129 



the farmer of fifty years ago had the knowledge, which we now 

 have, of the relation of lime to the other mineral substances need- 

 ed by the plant, of when to apply it, and when to withhold it. It 

 is the difference between merely empirical knowledge and that 

 which is based on scientific principles. 



When the contest comes between virgin soil and long tilled 

 land, the latter, no matter how rich it may once have been, must 

 needs be cultivated more intensively if it is to hold its own. In- 

 tensive cultivation requires the aid of special information and it 

 is here that scientific agriculture comes into play. Few people 

 realize that without artificial fertilizers, the direct outcome of 

 highly theoretical work on the raw food stuffs of plants, much 

 of the farming of to-day would be almost impossible. And the 

 proper use of fertilizers is but one of many questions. 



We are coming now in this country to a stage in its develop- 

 ment when scientific agriculture must be seriously considered. 

 Fortunately it is being so considered and the federal and state 

 establishments devoted to the investigation of these agricultural 

 questions may confidently be expected, I think, to help in the 

 solving of the practical economic questions that must arise in 

 the competition of our own agriculture with that of other lands. 

 The way it must be done is by the introduction of improved 

 methods based on carefully conducted scientific research, that 

 often find their stimulus in the highly theoretical investigations 

 of the pure scientist. Thus must the so-called impractical de- 

 votee of science come in contact with the practical man of affairs 

 and furnish him knowledge that can be used for the benefit of all. 



In this somewhat categorical fashion then, I have endeavored 

 to present to you some of the content of the science of botany ; 

 that science which consists of the dismembering of flowers and 

 the giving to them of long names. What its future will be is 

 perhaps already indicated, but briefly you can see that it is in the 

 direction of physiological advance, away from pure taxonomy 

 and formal morphological conceptions towards the realm of 

 function ; away, too, from any segregation of the science from 

 kindred fields towards a better understanding of the place of 

 plants in the whole cosmic scheme. 



