169 
It is very evident that in some agricultural courses more botany should be required 
than in otters. It seen is to me thai we must also take into consideration the a unl 
of preparation a student has had before entering college. Nearly all of the colleges, 
or the better colleges, at least, require one term's botany equivalent t<» about fifty <>r 
sixty hours of elementary botany for entrance t<> the freshman class, covered by a 
study of such a hook as Bergen's Foundations of Botany, Atkinson's Elementary 
Botany, Leavitt's Outlines of Botany, or Coulter's Plant studies. 
Taking some of the different agricultural colleges, I find the following requirements 
in botany for some of the different courses in agriculture: 
Table showing number of hours of botany required in the different agricultural colleges and 
universities where the agricultural college is connected with them. 
o 
a 
d 
a 

Iowa." 
63 
Q 
j. 
o 
B 
Q 
| 
c 
^ 
South Da- 
kota, o 
1. 2. 1 3. 
4. 
£ 
<. 
- 
1. 
2. 
64 
32 
32 
64 
32 
104 
;-!•' 
32 
39 
24 
120 
d 96 
■ 221 
::■- :;■' 
6(1 60 
64 
48 
72 
32 
32 
32 
i L85 
c/25fi 
51 60 
60 
30 
so 

6(1 
60 
60 
60 
24 
CO 

60 
24 
General comparative morphol- 
96 
Histology and physiology 
Morphology 
90 
90 
76 
h 63 
CO 
117 
362 

a(l) Agronomy division; (2) horticulture division; (3) dairying division; (4) animal husbandry 
division. 
'-These are total hours, not class hours alone. 
c(l) General agriculture group: (2) horticulture group, 
rt Sophomore year. 
e Junior year. 
/Agricultural botany, through entire freshman year. 
9 Senior year. 
h Includes ecology. 
There seems to he a lack of uniformity in the botany required in these different 
institutions. In some cases the amount required seems to be wholly inadequate. In 
the group in animal hushandry especial attention should he given to those topics which 
are of special importance in connection with animal husbandry work. First of all the 
student should be made familiar with the general principles of botany. There should 
be at least a semester of five hours per week, followed up, say, by half a semester of two 
hours per week, on the subject of diseases of plants, especially as the subject is allied 
to the animal husbandry work, followed up by a course in bacteriology and later 
giving special attention to the subject of grasses, as they form so large a part of the 
nutrition of animals. The student taking this work should also become familiar with 
poisonous plants. In the group in agronomy several of the colleges are now giving 
this work. The foundation work should be much the same as in animal husbandry, 
followed up by more specific work along the lines of histology, cytology, and system- 
atic botany. Under this head I would include a study of the life history of the 
more important flowering plants and cryptogams. This should be followed by a g« >< »d 
course in^vegetable physiology supplemented by a strong course in vegetal >le pathology. 
In fact, too little work is given in our agricultural colleges along both of these lines. 
The man who studies agronomy should also take a course in seed testing and the 
adulteration of seeds and grasses; in fact, the course in agronomy needs to he especially 
strong along botanical lines. What applies to the work along the line of agronomy 
might also apply to the group in horticulture. Here botany should he especially 
emphasized. Plant breeding should be especially emphasized along with the other 
lines of work. 
