155 



ing new names in rapid succession. By the time comparative 

 calm was restored, ecology came into prominence, and opened 

 up a vast field for botanical research, which was quickly taken 

 advantage of by many young students and even a few of the 

 older men who had been trained in the herbarium or " lie-flat" 

 school. (Up to this time, it should be observed, plants had been 

 studied separately, i. e., without reference to environment or asso- 

 ciates, by systematist, phytogeographer, and physiologist alike.) 

 But the fact that this new branch of science was soon invested 

 with technicalities, and studied with the aid of elaborate appa- 

 ratus, doubtless deterred many amateurs from following it. 

 There was also a feeling in some quarters, especially in the east- 

 ern strongholds of conservatism, that ecology contained nothing 

 new, that it was merely a rehashing of old facts which had long 

 been known to botanists. And indeed it has not produced the 

 striking results that some of its enthusiastic advocates expected 

 it would, and in the last two or three years there has been a per- 

 ceptible falling-off in the number of papers annually devoted to it. 



Since the beginning of the present century the problems of 

 mutation, hybridization, and experimental evolution have given 

 occupation to a few specially trained investigators, and their work 

 promises to be of great economic as well as scientific value ; but 

 it calls for persons of exceptional talents who are able and willing 

 to spend years on a single problem before announcing results, 

 and it has not measurably increased the opportunities of the 

 amateur as yet. 



At the present time nearly all the American botanical literature 

 of permanent value is being produced by persons officially con- 

 nected with museums, laboratories, and other institutions of 

 research, or in other words, by professional botanists ; but there 

 is no sufficient reason why this state of affairs should continue 

 indefinitely. Notwithstanding the serious inroads of civilization 

 around New York, and the vast amount of work which has 

 already been done on the plants of this vicinity in field, herbarium, 

 laboratory, and library by several generations of the best-trained 

 botanists in America, there are still awaiting solution here innu- 

 merable botanical problems which can be successively attacked 



