PARK AND CEA\ETERY. 
156 
the garden pupil is supposed to complete the course, 
the first year being devoted entirely to work in the 
greenhouse and garden; during the remaining three 
years the time is equally divided between the lec- 
ture room and manual labor. At Cornell Univer- 
sity, at Ithaca, N. Y., Prof. Bailey is making the 
horticultural department one of the best in the 
country. It is equally divided into two parts: one 
devoted to research and the other to teaching. 
About 10,000 square feet of glass is used in which 
is grown a general line of greenhouse and stove 
plants. Forcing of vegetables is taken up deeply, 
and of late years they are making a specialty of the 
chrysanthemum and violet. The courses of instruc- 
tion are numerous, as Greenhouse Construction, 
llistory of Horticulture, Propagation, Soils, etc., 
P )mology and Forestry, besides various botanical 
courses. 
At Bussy Institution, a department at Harvard, 
horticulture is taken up under Prof. Watson, and as 
far as it goes is very thorough, but lack of funds 
prevents much practical work being undertaken. 
1 'he course is usually embraced in one year’s time 
in connection with agriculture, chemistry as rela- 
ting to agriculture and botany. A general course 
is given, covering a wide range from the tillage of 
soils, etc., various means of propagating, green- 
house construction, cultural points in regard to 
most important plants, and an insight into the 
vegetable and fruit world. Injurious insects and 
known remedies are taken up, and a few lectures on 
landscape work. A course is also given on trees 
and shrubs, commencing with the first order, ran- 
unculacem, and a description, uses, means of propa- 
gating are gone over. A similar course is also given 
on herbaceous plants. Most of the men studying here 
prepare themselves for landscape gardening, and in 
connection with their work take up geology, archi- 
tectural engineering, and a deep study into botany. 
The men are given walks once a week through Ar- 
nold Arboretum where they get thoroughly ac- 
quainted with the trees and shrubs. It is a notice- 
able fact that most of our institutions tend to treat 
pomology and market gardening more than floricul- 
ture, and so with most of the experimental stations. 
I'his does not seem right as the states pay for horti- 
cultural research work, and you should insist that 
more work in floriculture should be undertaken. 
In regard to the practical or apprenticeship sys- 
tem, I am sorry to say we have none in this coun- 
try. It is simply hire a man and get the most work 
out of him you can; especially is this so at a com- 
mercial place. You hire a boy to learn the busi- 
ness, and unless he picks up the information him- 
self he learns but little, and you get your money’s 
worth out of him. What can a boy learn if he is 
set hoeing weeds from May to October? Nothing! 
* # * 
There are few trades which may not be learned 
in much less time than that of gardening, which re- 
quires no small degree of knowledge and ingenuity 
to perform it well. 
Summing up practice with theory, we find that 
college education is a good thing to have. To a 
boy with a clever and active mind, and a wholesome 
kind of knowledge, college education is the great- 
est boon he can have, and his chances for success in 
life are better than one hampered by an unfinished 
education. He is able to grasp business and scienti- 
fic problems with a firmer hand; knows how to use 
his mental powers; how to concentrate his energies, 
and to adapt himself quickly to situations that con- 
front him, Above all he mustlearnto reason from 
cause to effect and vice versa. We must remember 
that in affairs of life no comparisons can be made 
with the phenomenally gifted, who are endowed by 
the Almighty from their birth with powers far be- 
yond the equipments of their fellows. The whole 
human race profits by the spread of college educa- 
tion. 
* * * 
And now to the principal reason for the writing 
of this paper, and that is the necessity of a National 
Horticultural School. The United States is fast be- 
coming rich in its grand public park systems, which 
are making a complete network all over the country. 
All the States and large colleges are establishing 
botanical gardens or experimental stations of more 
or less size, and generally speaking, there is a rapid 
advancement being made in the line of educational 
institutions connected with horticulture. 
New York is soon to have a most complete bo- 
tanical garden — that is, the land has been appro- 
priated, and no doubt the work will rapidly ad- 
vance. Whether it will be a credit to this country 
and compare with the most famous botanical gar- 
dens in the world — namely, the Royal Gardens at 
Kew — remains to be seen. 
* * * 
The old school is fast dying out, and we need 
men to replace them, and for that reason I advocate 
a National School of Horticulture that will, if noth- 
ing else, give its men a good send-off into their fu- 
ture work. 
This school should be of such fame and propor- 
tions as regards its good qualities, that everyone of 
you would wish to send your children to it to be 
given the elementary education for their future 
business. 
Horticulture has such a wide scope that it would 
be no small matter to establish such a school as is 
