Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-03-13
PLANT PHYSICIANS.
The New Profession That Aims to
Cure the Ills That Come to Farms.
Fields and City Conservatives.

| The world Of science is to have Il
new department. for that is what in
practice, the vitalizms of one of its
| oldest and most rrcunditc branches
| must amount to.
| Botany, witt its uumDcrIcss classit-
| cation" and its profound lore. covering
| one whole kingdom OF the earths= or
| Sauic life. will soon have among its
| students a t!edgling brood OF plant
| doctors, who will hr something more
than micr 'scopists of the specimens
| and clSsitlers of rare herbs.
| They will be doctors in the strictcSt
most ur-todate. healing meaning of
the word-true physicians. whose pa
| tients will number billions and range
| from the hardest Whats of the Arctic
circle to the rankest gr0Wths of tropi-
cal junelcs.
| Their profession will be the one
| which, par excellence. Will indorSe the
| progressive principles OF cngcniCs. for
| the Improvement OF every plant spe-
| cieS, through the most careful sclec
| ton of individuals for mating, is rec
| ognized as lying at the bottom of all
| advances man is To achieve in increas-
| ing the Quantity and lettering the
| quality of the food he eats Upon the
! quantity even more than the quality,
| rests the total number of people whom
| the earth can nourish.
so the new plant doctors will be
| qualified to dispute the dictum of wise
| Solomon. that the blacksmith is the
| dean ct all the trades. for it is TIL. ir
| work that provides the nourishment
| for even the hlacksmiths.-Whose appe-
| tites are usually hearty.
| England has beaten us to it. Not
| because England has especially mer-
| tied the honor of being the first To rec
/ ognizc the new profession, not even
because England has undertaken To es-
| tablish il. but simply because she is
| the first Ia give il a local habitation
! and name. TIE United States, az a
matter Of fact, has led the world i'll
| bringing down the ahstruSe flights of
| botanical science to the uses of the
| hungry. W0rkaday human race.
| But nov, With every phase of agri-
| culture 50 vitality needing the services
| of specialists along these lines, and
with Great Britains varied resources
| Of empire providing fields of the ut
| most diversity. the formal acknowf-
/ Nos7' va tilt iuii hlSiltS anu I'll =
| gent importance of practical plant
| physicians has been made, and steps
| have been taken to raise them to 2
| level of professional rank commensu-
| rate with their learning and their la
| bors.
TIE Imperial College Of Science. in
| south kensington, has embarked on
| the organization of a new department.
| to he known as the department of veg
| etable physiology and pathology. The
| head of the botanical department of
the institution is Prof John Bretland
Farmer f. 4. :. and it is he who is
| most emphatic in his Endorsement OF
! the new enterprise in collegiate in
struction.
I have been preaching for twenty
years, said Professor Farmer when
he made public the plans that botany
| Is actually suffering from two handi-
caps-it is generally too academic. and
| II IS not sufficiently in touch with the
practical needs Of mankind
| More and more the tendency now
| adaAs is TO study advanced science
| from the point of view of its applica-
| ton to industry. There is constant
demand for young men who are quail
lied To deal with plant diseases and
plant sanitation. If | had them. |
| could send three Young men abroad to-
morrow. each to Il post worth $500 il
year. The need is largely in connec-
ton with the great and colonial in
dustries-rubber, sugar. tobacco. elm
| chone and cotton.
The sole value of many of Great
Pri 20 IN f,l
their vegetable products. and millions
are lost annually through preventable
causes. But the field is as wide AT
home as abroad. Our own crops sur
fer from many diseases which are at
present but imperfectly understood"
With this bold defiance of precedent,
England takes first place in recog-
nizins what has FOR many years been
in practical use in the United States
a science which. like Topsy. simply
grew.
Nowhere else in the world has there
been such an extensive scheme of plant
study, both III propagation and in pa
thology and plant hygiene. as has pre-
vailed in the United States. with
wonder worker like Luther Burbank
ranking in botany as practical pio-
neer equal to the Wright brothers ir
their special field of aeronautics.
Such high places of botany as the
American, Burbank, has dwelt upon
for the past decade or so. creating to-
tally new species of useful fruits and
foods, have h"e, utterly beyond the
aspirations Of plant specialists in Eu-
rope. 1t has been on the more common
ground of plant disease prevention and
Improvement OF plant strains that the
vast majort" of practical botanists
have labored
Yet even there the results attending
| the impressive researches and cam
paigns of education carried on by the
American department of agriculture,
anG aided by the various state depart
mcnts, have made the United States
the great food producing country, with
every farmer these days, actually or
potentially, a plant doctor of no mean
| learning and experience.
In the sense OF having plant doctors
who shall treat private "patients"-
which Professor Farmer by no means