PROFESSOR TRACY, in 1877, made the statement before the Michigan State Horticultural Society, that horticulture had advanced but little in the past 150 years, except in two directions. The greatest progress had been made by botanists, who had by systematic efforts originated new varieties. Progress nearly as great has been made by the entomologist in his systematic warfare against insect enemies. Probably the statement is as true in 1890 as it was thirteen years ago. We should certainly, also, at this time, credit the botanist with many investigations of the life history of the lower forms of plant life, which are injurious to cultivated plants, and in discovering remedies for many of those most destructive.

Botany, as taught to-day by the best teachers, is emphatically a science in which the student is sent directly to nature for his facts. In this way he becomes an accurately trained and reliable observer. He applies numerous questions to his plants, by observation, trying many experiments, and in studying their behavior ; in this manner, the student cultivates his judgement and learns to draw correct conclusions.

Well grounded in systematic botany, he is likely to avoid falling into numerous errors so often made by persons who learn horticulture as a mere trade. This systematic side of botany is indispensable to one in distinguishing and naming plants in cultivation, and in observing their affinities.

Geographical botany may teach of the soil and climate in which a certain plant thrives, and how to treat it when carried to a new country. Here, however, experience, experiment and the judgement are all valuable aids. Plants are not always found in a wild state where they will thrive best. This is true of many of our weeds, and of many plants cultivated for various purposes.

Who will point out the relationship of plants and find suitable stocks on which to " work " our cultivated shrubs and trees ? The botanist. And the botanist will know better than to attempt a union of scions of chestnut on stock of horse-chestnut - something actually attempted by a horticulturist of my acquaintance. The resemblance of the fruit of the one to the seeds of the other deceived him into thinking the union practicable.

No one, excepting a systematic botanist, would be competent to visit foreign countries to select new plants worthy of cultivation. Systematic botany is not only essential in identifying, describing and classifying plants, but it is well equipped with all the necessary paraphernalia in the way of technical terms and methods to perform the task of describing in an exact manner, all "artificial" forms that have been bred or selected. The time has already come for more accurate and complete descriptions of varieties and races of vegetables than have yet been written.

Cultivated varieties of strawberries are usually described by the fruit, with a few references to the leaves and possibly to the length of the stems. The botanist who had never compared the runners, the inflorescence and the flowers in detail, will be surprised to find that in them we have very marked differences which could well be illustrated and described. Fifteen years ago or more, I discovered this fact and described some varieties, though the descriptions were never published. I have described 150 varieties of apples by a careful examination of inflorescence and flowers, in most cases making drawings to equal scales. There are now so many varieties of cultivated fruits, that we need to make use of all the good characters that can be found to aid in making complete characterizations.* I have many times made the statement that no variety of fruit can now be called well described, unless the peculiarities of inflorescence and flowers are considered in connection with every other characteristic feature.

A knowledge of systematic botany will enable a teacher or the worker in horticulture to group his information, thus greatly aiding the memory and shortening the process of giving or receiving instruction. He learns that plants known as cucurbitaceae have monoecious flowers, which must be pollinated by insects, wind or by hand ; that they love heat, are sensitive to frost, that similar insects prey upon many of them. The garden plants known as cru-ciferae have many peculiarities in common, well understood by botanists, such as a pungent, watery juice, the seeds starting early, the young plants enduring some frost, and in many cases the same insects trouble numerous species. He learns that seeds of the umbelliferae have a low vitality and are slow to germinate. These are but a few examples out of many which could be given.

The botanist understands why some varieties of strawberries, apples and other fruits frequently fail to "set fruit," and in some instances he can prescribe a remedy. He has learned to see that the visits of insects to the flowers aid in ensuring a larger crop of fruit, as he knows that the showy portions of the flowers are hung out as mere advertisements, to attract insects; that surplus pollen and nectar are placed in the flowers as wages to reward and encourage their visits.

Some knowledge of botany, at least, is essential to aid the judgement in selecting with intelligence the sorts that may be crossed or hybridized. It is also often a great help to a person in quickly detecting some vile weed which has just made its appearance, while the unbotanical might scatter quick-grass and other troublesome pests far and wide over his premises before he became aware of their presence. A knowledge of the shapes, sizes, colors, markings and internal structure of seeds is valuable to the horticulturist, enabling him to distinguish the true from the spurious.

The trained eye of a botanist is necessary to aid one to see beauties, defects, harmonies and incongruities in selecting, combining and arranging trees, shrubs, flowers and foliage plants to best advantage for producing the most pleasing effect at the least outlay of money and labor.