as ferocious in his criticism as he is gentle, one is informed, in his private life.

The above mentioned men are the leaders in sociological thought in America. As teachers they dominate the rapidly growing cultures and their influence extends abroad, not so much to Great Britain as to continental Europe, where is found here and there in some university a sociologist so called. These scholars meet in two fora. One is the American Journal of Sociology, edited by Dr. Small, who is advised and assisted by a large corps of sociologists in America, reinforced by a few distinguished professors in European universities. The other forum is the celebrated Journal, or Annals, of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. The academy was founded several years ago by Edmund J. James-at present the president of the University of Illinois, more recently president of Northwestern university, and formerly head of the political science department of the University of Chicago. For some time during its earlier life the academy, like many institutions of its kind, had a struggle for existence; but the tentative stage of its life was happily passed and to-day it is a living factor in the intellectual growth of the country. It is a record of the best thought in sociological speculation and many of its contributions come directly from economists. Its strongest rivals are the Political Science Quarterly, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Yale Review and the American Journal of Sociology. But it is not unfair to say that the Annals will live long as the earliest records of the formative period in American speculation upon the larger questions of social science.

The discussions carried on in the Journal and in the Annals can hardly be said to be of a popular character. The new science of sociology has its special terminology and its own peculiar concepts, and an understanding of the discussion implies considerable study, if not a special training. Many of the papers published in the Annals and in the Journal are really adventitious-that is to say, they emanate from men who as lawyers, business men, or financiers, imagine they have something of value to say in the general round-up of

opinion. The free publication of such inexpert views only goes to prove the rather diffuse character of sociological thought at the present time. It proves that sociology is to-day in the same broad channel in which the sciences of physiology, anatomy and chemistry ran three or four centuries ago. Early in the sixteenth century the study of anatomy was really a popular pastime, in which any man who was in the humor could constitute himself an original investigator. Anatomy was a popular amusement, and lectures in anatomy were given freely before lay audiences. At the same time, the specialist was beginning to emerge, and specialism became more and more prominent and esoteric as the sum of anatomical knowledge increased.

Now the very same is true of the new science of sociology here in America. The public is rapidly becoming possessed of a curious interest in the causes of social phenomena, and in the structure of the body social, and the social philosopher is listened to with attention wherever he can be induced to make a public address or to share with the laity some of the fruits of his thought. But the prospect is that sociology, like anatomy, will soon pass beyond the reach of the popular mind, even in its simplest conceptions. Indeed, we may say that in its deeper currents it has already acquired a highly esoteric character. This esotericism must inevitably increase with time, and this increase in specialization will only serve so to narrow its channels that it will ultimately become a science for the very few who will devote themselves to its special cultivation.

A severe criticism, perhaps, may be made upon the view of American scholarship taken in this paper. It may be argued that to prefer the sociologists mentioned herein to the world renowned statesmen and jurists produced by the United States, is narrow to an intolerable degree. And yet if the matter be sifted out it will be seen that the view here taken of scholarship is necessary and logical. It is a fact that this soil has given birth to no science; that it has produced no great generalizer, of a fame commensurate with that of the European masters. The scientific work of the world is done to-day in Europe and not elsewhere. Scientific traditions

exist in Europe only. If there is any scientific tradition whatsoever in this country it is economic and sociological. In this country alone abides an institution such as the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Here only has every university a chair of sociology, and if America is destined to produce a scholar who will take his place beside the great ones of the past and present, in what science are we to look for him to arise if not in this?

WIZARD OF THE GARDEN.

BY HOLLIS W. FIELD.

[Hollis W. Field, author and editor; born Williamsburg, Mo., April 10, 1865; educated in the public schools of Missouri; began his career as a writer on the Kansas City Times, and afterwards became city editor of the San Antonio Express; removing to Chicago, he became connected with the Chicago Record, of which paper he became editorial writer and literary editor; writer of many articles for magazines and periodicals, chiefly on scientific and business topics.]

Considering mother nature as occupying a distinct personality with some of the characteristics of her human progeny, perhaps nothing since the exposures made by Darwin could be better calculated to disturb the equanimity of the old lady than to be shown a white blackberry. Not that Luther Burbank of Sonoma county, Cal., has not been exhibiting even stranger things to the old dame, but in the white blackberry the practical joke is so markedly evident from Mr. Burbank's own explanation of the circumstance, that mother nature has had every reason to rise in her wrath and administer a rebuke that is lasting.

"I made the experiment merely to satisfy my own curiosity," said Mr. Burbank, smiling upon a laden bush bearing the phenomenal fruit. "It is simply the inverse application of the Darwinian philosophy. I kept on selecting berries which, in ripening, did not turn pure black, and it was only a matter of time and selection until I had a berry which passed from its grass green immaturity to the pure white of ripened flavor."

But he is more than a joker-more than an experimenter in the mysteries of plant life. Forty years ago he had given the Burbank potato to the western world as his first practical contribution to the world's commissary, and through these later years, in which he has earned the title of Wizard of the Garden, he has kept before him the time when man shall "offer his brother man, not bullets nor bayonets, but richer grains, better fruits, and fairer flowers." That he has before him the utilitarian values of his knowledge may be seen in his utterance:

"It would not be difficult for a man to breed a new rye, wheat, barley, oat, and rice, each of which would produce an average of one more grain to each head, one more grain could be added to each ear of Indian corn, and in like manner another potato could be added to each hill. Yet think of the results in the granaries of this country alone! In only five staples we should have annually, without effort and without cost, more than 15,000,000 additional bushels of wheat, 20,000,000 bushels of oats, 1,500,000 bushels of barley, 5,200,000 bushels of corn, and more than 21,000,000 bushels of potatoes."

Yet this busy man has neighbors in adjoining fields who look over his boundary fences to see the thin, stooped figure, whom they recognize as having fooled away a lot of time producing a fadeless flower, and as they look they smile commiseratingly, in spite of the fact that last year his Santa Rosa farm received a pilgrimage of 6,000 men, many of them the pick from the scientific life of two hemispheres.

On this California farm Mr. Burbank has produced more than 2,000 varieties of vegetables, fruits, and flowers, in some of these demonstrations breaking all traditions of the florist and gardener regarding the production of new species. Some of the cuttings from his plants have sold readily at $100 a running foot. A rose plant brought $800 from a seed house, while the right of exclusive handling and sale of a single new variety has brought thousands of dollars. In spite of this, however, the Sonoma county farm frequently has brought the wizard of the garden into debt, and recently the Carnegie institute, recognizing the work of the man, set aside $10,000 a year for ten years to further his efforts.

How much time and patience and active effort are exacted from the man may be suggested in his production of the white blackberry. Mr. Burbank has said that he did this for his own curiosity, yet before he found the first blackberry bush with a fruit at all lighter than the normal he had examined 25,000 of these bushes in bearing. Seventy five thousand other bushes were subjected to the same patient scrutiny and selection, to say nothing of patient crossings and fertilizers,