Each of the forty-five states in the United States has a college of agriculture. These institutions are supported by public funds. They are open to men and women alike, and both work together. That is to say, these institutions are co-educational. These colleges cover the general field of agriculture, and, in some, horticultural work is especially well developed. Women in these institutions may take a variety of subjects, or they may specialise in horticulture, dairying, home economics, Nature-study.
A number of Government research posts in natural history are held by women. They are also admitted to the instructional bodies of several American Co-educational Colleges. A considerable number of the Doctors’ theses in botany from the University of Chicago are by women, and can be seen in the Botanical Gazette. A notable thesis of late years is that by Mrs. Clements, of the University of Nebraska.
Popular attention is turned increasingly to outdoor life and to living on the land, and the demand for horticultural schools will continue and ensure their establishment.
An expert tells me there is a wide field for women in horticulture in America. Positions as teachers, lecturers, gardeners in private gardens, consulting gardeners in suburban districts, market gardeners, fruit and nut growers, poultry and bee keepers are open. The only difficulty is that the right people are not at hand to fill them. The oversight of school gardens and of vacant lot cultivation in the great cities are openings appealing especially to women. Already there are some successful landscape gardeners. Miss Beatrice Jones, of New York City, and Miss Elizabeth Lee, of Philadelphia, are well known in this branch.
NEW YORK STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY, ITHACA, NEW YORK
HORTICULTURE
The equipment is divided into two parts—that which is associated with the classroom and laboratories in the second and basement floors of the main agricultural building, and that connected with the forcing-houses and grounds surrounding them.
1. Class rooms and laboratories.—The teaching activities are centred mainly in the headquarters of the department, located on the second floor of the main building in the agricultural compound. On this floor are a commodious lecture room with a seating capacity for 100 students, a recitation-room for 35 students, a laboratory for instruction in practical and systematic pomology. The laboratory will accommodate 40 students, and is being fitted with suitable apparatus and appliances for the efficient teaching of the practical and laboratory phases of horticultural work. On the same floor is the laboratory for advanced students. This room has space for 20 students, and those who are working in the graduate department or engaged in research courses are provided with suitable appliances for their special needs. The remainder of this floor is devoted to museum purposes, herbarium, seminary-room, and offices for the instructing staff.
In the basement is a laboratory with adjacent store-room for use in connection with applied work in nursery and orchard practice. The capacity of this laboratory is 50 students, so that a beginning class of 100 may be accommodated in two sections. Students in elementary pomology and greenhouse management pursue work in this laboratory.
Forcing-houses, barn, and fruticetum.—The glass structures for the study of forcing crops such as flowers, vegetables, and fruits cover an area of about 6,000 square feet, and are used in connection with nearly all classes, though more especially associated with floriculture and olericulture. One house is assigned to advanced students for the working out of problems on which they are engaged. Another house is given over to the study of the variation of plants and the technique of plant-breeding.