834 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. n. No. 51. 



score showing influence of climate and in 

 whiciL there are no elements of conjecture. 

 They speculate upon the transmission of ac- 

 quired characters ; the horticulturist knows 

 that they may be transmitted, and he 

 can furnish the proofs. Men want to know 

 what may be the influence of selection, 

 of struggle for life, of the change of soil 

 or moisture or any other feature of envi- 

 ronment ; the horticulturist cites you to 

 exact cases, before your very eyes, for these 

 are the tools with which from the earliest 

 time he has wrought and moulded the vege- 

 table world at his will. You ask that a 

 new species be created ; the horticulturist 

 has done it time and again, and he has the 

 proof of botanical classification — which 

 was made in ignorance of the origin of the 

 given form or species — to show that the 

 form really does rank as a good species ; or 

 if you will not accept the opinion of botan- 

 ists or the testimonj' of your eyes, as to 

 the real specific distinctness of the new 

 form, the horticulturist will show you a 

 hundred species of cultivated plants of 

 which no one knows the original forms, be- 

 cause the present type is so unlike the 

 original one that we have not yet been able 

 to connect the one with the other. Twenty 

 thousand new forms is a very conservative 

 estimate of the number which the horticul- 

 turist has produced by changes in the con- 

 ditions of life and by his efforts of selec- 

 tion. He, therefore, is of all men the one 

 to talk about evolution, for he has his knowl- 

 edge first-hand from nature. Paleontology 

 is the Egyptian hieroglyphic; plant culture 

 is the last revised edition of the record of 

 the life process. 



COUESES OF INSTRUCTION. 



The courses of instruction now offered 

 are twelve: The evolution of cultivated 

 plants; the literature of horticulture ; the 

 botany of cultivated plants ; the propaga- 

 tion of plants; pomology, or fruit raising; 



olericulture, or vegetable gardening; flori- 

 culture ; greenhouse construction and man- 

 agement; the theory and practice of the 

 spraying of plants; landscape gardening; 

 instruction in handicraft; investigation for 

 for advanced students. 



Some of these courses are given as semi- 

 naries ; that is, the students and instructor 

 meet informally in a small room and dis- 

 cuss the subject of the day. Let us take 

 the course upon the literature of horticul- 

 ture as an illustration. There are no biblio- 

 graphies of horticultural writings and no 

 collections of books which intend to be 

 complete. All this is proof that horticul- 

 ture has had few students iu this country. 

 This course is the only one of its kind ever 

 given, so far as we know. The University 

 library has a fair collection of horticultural 

 books, and the winter's collection of Ameri- 

 can horticultural literature is the most 

 complete in its line. From these collections 

 the course draws its supplies. The follow- 

 ing subjects have been taken up for discus- 

 sion so far this term: 



The hei'bals ; Roman literature ; litera- 

 ture of landscape gardening; European 

 grape literature; American grape literature; 

 French literature ; early American litera- 

 ture ; German literature ; current Ameri- 

 can literature ; English literature ; periodi- 

 cal literature. 



The chief writings illustrating these va- 

 rious topics are taken to the seminary room, 

 where they are freely discussed, the teacher 

 acting more as a leader of the discussion 

 than as an instructor. 



Students frequently lead these discussions. 

 This is particularly true of the seminary on 

 greenhouses, now in progress. In this course 

 the following subjects have been under re- 

 view this term: Evolution of the greenhouse; 

 side walls and foundations ; roofs ; interior 

 arrangements; methods of heating; ventila- 

 tion ; styles of houses for particular purposes; 

 glass and glazing; watering; pots and soils. 



