it is in these other fields where lie many pregnant prob- 

 lems of the science of plants. These are the problems 

 which lie at the basis of a broad science of biology; 

 these are the problems in which there is widespread 

 interest; these are the problems on the solution of which 

 the future welfare of the world is in large part dependent. 

 It is in the solving of these problems that the Garden 

 can perform a most important and timely service to 

 mankind. The study of these problems requires the 

 use of the experimental method, the method which, 

 more than any other, has been instrumental in the 

 phenomenal advance of science that has characterized 

 recent years. 



All of these problems have to do with the plant as a 

 living organism and, while covering a vast and varied 

 field, they lie, in general, within the scope of four divi- 

 sions of botany, namely: physiology, which deals with 

 the internal life processes of the normal, healthy plant; 

 ecology, which deals with the relation of the plant to 

 the environmental forces acting upon it and with the 

 distribution of plants and plant communities; pathology, 

 which deals with the disease processes of plants; and 

 genetics, which deals with the processes of inheritance 

 in plants and the production, by hybridization, mutation 

 and selection, of new and often better types. Many of 

 these problems are of immediate and obvious practical 

 importance; many relate to the more fundamental 

 features of plant life, the application of which for the 

 benefit of mankind is not always immediately manifest. 

 A broadly conceived scientific institution of the present 

 day ought to be so organized and equipped as to be 

 able to turn its attention to all aspects of a problem 

 before it. In this particular the Garden, if properly 

 endowed, would afford an unusually favorable environ- 

 ment for research. For example, the wide range of 



[8] 



