252 
BOTANY AND HORTICULTURE AT THE COLLEGE OF 
HAWAII. 
By Prof. Vaughan MacCaughey, College of Hawaii. 
I. Introductory. 
Much interest is expressed concerning the College of Ha- 
waii and its manifold relationships to the Territory for whose 
welfare it exists. This interest pervades the entire commun- 
ity, being most evident among those who are directly or in- 
directly in touch with the actual teaching work of the insti- 
tution, and among those who look to the College for tangible 
results of an investigational and utilitarian nature. 
The Territory of Hawaii is distinctive in the agricultural 
nature of its industries. It is essentially a farming country, 
although the agriculture is organized upon a peculiarly ex- 
tensive and corporate basis. Because of the large size of the 
agricultural enterprises, the subsidiary engineering, manufac- 
turing and transportation industries are concomitantly well 
developed. The industrial problems of the islands, (excepting 
those intricate sociological complexes that have as yet been 
scarcely thought of), can, therefore, be divided into two great 
groups — those relating to agricultural enterprises, and those re- 
lating to the industries comprehended by the broad term en- 
gineering. 
Botany and Horticulture are two great sciences that inte- 
grate with agricultural businesses. The range of the former 
is that of the gigantic and dominant vegetable kingdom, with 
its innumerable and diverse forms ; the latter being the art 
and science of certain plants useful to man — fruits, flowers, 
vegetables, ornamentals. Horticulture is both an art and a 
science — it applies the profound laws of plant life to the 
simple processes of the fern-house, the vegetable garden, the 
vineyard. 
II. Botanical Conditions in Hawaii. 
Hawaii is unique in the endemic nature of its indigenous 
flora. No other region of similar area in the world has so 
large a proportion of peculiar plants. A surprisingly wide 
range of plant life is conrprehended. The great variety of 
environmental conditions has produced striking series of mor- 
phological variations. A group of very interesting problems 
is furnished in the relations between the development of the 
flora and the geological development of the Islands. Kauai 
is richest, botanically, being oldest; Hawaii has a compara-* 
tively scant flora. 
