Repository: UIHistories Project: Course Catalog - 1880-1881 [PAGE 34]

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32

Illinois

Industrial

University.

of trees and other plants. These plans with specifications, are to be deposited in the library of the College. Excursions are made when found practicable for the study of public and private grounds. The three following studies constitute a year's work designed for those who wish to prepare themselves for specially horticultural pursuits and may be taken as substitutes for agricultural or veterinary studies: Floriculture.—The study of the kinds, propagation, growth, and care of flowering and other ornamental plants. Each student has practice in propagating by cuttings and otherwise, in potting and shifting, and in care of plants requiring various treatments. Insects and diseases, with the remedies, are thoroughly treated, and the means of securing vigor of growth, or abundance of flowers, are studied and illustrated by practice. Pomology and Forestry.—Much of the first half of the term is spent in the orchards, nurseries, and forests, making observations and collections, and in laboratory work, determining species, varieties, etc. A large collection of apples, pears, grapes, peaches, etc., is made each year, and the chief characteristics of each pointed out. Practice is had in making drawings and plaster casts. Written discriptions of the fruits are carefully made and compared with those given in the books, and systems of analysis and classifications are put to practical test. Students see and perform the skilled operations usually practiced in the propagation and growth of trees. Pruning and training by various methods, especially of grapes, are discussed in the class-room, and illustrafed upon the grounds. Students study the injurious insects and fungi which cause or accompany diseases of trees and fruits, and the methods of preventing or diminishing their ravages. The native forests of the vicinity and of the country at large are studied as a foundation for the lessons upon the influence and value of timber and other trees, and their artificial culture. For the latter, the forest tree plantation on the University grounds, and the arboretum, afford practical illustration. Plant Houses and Management.—This study includes garden and landscape architecture, the methods of construction, heating and ventilation and general management, so as to secure, under the different circumstances, the best plant growth. The classroom work consists of lectures and architectual designing and drawing. Illustration and practice are afforded by the planthouses of the University.