Jlnk 28, 1917. 



The Florists^ Review 



17 



FLORICULTURAL s^ 

 <^ EDUCATION 



What the Agricultural Colleges are Doing and Hope to do in the 

 Interests of Commercial Floriculture in Education and Research. 



£^;^ 





Surely it 

 confidence 



IT is my firm belief that 

 floriculture in all its phases 

 is becoming more and more 

 scientific; that is to say, 

 more and more dependent 

 on the result of scientific 

 research and discovery, 

 must give a man greater 

 and power if he has had a 

 term or two at a school or college 

 where the subjects in which he will be 

 engaged in the earning of his livelihood 

 are highly specialized. Above all, of 

 course, he must have i)ractical exj)eri- 

 ence; that is taken for granted; but if 

 he understands j)lant life, chemistry, 

 the habit and structure of insect pests, 

 the life history of fungi, and other 

 such things, he is surely a lietter man 

 at his business. Practice with science, 

 in other words, is the ideal for which 

 we should strive, and we are following 

 this ])lan as far as existing circum- 

 stances will permit. 



Work at Amherst. 



For the benefit of those who are not 

 thoroughly familiar 

 with our system and 

 methods, I will ana- 

 lyze .briefly the 

 work of the Massa- 

 <'husetts Agricul- 

 tural College along 

 floriculturai lines. 

 The college offers 

 an education with- 

 out tuition fee to 

 any student who is 

 a resident of Massa- 

 chusetts and wlio 

 meets the require- 

 ments for admission. 

 Women are admitted 

 on the same basis as 

 are men. Students 

 who are not resi- 

 dents of ^lassacliu- 

 setts are re((uired to 

 pay a nominal tui- 

 tion fee. The 4-year 

 course leads to the 

 degree of bachelor 

 of science. Twenty- 

 seven teaching de- 

 partments offer in- 

 struction in agricul- 

 ture, liorticulture, 

 sciences, languages 

 and matliematics. A 

 system of major 

 courses ])erniits a 

 student in his third 

 year to elect major 

 work in one of fif- 

 teen departments, 

 specializing in that 

 and allied subjects 

 for a i^eriod of two 

 vears. A student 



From a i>!ii)er on "Floriculturai KducatiDii," 

 rciid lit a iiiet'tiilK of the (lardoncrs" :iii<l Flo- 

 rists' ("lul> of Mostoii, liy I'rof. Ariio H. NclnliiiK. 

 then of Massachusetts AKriciiltiiral I'oUcKc, Am- 

 herst. Mass. 



specializing in floriculture is always 

 required to take entomology, chemistry, 

 a certain number of courses in botany, 

 and other closely allied subjects, such 

 as landscape gardening. 

 ■ In nearly all our courses the students 

 are required to arrange their hours 

 according to the needs of the work, 

 which means that we can call on them 

 when the more important work is going 

 on in the greenhouses and gardens, and 

 every effort is made to give these men 

 a working knowledge of the best meth- 

 ods now in use. 



The object of the work is not to 

 turn out specialists or men who have 

 mastered all the details of practical 

 work. If a man wishes to specialize 

 along any particular line, he must first 

 obtain this j)ractice in some ui)-to-date 

 establishment. In this connection I 

 wish to say that we always urge our 



Arno H. Nehrling. 



men to go into practical work during 

 the summer months and vacation peri- 

 ods. 1 think the time is near at hand 

 when every student taking a course of 

 this nature will be required to have 

 at least one year's experience before 

 he receives his diploma. The Khode 

 Island Agricultural College has just 

 recently i)assed a ruling to this effect. 

 This would not be essential for the son 

 of a florist or a gardener, but for those 

 who have never worked under glass. 



Short Courses. 



As not everyone has the j)reparation 

 necessary for admission to the regular 

 4-year course, and as not everyone can 

 jifford'to spend four years in the study 

 of fundamentals, men may come to our 

 college for one or two years and take 

 special work in those subjects in whicli 

 they are particularly interested. They 

 must, of course, be willing to conform 

 to tlie rules and regulations of the 

 college, and men of any age may enter 

 these courses. In addition to this, the 

 college offers a ten weeks' course, to 



meet the needs of 

 those, both old and 

 young, who desire 

 to study ])riiiciples 

 ami modern methods 

 and who for various 

 reasons are unable 

 to attend the 4-year 

 course. The work 

 is planned to bring 

 l)efore the student 

 the results of the 

 latest investigations 

 in agricultural sci- 

 ence, and to point 

 out their jiractieal 

 a|i|)lication. In flori- 

 culture the course 

 covers, as thorough- 

 ly as time will per- 

 mit, those aspects of 

 the work of special 

 interest to the grow- 

 er. Some of the 

 sulijects considered 

 are greenhouse con- 

 struction, green- 

 house management 

 and methods used 

 by the ])rogressive 

 florist. S])ecial trips 

 to some of the up- 

 to-date floriculturai 

 establishnumts in 

 the state form a 

 valuable part of the 

 course. In addition 

 to the regular lec- 

 ture work, lectures 

 are usually given by 

 experts in the grow- 

 ing and marketing 

 of special crops. 



