■REPORT OF THE SOCIETY 27 



nomy, the lines of development have been the same as in Euro|te; in the SO's 

 morphology was making headway and in the 90's plant physiolog}^ was becom- 

 ing a factor. During this early period, economic botanj" was being developed 

 in the agricultural colleges and experiment stations by men who were trained 

 in the universities. Even at the present time comparatively few of our workers 

 in economic botany have received their elementar\' training in the agricultural 

 colleges and the probabilities are that this will be the case for many years to 

 come. Therefore, the obligatioi.s upon our universities is doubly great. They 

 must train most of our botanists for all lines of botanical work. Unfortunately 

 at the present time, applied botany is not fully appreciated by the agricultural 

 industry, by the agricultural colleges or by the departments of botany in our 

 large universities. Unfortunately many of our university professors are in- 

 clined to look upon plant pathology and other lines of applied botany as inferior, 

 rather than as the climax or super-products of their own handiwork. They 

 have forgotten that botany grew out of the medical profession and that Gled- 

 itsch, Martias, Caspary, DeBary, Sachs, Bref eld. Ward and many others who 

 may be looked upon as master workman in the building of the science were 

 interested in the applications of botany. They appear to have forgotten that 

 the founders of economic botany in America were trained in our universities by 

 Farlow, Atkinson and others whose names are deeply engraved in this history 

 of American botany. In 1914, Dr. H. C. Cowles in his address as retiring Chair- 

 man of Section G of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 

 said: "It would be a world tragedy if theoretical botany should die, or even 

 if it were to be less influential than at the present time." In a recent address 

 on "Trends of Modern Biology", Dr. Rajnuond Pearl called attention to "the 

 fact that all of the activities of all living things, including man, are properly a 

 part of biology in a greater or less degree; that the biologist may and probably 

 does have something important to contribute towards the solution of the most 

 various sorts of human problems, agricultural, medical, social, economic and so 

 on." The development of applied botany if properly directed will do more than 

 any other agency for the maintenance of theoretical or pure botany, but this 

 will not be accomplished if our universitj^ departments of botany continue in 

 their present attitude towards economic botany. It will be most unfortunate if 

 the time ever comes when the research workers in plant pathology receive all 

 their training in the agricultural institutions without being brought into closest 

 contact with the university professors and the more strictly theoretical problems 

 of botany. There are many problems in plant pathology that can be handled to 

 much better advantage in our botanical gardens and large universities which are 

 not connected with the agricultural institutions. 



The reformation must begin in our undergraduate courses and extend 

 into the graduate schools. At the present time, botany in the agricultural 



