January i6, 1895.] 



Garden and Forest. 



21 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office; Tribune Building, New York. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent, 



ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST-OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1895. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



Editorial Article: — A Novel School of Horticulture 21 



Notes on the Tree Flora of the Chiricahua Mountains. — II. (With figures) 



y. IV. Touiufy, 2y 



An Indi in on Indian Corn T, H. Hoskifis, M.D. 23 



Foreign Correspondence: — London Letter W. Waisov. 23 



Plant Notes 25 



Cultural Department:— Notes on Carnations IV N. Craig, T. D. Hatfield. 26 



Glos'nias Williatn Scott. 27 



Mushrooms iV. Downs. 27 



Correspondence :— Variety versus Monotony iV. Watson. 2S 



Salix balsamifera Merritt Lyniio7i Fcr7ial. 28 



Apple-scab in Nebraska h\ed !V. Card. 28 



The Forage Problem in Iowa Professor L. H. Fatnmel, 28 



Recent Publications 29 



Notes 30 



Illustrations : — Pinus Chihuahuana, Fig. 3 24 



Pinus latifolia, Fig. 4 25 



A Novel School of Horticulture. 



DURING its session of 1894, the Legislature of the State 

 of New York passed what was known as the Experi- 

 ment Station Extension Bill, which, among other provi- 

 sions, appropriated $8,000 to be expended in the western 

 counties of New York, under the direction of Cornell Uni- 

 versity, for the benefit of horticulture. The fund was to be 

 used in conducting experiments and investigations, in 

 studying plant-diseases and the most profitable ways of 

 fertilizing vineyards, fruit-orchards and gardens, and in 

 publishing the results of such investigations and in dissem- 

 inating horticultural knowledge by means of lectures and 

 otherwise. Early in December we received a conspectus 

 of a School of Horticulture, to be held in Chautauqua 

 County on the last week of the year during four days and 

 to be conducted by Professor L. H. Bailey, in accordance 

 with the provisions of the act we have quoted above. 



The programme, as announced, looked attractive. It 

 seemed that this school of horticulture was the very natu- 

 ral and satisfactory development of the Fanners' Institutes 

 which are held in various parts of the country now, and 

 many of which have become specialized so as to take up 

 a single branch of agriculture like dairy husbandry, fruit- 

 culture or the like. i'he most noteworthy fact brought out 

 in the announcement was, that although this institute was 

 to be held in one of the famous grape growing regions of 

 the state, small promise of instruction was offered in what 

 might be called the practical andevery-day working details 

 of horticulture or viticulture. Only one afternoon was to be 

 occupied in any matter of manual skill, and this time, de- 

 voted to general nursery practice, was given largely to a 

 discussion of principles rather than of methods. The 

 course was confined almost exclusively to the fundamental 

 principles of horticultural science. Thus, the subject of the 

 first half-day's session was How Plants Live and Grow, 

 accompanied by demonstrations with the microscope by 

 Professor Rowlee. Another half-day's topic was a brief 

 on the Evolution of Plants, with the Origin of Varieties. 

 One session was devoted to the Geological History of 

 Soils, with stereopticon views ; another to the Chemistry 

 of the Grape and of the Soil ; another to the theory of till- 

 age and the productivity of land ; another to the subject of 



Fungi, with stereopticon views. This tendency toward 

 strict science is something like an innovation on the ordi- 

 nary Farmers' Institute work, but, plainly, it was the 

 proper course to pursue, and it promised to furnish the stu- 

 dents with what was really the most practical kind of infor- 

 mation which could be given them within the period 

 named. Another interesting point was that each session 

 was to begin vi'ith lessons in observation. At one session 

 the subject to be studied was twigs, at another fruit-buds, 

 and again seeds, leaves, flowers, fruits, and last of all, the 

 apple. This also appeared to us to be a feature full of 

 pleasing promise, and we have, therefore, made some in- 

 quiries of persons who attended the school, both in the 

 capacity of instructors and as students, to ascertain 

 whether the venture had proved satisfactory. 



From the letters received we learn that sixty persons 

 registered as students, and nearly all of them answered to 

 the roll-call at every session. These students were all 

 practical horticulturists, most of them grape-growers in the 

 famous Chautauqua valley; among them were two or 

 three physicians, a clergyman and others who had adopted 

 the pursuit of horticulture either as a business or a diver- 

 sion. The interest increased as the sessions went on, and 

 nearly all the students took notes upon the lectures and 

 passed satisfactory examinations on them afterward. Per- 

 haps this is the first school or institute of the kind which 

 was ever held in this country, and it seems to have been 

 unqualifiedly successful. The observation-lessons were 

 remarkably stimulating, and it was surprising to see what 

 interest even the elderly men took in the simplest objects. 

 When lv\'igs of various kinds were passed about the first 

 day, ten minutes for observation were allowed, and then 

 the various members of the class were asked what they 

 had seen. As the subject of phyllotaxy, or the arrange- 

 ment of buds on the stem, had not been studied by many 

 of them, the class became almost excited as the mathe- 

 matical ratios developed by the arrangement were brought 

 out. This experience was repeated at every session, for 

 there was not a single observation-lesson in which the dis- 

 covery of some equally striking law or truth was not made 

 by carefully studying the most familiar objects which had 

 been before their eyes every day of their lives. Perhaps 

 the most interesting lesson of all was the very last one, 

 when, after the flowers had been studied, the structure of 

 the apple was taken up. As the meaning of the various 

 parts of the fruit was revealed, and their relations to the 

 parts of the flowers became evident, the wonder of many 

 members of the class at what was novel information to 

 them was very manifest. 



Of course, it is not to be expected that accomplished hor- 

 ticulturists will be graduated from a school like this after 

 four days of instruction, but whenever a man learns new 

 fundamental scientific truth he becomes to this extent more 

 intelligent in the practice which rests upon this truth. Cer- 

 tainly a man will cultivate his land more efficiently after 

 he has listened to the explanation of Professor Roberts, who 

 showed in what way tillage promoted capillarity of the 

 soil and how it brought fertility to the plant, set free min- 

 eral nutrients, hastened nitrification, presented new sur- 

 faces to rootle's, conserved moisture, and did much more 

 besides. With some knowledge of these fundamental 

 principles any horticulturist would be better able to judge 

 when to cultivate and how to cultivate. It is not to be 

 assumed that Professor Caldwell in his lectures on the 

 chemistry of the soil and of the grape made expert analysts 

 of any of the Chautauquans, or that in a single afternoon 

 Professor Rowlee mSde plain to his hearers all the intricate 

 processesinthenutrition of plants. Nevertheless,on theseand 

 other subjects alert, level-headed men and women familiar 

 with all the phenomena of plant-growth will very readily seize 

 upon some fundamental scientific principles which will aid 

 them very materially in their every-day work. Not only will 

 new ideas throw new light on the reasons for their prac- 

 tice, but it will lead them to inquire for more knowledge 

 as they attempt to adjust their practice to their new-found 



