SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIII. No. 1097 



with the former, for whether they realize it 

 or not, all scientific discovery has its ulti- 

 mate practical bearing. Neither have we 

 any apologies to offer for the so-called prac- 

 tical botanists, for they are the botanists of 

 to-day in the United States, as shown by 

 number of positions occupied and of articles 

 published. 



What, then, of this agricultural botany 

 and the factors concerned in its develop- 

 ment? Let us first take a brief glance at 

 the closely related subject of the develop- 

 ment of agriculture. 



AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT 



Early History. — Agriculture is unques- 

 tionably a fundamental factor in the 

 growth of a nation, therefore as a practise 

 it goes back to the time when men first 

 banded together into societies. But real 

 scientific agriculture, especially as an edu- 

 cational movement in our colleges, is of 

 comparatively recent origin, even more re- 

 cent than that of botany. Its first educa- 

 tional agencies in this country were a few 

 agricultural periodicals and the various 

 agricultural, horticultural and allied socie- 

 ties that were organized to meet the de- 

 mands of their time and locality. Schools 

 of agriculture were lacking, and even in- 

 struction in existing educational institutions 

 was not provided. Apparently the first or 

 one of the first agricultural schools was 

 that established by the Golds, father and 

 son, at Cream Hill, Connecticut, in 1845, 

 and continued until 1869. About the time 

 of the founding of this school, Norton was 

 appointed professor of agricultural chem- 

 istry at Yale, and among his early students 

 were Brewer, the agriculturist, and John- 

 son, the chemist, both of whom later played 

 such a prominent part in the development 

 of our scientific agriculture. The Bussey 

 Tas itution of Harvard, although provided 

 for 11 ?ny years previously, did not begin 

 it« agricultural work until 1870; but in its 



earlier publications appeared the investiga- 

 tions of Storer in agricultural chemistry, 

 the work of Farlow with plant diseases and 

 that of Sargent in the Arnold Arboretum. 

 In 1875 Hilgard began his work in Califor- 

 nia, and in 1880, Henry, in Wisconsin. All 

 of these men were either directly or in- 

 directly interested in botany. 



Agricultural Colleges. — The first impor- 

 tant factor in this agricultural develop- 

 ment, however, was the ilorrill Land Grant 

 Act, signed by President Lincoln in 1862, 

 which during the next few years resulted 

 in the founding of our various state univer- 

 sities and agricultural colleges. To-day 

 each state has its university or its agricul- 

 tural college well established, and many 

 states have both, either as separate or united 

 institutions. Several of the Southern States 

 also have somewhat similar schools of agri- 

 culture for their colored population. The 

 various states have backed these institutions 

 with financial aid which now in many cases 

 exceeds that given by the government. For 

 example, one state in its recent biennial ap- 

 propriations gave to its state university, 

 which includes the agricultural college, five 

 million dollars. 



Our agricultural colleges now compare 

 very favorably with those of engineering 

 and arts and science in number of students, 

 professors and courses given. Yet twentj'- 

 five years ago they had few students, and a 

 professor of agriculture, another of horti- 

 culture, and one of veterinary science, to- 

 gether mth the professors of botany, zool- 

 ogy and chemistry as associates, often con- 

 stituted the entire agricultural faculty. 

 What a contrast to the agricultural staff of 

 to-day, which often exceeds a hundred mem- 

 bers, as at the University of California, 

 with 145, Iowa State College with 213, Mich- 

 igan Agricultural College with 109, Cornell 

 with 189, Massachusetts Agricultural Col- 

 lege with 82, and other agricultural col- 

 leges with numbers in proportion to the 



