30th January, A. D. 1896. 



KSSAY 



r.Y 



I'ltoK. G. K. STONE, Mas.saciiusktts A(;iuoiJi/ruRAL Collegk. 



Theme: — ParusUic Fungi Alfedivg the Horticulturist. 



Two of the most important bninclics of science associated with Hor- 

 ticulture are botany and entomology. Indeed, what science there is 

 connected with Horticulture belongs wholly to botany, and inasmuch 

 as Horticullure concerns ilsolf laigc^ly with matters of function rather 

 than those of structure, it would naturally fall under that branch of 

 botany known as vegetable physiology. But some may maintain that 

 Horticulture is not a science, but an art or a business. This may be 

 true, but this business r(!(juires art, which manifests itself in the gar- 

 dener's skill, and Ix^iiiiid tliis art there are scientific principles which 

 hav(^ b(!en unconsciously worked out and closely followed for genera- 

 tions with tlu! aid of that instructor known as intuition. This skill or 

 intuitive knowledge is the most valuable possession which a gardener 

 may lay claim to, and is a form of knowledge which cannot be ob- 

 tained from citlier books or colleges, but only by the direct observa- 

 tion of plants. To illustrate more definitely what 1 wish to infer, T 

 will state that every lloriculturist knows that it reciuircs some skill to 

 grow roses, and yet if a novice were to read all the hand-books on the 

 subject of rose-culture ever printed he might not be able to grow a 

 single healthy rose. 



In this respect the relationship between the art and science of Hor- 

 ticulture resembles that between art and science in general. If it 

 should happen from any cause whatsoever that all of our knowledge 

 pertaining to the art and skill employed in Horticulture should be 

 suddenly obliterated, and nothing remaining but the scientific princi- 

 ples found in books, any attempt made in the growing of fruit or 

 vegetables requiring skill would result in a bungling affair, and they 

 would hardly be subjects for a premium at a horticultural exhibition 



