NATIONAL COUNCIL OF HORTICULTURE 95 



might not be just as well discussed in assemblies of practical horticul- 

 turists. I do not believe that he expected to be taken too literally, but 

 there is food for thought in this remark. 



To achieve and maintain leadership the experiment station horticul- 

 turists must be able to do certain things better than the practical men, 

 and as I believe must chiefly depend on their ability to establish prin- 

 ciples, to work out methods and to discover causes or the rationale of 

 practice. When they leave this field and put themselves in competition 

 with commercial horticulturists they run great risks of failure. It is 

 only in rare cases that experiment station horticulturists are likely to 

 have the means to make tests and selections and to do other things 

 done in commercial practice on as broad a scale as the commercial 

 growers do them. How often have experiments in horticulture, as well 

 as other lines of agriculture, fallen into contempt because they were 

 undertaken on too small a scale. The besetting sin of the station 

 horticulturist has been the yielding to the temptation to undertake too 

 many things at one time, to try this and that and the other thing in a 

 picayunish way. His more or less valid excuse too often has been 

 that many of these things were forced upon him by the imperative de- 

 mands of his horticultural constituency. 



Both parties must learn more thoroughly the proper functions and 

 limitations of experiment station work in horticulture. The station 

 man must come to see more clearly that his proper work is to attack 

 problems which the practical man is not prepared to undertake and 

 the latter must recognize that it is folly to impose additional burdens 

 on workers already overloaded and that his efforts should rather be 

 mainly directed toward increasing funds and workers in horticulture at 

 the stations. As an aid to the discussion of the problems connected 

 with the establishment of the science of agriculture room was made for 

 a course in 'horticulture at the National Graduate School of Agricul- 

 ture held at the University of Illinois in 1906, and provision for a 

 similar course is being made for the session to be held at Cornell Uni- 

 versity and the Geneva Experiment Station in 1908. 



With the enlargement of the scientific basis of horticulture, mainly 

 through the broadening work of the experiment stations, it should be 

 possible to organize instruction in horticulture in a sounder pedagogical 

 manner and to extend this instruction both inside and outside the col- 

 leges so as to reach many more students and benefit horticultural prac- 

 tice much more widely. The formulation and discussion of horticul- 

 tural courses for different grades of schools should be encouraged. A 

 valuable contribution in this line was made by Professor F. W. Rane in 

 his paper before the Association of American Agricultural Colleges and 

 Experiment Stations at its meeting at Washington in 1905 (Office of 

 Exp't Stat. Bui. 165). The preparation of horticultural text-books, 

 manuals and illustrative materials should also be promoted. 



Especially, efforts should be made to secure the more thorough 

 organization and equipment of horticultural departments in some of 

 the agricultural colleges, located in states where horticulture is a great 

 agricultural industry. We need more of such specialization of develop- 



