The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1913-06-07
THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
CONTINUED from Thursday

IT1EnuS Vi THE DOdIu Vi COuIIOl VAIL
ed him to see all their immense edu-
cational plant in one day, they should
have started him out before daylight.
There was yet the agricultural build
ing, science hall, the dormitories, the
dining hall and the experiment sta
ton. The party had merely walked
thru the three newest buildings,
Language Hall, the Peabody building
and the engineering building, and in
the preceding article the writer has
made but the merest sketch of what
he saw in the three. He did not
mention the fine telephone system,
rangement of the rooms, nor the
good material and solid workmanship
obvious at every point, simply be-
cause to do the matter justice he
would have had to ask thousand
questions and take a bookfull of
notes, and write at least a dozen
columns after he returned home. 1t
is worthy subject, for the taxpay
ers of Florida naturally want to know
all about their university, but the
little Star. and its editor have their
physical limitations.
At every point. the writer had the
principal objects explained to him by
Mr.. W. A. Edwards, the architect of
the board. Mr.. Edwards has been
with the work since its beginning.
He seems to carry the plan of every
thing in his head. He should be the
joy OF a newspaper man, for he can
tell just what is what, and then
stop. Mr.. Edwards is a member of
the King Lumber Company of At
lanta. He is "a southern man, ma
tive of South Carolina, and is a
bundle of concentrated and systemat-
ic energy. It is safe bet that he
could go out in the woods, a hundred
miles away, and draw an accurate
plan of the university buildings and
grounds from memory
The party went across the campus
to the great, four-story experiment
of people experimenting with the
beautiful as well as the useful. Here
the scribe was introduced to Profess
sor P. II. Rolls, and by him to the
members of his staff, and made a
hurried tour thru the building.
1t would take book to tell of the
objects of interest in that building,
which is of more value to the farm
ers of Florida than any other space
between four walls. Professor
Rolls has twenty-three assistants
and they are all busy all of the time.
Theirs is a great work. 1t will help
every man, from the planter with
square miles under cultivation to the
humblest trucker with his little
patch The excellence of the work
is shown by the medal of the Royal
horticultural Society of London,
which is only given to institutions of
the highest merit. The elaborate
laboratories, the delicate apparatus,
one of which win weigh a pencil
mark, another distinguish the feath-
ers on gnat's wing. the endless
amount of specimens, are all objects
of the greatest interest to people who
had no idea they existed In one
room was huge glass case, in which
was kept specimens of the best corn
raised in Florida; and it made the
writer proud to see Marion county
on many of the finest specimens.
Another thing worthy of note was
the library of scientific books print
ed in German, which each of the
professors had to know as we'll as
his mother tongue. They are not
dandified men, these experiment sta
ton professors. They are hard-work-
ing, and by no means soft-handed,
shirtsleeves toilers, not only among
the books and laboratories but in the
gardens and fields. 1t was a wonder
full thing to see how many things
Professor Rolls was wise TO. He ex-
planned to the reporter how the corn
weeyil was becoming a terror of the
past, and showed him his books, or
some OF them, intricate instruments
that it took a skilled machinist to
handle, and many tests to determine
the presence and nature of bacteria,
and half column of other things,
and then took the whole party to the
garden and greenhouse, where he
was as much at home as the garden
er, who was scientist also.
1t is worth a days visit to see
that greenhouse and garden. They
are full of objects of interest to
those who love plants and flowers.
One was the unusual Canary palm,
whose immense fronds are almost
feather-like in their delicate beauty.
And almost any lady would coyet
some of the dainty little Japanese
cedars, or go into ecstacies over the
gorgeous orchids. Professor Rolls
showed US some fiourishing vanilla
orchids and made the surprising
statement that South Florida on and
below the latitude of Miami was one
OF the best sections in the world to
grow that valuable plant
The sun was almost down when
the party left the gardens and went
70 the dining hall. where the matron
and her - -,