ordinary fern, or brake, of the woods, the various forms of moss, and 
the lichens, also belong to this great ciass of plants. They are the lowest 
in their organization of the vegetable kingdom. Many of them have no leaves ; 
some consist of but a single cell. The name is from two Greek words mean- 
ing concealec marriage. It was first used by Linnzus. They are the most 
difficult plants to study, because of the great variety of structure in the dif- 
ferent groups. They are not propagated by seeds, but by smal} bodies con- 
sisting of but a single cell, called spores. On the under side of the leaves 
of common ferns, along the curled edges, these spores may be found in 
abundance. The process of fertilization is not yet well understood, but 
there seems to be nothing like chance in their growth. The same species 
occur regularly in the same places. A large number of fungi are parasites; 
i. e. growing upon other plants. Smut incorn, rustupon grain, and the ordi- 
nary mould, are examples. A still greater number grow from decaying 
vegetable matter; others are found upon animal matter, as leather or bone; 
