THE EDITOR'S OLTLOOK. 



555 



and started afresh. And yet we live in such a 

 time. We need but to appreciate it ! 



HOR TICUL TURE 



AT THE 

 WORLD'S FAIR. 



WE DESIRE to again call 

 attention to the opportu- 

 nity and necessity offered by the 

 World's Columbian Exposition for a great congress 

 of horticulture. We have repeatedly urged the 

 importance of an International Horticultural Con- 

 gress, and we have given what seem to us to be com- 

 manding reasons for its being. Trade organizations 

 may aspire to make the horticultural features of the 

 exposition little more than trade exhibits. And the 

 general comments of the press and of horticultural 

 societies seem to ask for little more than a mam- 

 moth show of fruits and flowers and vegetables. 



We persist in the view that this great exhibition 

 should afford the means of making a commanding 

 study of the world's horticulture. Our country 

 should receive untold blessing from it. All minor 

 interests could be woven into this enormous fabric. 

 All the competitions of states and regions should be 

 encouraged, and all the horticultural trades should 

 be fully represented. But some hand should sys- 

 temize and combine all interests into one consum- 

 mate effort to study the variations of plants under 

 culture, the relations of plants to climate and all 

 artificial conditions, and all the means and appliances 

 by which man preserves and improves them and 

 disposes of their products. 



There is a manifest desire at the present time to 

 introduce plants, especially fruits, from all possible 

 regions, and the very existence of this ambition and 

 curiosity would make an international fair particu- 

 larly important and attractive. The Illinois Horti- 

 cultural Society is taking the initiative in the move- 

 ment, and has invited delegates from all horticul- 

 tural societies to discuss the project in a meeting at 

 Chicago. This meeting should present definite 

 plans, and we watch its work with interest. 



THE TESTING 

 OF VARIETIES, 



W 



^E DOUBT the expediency 

 and the value of much of 

 the testing of varieties at experi- 

 ment stations. It is evident to anyone who has 

 carefully observed the behavior of plants that 

 variations in numberless conditions profoundly in- 

 fluence the character of horticultural varieties. 

 Tests made ever so carefully at the station are 

 often of little value for even adjacent regions. And 

 even the same conditions of soil, culture and treat- 

 ment often give dissimilar results in different years. 



But it is not the inadequacy of variety tests which 

 constitute their worst feature. As usually conducted, 

 they are cheap and trivial in comparison with other 

 work which may be done, and they belittle experi- 

 mentation. The man who cannot see beyond the 

 mere testing of varieties certainly lacks the mind 

 and temper of an investigator. Such a man is 

 simply a tester, not an experimenter. Merely test- 

 ing varieties because they are put upon the market, 

 like analyzing commercial fertilizers, is not true 

 experiment. It is simply discussing what another 

 has done, unmixing what another has mixed. It is 

 investigation which follows rather than leads. The 

 stations which lay most store upon this sort of 

 work will every year find themselves where they 

 were the year before. Their bulletins serve but an 

 ephemeral use ; they pass away as varieties pass 

 away. They record no real progress. 



There is plenty to be done. In fact, there is so 

 much to do that all but the clear headed become 

 confused if they catch any glimpse of the horizon. 

 But we fear that many of our experimenters do not 

 see beyond the garden fence, never get one inspira- 

 tion from the white fields, ready for the harvest, 

 which stretch away beyond all human ken. It is 

 only now and then one looks from a hill-top. 

 It is useless to attempt any catalogue of the things 

 which need to be done. One who cannot discern 

 them for himself will not be likely to profit by an 

 enumeration of them. A man seldom rises beyond 

 himself. 



But varieties must be tested, they tell us. Yes ; 

 but make such tests a minor feature. Never let the 

 impression get abroad that the stations are created 

 for the purpose of watching scoundrels, or for doing 

 work which must go down with the sun. It is said 

 that the people demand it, but they do not demand 

 that nothing else shall be done ! And much of this 

 demand, perhaps most of it, is but a reflex from the 

 stations themselves. 



The demand must be met, in a measure, however. 

 The cheapest and best way to meet it is to cause 

 varieties to be grown under commercial conditions 

 by intelligent growers. Scatter them over the state 

 and collect the reports. Or if the station cannot 

 scatter the varieties, ask leading growers to report 

 their experiences and the station can publish the 

 results. Or let the horticulturist personally visit 

 the representative growers, and write his own 

 reports. In short, devise any method which shall 

 broaden the observations, and at the same time 

 leave the station freer to undertake better work. 

 But we are decidedly of the opinion that the horti- 



