86 



— ever}'\vhere the field is the same. If there is any use in grow- 

 ing plants, they can be improved. 



A number of years ago in the neighboring State of Wis- 

 consin it was shown how it was possible to treat seed oats in 

 such a way as to reduce the loss from smutting of the oats. 

 In Wisconsin alone, the saving through that practice amounts 

 to more than the entire cost of operating the great Univer- 

 sity of that State ; and it is not limited to the State of Wis- 

 consin. 



Every little while I have, an opportunity to talk with a rail- 

 road man, and he tells me about the terrible problem that 

 cross-ties and structure-timbers present. White oak sticks that 

 a few years ago were being cut down for cross-ties are now 

 becoming available for cabinet-wood purposes. To-day tie-sizes 

 are too valuable to be so used. What the future is to be is 

 very much of a question. Of late years the same attention has 

 been given to this problem as to those of plant breeding and 

 of protection against fungi, in the treatment of timber as a 

 practical means of preservation, and Dr. von Schrenk, and the 

 people who have worked with him in the conservation and 

 careful handling of timber have done more than we, to-day, 

 realize, in enabling us to leave standing on their own roots the 

 trees that are going to be absolutely neded for construction in 

 a very short time. 



If it were not for the botanists who studied the Cinchona tree 

 and who discovered how it could be planted and, cultivated 

 profitably, we should to-day stand in much greater dread of 

 malaria than we do, because quinine is derived largely from 

 trees plantcrl in the Old World, originally from New World 

 derivatives. To-day, we do not know where to turn for that 

 indispensable article we have in hand at all times — the lead 

 pencil, and as for India rubber, this is narrowing down to such 

 an extent that it is liard to ic'll where it is going to come from. 

 Gutta-percha is absolutely essential for electrical wiring 

 and electrical construction. Botanists are at work the world 

 over studying the origin of every kind of gutta and gum that 

 can be aj^plied to these industries, and cultivation is going to 



