294 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX No. 1265 



progress, and the oldest and most funda- 

 mental of all human pursuits — the cultiva- 

 tion of the soil — has not remained un- 

 touched. Just as agriculture is one of the 

 oldest occupations of man, so, also, is it one 

 of the oldest occupations of women. It was 

 part of the business of the Indian squaw to 

 scratch up the earth and plant and culti- 

 vate corn, while her lord and master was 

 busy in the so-called "larger sphere" out- 

 side the home. "We recall, with no particu- 

 lar feeling of pride in our species, the fact 

 that in some countries women, as a matter 

 of general practise, were yoked with the 

 oxen in plowing. One particularly mili- 

 tant woman of my acquaintance has re- 

 marked that this lot was preferalble to be- 

 ing yoked for life to the owner of the oxen ! 



But every concession is dangerous, unless 

 one is prepared to go the entire logical 

 length of the course. The modern man 

 knows this only too well. Freedom of ac- 

 tion outside the four walls of the home is a 

 wonderfully broadening process, for woman 

 as well as for man. If I can pull the plow 

 with the ox, why might I not plan and 

 supervise the work, and even own the ox, 

 and the plow, and the farm? Nothing is 

 more unsettling than qiiestions unanswered ; 

 nothing is more enlightening than the pur- 

 suit of the answer; nothing is more con- 

 vincing than the particular answer one 

 very much wishes to find. Why, indeed 1 



The history of the intervening steps and 

 struggles and advances is too long to be 

 here reviewed, but we are all familiar with 

 the results^ — the bill of rights, the declara- 

 tion of independence, 'the emancipation 

 proclamation, equal suffrage, and a seat in 

 Congress. So I find myself, this afternoon, 

 addressing the graduates of a school of hor- 

 ticulture for women. 



In that charming forerunner of our mod- 

 ern popular books on gardening, "My 

 Summer in a Garden," Charles Dudley 



Warner makes the unguarded statement 

 that "Women always did, from the first, 

 make a muss in a garden." This poorly 

 concealed reference to Eve and Eden was a 

 mean fling, and I found myself sajdng, as I 

 read it, that, if Charles Dudley Warner 

 had been writing in 1918, he would have 

 been more circumspect in his statements — 

 especially if he had any thought of run- 

 ning for public office. But as I read on, I 

 found that his wisdom and judgment had 

 not wholly forsaken him, for he continues: 



But I am not an alarmist ... I am quite ready 

 to say to PoUy or to any -other woman, "You can 

 liave the ballot; only leave me the vegetables." 

 . . . But, I see how it is. Woman is now supreme 

 in the house. She already stretches out her hand 

 to grasp the garden. She will gradually control 

 everytihdng. . . . "Let me raise the vegetables of 

 a nation, ' ' says Polly, ' ' and I care not who makes 

 its politics." 



Here we have an inspiration to return to 

 the modus vivendi of the red Indian. In 

 biology we would call it atavism; it is al- 

 ways an indication that progress has taken 

 place. 



But there is another and more serious rea- 

 son why Charles Dudley Warner woiild 

 have written otherwise to-day. He, and his 

 contemporaries had probably never heard 

 of a school of horticulture for women. Now 

 schools of horticulture for women exist for 

 the express purpose of educating women 

 so that they shall not make a muss in the 

 garden — ^just as law and medical schools 

 exist so that men and women shall not 

 "make a muss" in law and medicine — just 

 as schools of horticulture for men aim to 

 prevent men from making a muss in a gar- 

 den — in other words, to make horticulture 

 a profession, and not merely an occupation. 

 This is the theme which I wish briefly to 

 elaborate and emphasize this afternoon — 

 horticulture a profession. 



Superficially we all know the difference 

 between a trade and a profession. For ex- 



