1896.] ESSAYS. . 01 



if the same high standards of excellency were required that are in use 

 to-day. It is with no disparagement to science, however, when I 

 state that of the two forms of knowledge the art (which is that in 

 which the gardener excels) is the more important to the horticul- 

 turist, yet one may be an expert in one of these branches without 

 knowing much about the other. The excellent motto which the Royal 

 Agricultural Society of England adopted many years ago, namely, 

 " Practice with Science," appears to me to be the best one to fol- 

 low, and one which has more meaning to-day than at any other time 

 in the history of Agricultural or Horticultural practices, and what 

 holds good to-day will possess more significance in the future, for 

 the resources of scientific inquiry pertaining to Horticulture are by 

 no means exhausted. 



It is only necessary for me in calling your attention to this matter 

 to point out a few lines of scientific investigation which have already 

 affected horticultural practices, and which will undoubtedly produce 

 other beneficial results in the future. Of these investigations the 

 study and treatment of plant diseases has been so far as fruitful as 

 any to the horticulturists, and the use of the electric light in forcing 

 lettuce has shown beneficial results. 



Valuable results may be expected in the future from the study of 

 plant-breeding, in the improvement of varieties, development of seed- 

 less fruits, and a large field is open in the study of the function of 

 plants, or in vegetable physiology, not only for the purpose of being 

 able to grow more healthy plants, but to actually increase their assim- 

 ilative processes which will result in their greater growth. It is my 

 purpose to consider this afternoon some of the relationships of science 

 to Horticulture as illustrated by fungus diseases. Fungus diseases 

 affecting our cultivated plants have been known and observed from 

 time immemorial. Way back in the deepest depths of barbarism 

 when man first commenced to subdue some native plant, the presence 

 of a smut or mildew was undoubtedly interpreted, as it was a few cen- 

 turies ago, as the wrath of the gods for some offence. We find, how- 

 ever, in the Old Testament no less than six distinct references to 

 mildews and blasting.* Among the Greeks they are mentioned in the 

 works of Democritus, Theophrastus and Apuleius, and among the 

 Romans references to them can be found in the works of Cicero, 

 Pliny and Horace. 



Coming down to more recent times, to the early days in New Eng- 

 land, we find it stated by John Josselyu, an early PvUglish traveller, 



♦Geu. xli. G-27 ; Deut. xxviii. 22; Amos iv. 9; I. Kings viii. 37. 



