2 HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK. 



pliances to produce greater results from the soil i-l^nn have ever been 

 produced heretofore. 



I am sure if you keep on. with the progress that has already been 

 made, and advance still farther, which doubtless you will do, that we 

 who are confined day by day and year by year within the bounds of a 

 narrow office or manufactorj^, will only be too glad to take advantage of 

 the benefits you have conferred upon us, to get into the open and enjoy 

 the sun and the light of heaven. 



I welcome you, gentlemen, in the house of the American Institute, 

 trusting your deliberations will be pleasant and beneficial, and that you 

 will leave us with a good impression of the City of New York. 



The President — As to the particular subject of our meeting, we are 

 here to do what we are because of the work of two great laws. One is 

 the force of heredity and the other is the force of environment. 



Under those two laws we are what we are, and those laws are of 

 such wide and universal application that the subject to be considered comes 

 under their operation. 



Plants are influenced by heredity, and this force is potent, very potent. 

 It is, however, subject to some changes and modifications, such as Pro- 

 fessor DeVries has recently called our attention to. 



Plants are influenced by their environment. Their environment and 

 the environment of their progenitors have determined their character, 

 and it is the change that comes upon their character by the influence of 

 environment that we are to consider. 



There are few more interesting things than the consideration of the 

 application of the great universal laws, and I am quite sure that our 

 meeting here and the papers which we will hear read, and which will be 

 discussed, I hope, and I believe, will influence and enlarge our knowledge 

 upon these interesting and important matters. The programme calls first 

 for a paper from Dr. MacDougal, now of Tucson, Arizona, on "Factors 

 Aff^ecting the Seasonal Activities of Plants." 



Before Dr. MacDougal begins the reading of his paper, I want to 

 say that the new work he is introducing in Arizona is one for which he 

 is eminently qualified. Of course, we know of his admirable work here 

 in our own New York Botanical Garden, and that he is working there 

 under most exceptional conditions, having a range of elevation of over 

 a mile as his experiment station. He has the climate, he has it practically 

 in his hand, and he has opportunities for observation that are equalled 

 by few in the world. 



Dr. MacDougal — Mr. President and IMembers : I think you have 

 handicapped me by these preliminary remarks, because I shall not prob- 

 ably be able to show results equal to what j'ou will expect. 



