838 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. II. No. 51. 



fruit intei'ests of the State; the studj^ of the 

 forcing-house industry, particularly in rela- 

 tion to winter vegetables and the commer- 

 cial flowers; studies in the systematic bot- 

 any of cultivated plants. Manj^ of the re- 

 sults have been published in bulletins of 

 the experiment station. In the forcing in- 

 dustry we need soon to take up the grow- 

 ing of winter fruits, such as nectarines, 

 peaches, cherries, grapes and the like, sub- 

 jects for which we at present have no 

 equipment. The influence of the electric 

 light upon plants has been a subject of 

 study for five consecutive years. 



My reader now wants to know if the far- 

 mer appreciates it all. For ISTew York State, 

 I answer, Yes ! A thousand times. Yes ! 

 Those who have kept no track of the farm- 

 ing population can have no appreciation of 

 the almost volcanic awakening which is 

 now taking place. Old methods are bi'eak- 

 ing down, old and cherished customs are 

 crumbling, and in the confusion of the 

 break-up and the transition the weak are 

 going to the wall; but the best will survive! 

 Rural life is the life of the future. Its in- 

 spiration and support are the irrevocable 

 laws which are an inborn and integral part 

 of the constitution of nature and of societJ^ 



The old and deserved derision of ' book- 

 farming ' is only a memory. Good teach- 

 ing finds a response everywhere. In fact, 

 the response is the measure of the teaching. 

 The college professor is not only welcome, 

 but is eagerly sought in almost everj^ rural 

 community. There is direct proof of this 

 interest in New York State. The funds 

 upon which we, at Cornell, are able to hold 

 these schools and to make many investiga- 

 tions upon the farms were given bj' the 

 State Legislature in response to a spontane- 

 ous demand from the people without anj' 

 aid or abetting by teachers or experimenters. 



tnsrSUPPLIED DEMANDS. 



In purelj' horticultural directions the 



demands for better facilities of instruction 

 are urgent. One of the chief of these de- 

 mands is in floriculture and other glass- 

 house industrj% This is the refinement of 

 rural industry, and it becomes prominent 

 with the progress and refinement of the 

 state. Floriculture is preeminently adapted 

 to the employment of women, both upon 

 the side of plant growing and upon the 

 side of decoration and adornment. The 

 value of the flojiicultural product in the 

 last census year was over $26,000,000, and 

 2,000 women were then employed in the 

 business. The enumeration of floriculture 

 in the eleventh census, which was the first 

 one ever made in this coiintrj^, is said to 

 have been suggested by Mrs. Porter, wife 

 of the Superintendent of the Census, and 

 originated in her desire to find employment 

 for the many women who applied to her. 

 All this great and growing floricultural 

 and glass-house industry has no school 

 which it may call its own, and none which 

 is giving any specific attention to the sub- 

 ject. It is doubtful if anj' other industry 

 of equal extent in the country is so com- 

 pletely without the means of education. 

 The only way to become a florist now is to 

 ' serve time ' in an establishment. This 

 the women, at least, can not do; but if there 

 were a school where, in connection with 

 good educational facilities, the art and 

 practice and science of floriculture were 

 taught, women as well as men could find 

 an attractive outlet for their ambitions. 

 The time cannot be far remote when some 

 institution will honor itself with a school of 

 floriculture. 



In conclusion, the reader should be re- 

 minded that it is a fundamental concept of 

 modern society that educational facilities 

 shall be extended to every person. There 

 must be a general intellectual uplift. Al- 

 most every profession and class of i^ersons 

 have been reached by this widening educa- 

 tional impulse, but the farmer and the horti- 



