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In the gardens there will be many opportunities for the exercise 
of this quality, in watching the germination of seeds, the develop- 
ment of leaves and flowers, the fertilization of flowers by bees 
and other insects. But, above all, in conducting experiments is 
this watchfulness and care and scientific judgment necessary. 
After observing carefully and accurately, one has to describe 
what one sees, and for methodical description botany is acknow- 
ledged to hold a high place. Description of plants has to be 
eminently methodical, in order to leave out nothing of importance, 
as well as to state the facts in the order of their importance. To 
such an extent, however, has this minuteness of description been 
earried in botany that some have overstepped the bounds of 
common sense, and caused the language of botany to become a 
jargon of sesquipedalian terms. One remedy for this would be to 
pay greater attention than has hitherto been the case to the uses 
of the different parts described, and associating structure with 
use, as in the varied forms and arrangements of flowers, there 
would be less mere dealing with words than with the things they 
represent. To realize in a word that the tree is a living body, 
feeding and growing, maturing and multiplying, decaying and 
dying, and subject to the laws of living things. Names we must 
have, for a technical language is as necessary to the botanist as 
the terms used by the workman in his special trade, but we must 
make the language plain by appealing constantly to the things them- 
selves. And in that sense the course of botany here will be 
thoroughly practical, seeing that we have not only the resources 
of these gardens to fall back upon, but of the Botanic Gardens 
and University Gardens as well, and last, but not least, the 
extensive collection of dried specimens of Australian plants 
kindly presented to the school by Baron von Mueller, the 
Government Botanist. 
In the matter of systematic arrangement, botany again gives a 
valuable training. Science has been said to be the detection of 
identity, and classification is the placing together of those things 
which resemble one another and the separation of those which 
differ. In botany, resemblance does not always lie on the 
surface—in fact, often “things are not what they seem,” and the 
detection of unity in variety and variety in seeming unity exercises 
the judgment and enlightens the mind. 
Urumity or Botany IN CONNEXION WITH HortIcuLtTuRE. 
While what I have said with reference to the study of botany 
would apply to its being included in the curriculum of any school 
or college as a means of education and training, I will now 
endeavour to show how useful and essential its study is in a 
school of horticulture. 
