THE PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 29 



oped unless there had been some basis for it. It is entirely for- 

 eign to my purpose to discover this basis ; the situation is sim- 

 ply to be recognized as a fact. 



The most unfortunate result of this public estimation of bot- 

 any was that it lingered much longer than it was deserved ; and 

 consequently, when the other so-called sciences had won public 

 esteem either through their services or their appeal to the won- 

 der-instinct, Botany lagged behind in public recognition, and in 

 most educational institutions was the latest born into the family 

 of the sciences. But finally it also began to render signal service 

 and to appeal to the wonder-instinct. 



Without attempting to disparage the wonderful recent devel- 

 opment of several phases of botanical activity, phases that have 

 become so developed as to endanger the federal interests of bot- 

 any as a unified science, there is certainly no one that is attract- 

 ing more attention at this time, both in its scientific and in its 

 practical aspects, than plant-breeding. 



It is not my purpose to recite the notable achievements that are 

 to be grouped under this title, for most of them have been widely 

 published, and are the common property of the scientifically in- 

 telligent. Nor is it my intention to make any contribution to the 

 rapidly accumulating store of knowledge in reference to this 

 aspect of plants, for I am simply an intensely interested spectator, 

 sitting on the bleachers but not getting into the game. It is the 

 editor's point of view rather than the investigator's that I can 

 bring to bear upon the subject. Just because so much has been 

 done recently, and because so much of it has been exploited with 

 wide variation in accuracy, I have thought it might be useful to 

 analyze the situation briefly, and to develop some facility in dis- 

 tinguishing between the probable and the improbable. In this 

 country of irresponsible and irrepressible newspapers, magazines, 

 and public addresses, one needs to accumulate a workable collec- 

 tion of antidotes. 



The practical aspect of plant-breeding, in a certain sense, is as 

 old as the culture of plants. Long experience in the handling of 

 plants slowly developed a kind of knowledge that became formu- 

 lated in empirical practice. The general purpose was to improve 

 old forms and to develop new ones. The improvements were 

 numerous, and apparently were possible in any direction deter- 

 mined by the need or taste of man. It was learned that improve- 

 ments mu^t be kept improved; in other words, that they would 



