KKI'OJIT OK 'J'lIK SOCIK'IY 17 



AnollitT i£,i('n\ advance was marked hy wfial may Ix' calhd I )e lia ry'fi r(!- 

 diHCOVcry or d:!irions1.raf ion of lif^teroecism aiiionji, ilw, rusls wliidi }ie f^ave to 

 th(! world in IHOf). I say rediscovery hecau.se I lie relal io;iKliip helweeji (lie bur- 

 berry and wheat rusi had been Hii.spect('d by lanrierH t liroiifilioul Western lOiiro- 

 p(! and had been demonst rated by Schoeler, a Danish selioolnias1('i',a,nd publisluMl 

 in 18IS. (I/d'ortiifiat(^!y Sehoehir's jjajjer did nol attract atlenliftn and tli(a(!- 

 forc the ercujit for this work is usually jj,iven to I)e Bary. In tiiis connection 

 it may bo woll to call attention I o t he fact ( liat tho MaHHa(!huH(!ttK colony passcfl 

 a law in 1,755 (intitled "An Act to I^rc^vt^nt Dajna^f to Mnylish (Jrain Arising 

 From liarberry liushes." Tlu! two forms of I he riisl fun^jjns on the barberry 

 and whoat wore ho urdike that the botaniHts wuro, slow in accept iiif; the idvas 

 of Scho(!l(!r and I)e Bary. This was especially true in (irc-.ii. I'ritain, exccipUnj; 

 for th(! stiidi(;s of Marshall Ward and his students and Plowri)i,ht , a physician of 

 Kinj^'s Jvynn. In America, this line; of work waK taken uj) by Dr. I-'ailow oi Har- 

 vard in ]HHi). However, by far thr; ^[reattist progress in the st udy of niycolo^;y 

 has been made within the; past 75 years. The st udy of fun^i, lil<c the st udy of 

 the fiowerin^ plants, had its b(!^inninj^H in taxonomy — the chief corner sto/ie en 

 which W(! are now buildinfj; the science; of plant ))atholf)f>,y. l'"urt,hrrmore, the 

 d(!Ve!oprru!nt of mycoloj^y was dependent very largely on tin; dovelopnjent of 

 th*' /nicr(jscofj(; during the prec.-dinfi- 1 wo cent uries. 



Although the ri.se of botany was due })rimarily to the medical (jrofession 

 the study of economic relationships durin^^; the; latter f)art of the I9(h f;entury 

 was decidedly in the back ground. Agriculture, much of whif;h is in reality 

 applied botany, was allowful to d(!veIop almost entirely independently of tin; 

 mother subject. But it was during this period that our a(i;ricult,ural (;oIlet^(!K 

 and experiment stations cam(! into (;xistenf;r; and very rapidly devcdofxid into 

 important factors in our (Mlucational, industrial and political affairs. In the 

 CBtablishment of these institutions, chcjmistry was pre(;minent; it was thought 

 that tho study of the chemistry of soils and fertilizers would solv*; all tlur pro- 

 blems of plant growth and crop produf;tjon, and tlusrc! an; any who ar(! still 

 inclined to this view. It munt bo admitted that chemistry is the most advanced 

 of th(! sciences and has done more towards increasirif? crop f)roduction than bo- 

 tany; and that the botanittts have bf;en all too^willin^ to allow this condition 

 to develop. However, botany was an active, although rather poor second in 

 the/^e institutions. In the bef^innirif?, it was u:-,iyally r;f)mbiTied with hortif;ul- 

 ture, a true branch of botany which v(;ry (piickly develof>efl into an indefx-n- 

 dent subject, overshadowing the mother subject in many institutions in i^oth 

 activity and usefulness. This was followed by the development and s(!paration 

 of fonjstry, plant breeding and other divisions of bot>any. In some cases the 



