president's address. 15 



bilities, and unquestionably such a process will go on in this 

 Union amongst the rest. We are continually hearing a great 

 deal about our assets : last year at Stellenbosch the Rev. Noel 

 Roberts reiterated the view that the native population is one 

 of South Africa's greatest assets ;* we need not be told to regard 

 the country's enormous mineral wealth as one of its chief assets ; 

 and the economic potentialities of our almost boundless floral 

 riches constitute another, while the many still untapped resources 

 of agriculture form an asset that is almost without rival in variety 

 and importance. If the end of the war is to find the country a 

 going concern — to adopt commercial parlance — we should not 

 risk the need of having to put up our shutters for stock-taking 

 when peace comes : we should reckon out and invest our assets 

 without delay, so that the proclamation of peace may find them 

 at least on the high road to the production o^f substantial interest. 

 We are, I know, working in that direction, but is there that 

 whole-hearted co-operation that is so highly essential if a commu- 

 nity means to succeed in a task that calls for grit and strenuous 

 action ? 



As we wax hot in faction, 



In battle we wax cold. 



We have at times considered the subject of a national bo- 

 tanical survey, but for some unexplained reason this matter, 

 economically so important, hangs fire. South Africa had, a cen- 

 tury ago, acquired a world-wide reputation as a field for botanical 

 students, and. in addition to botanists from other continents, is 

 now building up botanical schools of her own. The worth of 

 a botanical survey is everywhere admitted, and even the type of 

 person who shrugs his shoulders at observations of minor planets 

 has no botanical counterpart. Yet the survey lags, and not alone 

 South Africa, but the world, remains the poorer on that account. 

 One hesitates to surmise reasons for the delay, but so much is 

 certain, the vastness of the undertaking makes it imperative that 

 the co-operation of every possible worker shall be enlisted, and 

 the American principle, " Every man in the post that fits him 

 best,'" would no doubt find loyal acceptance with all. 



The need of an agricultural survey o'f the country's soils I 

 have discussed on several previous occasions, t Such a survey, 

 if it is to be thoroughly carried out, should include a study not 

 only of the inherent character and properties of the soils them- 

 selves, but also of the soil in relation to its environment; that 



*Rept. S.A.A.A.S., Stellenbosch (1917), 88. 

 t See inter alia — 



Senior Analyst's Report, Cape of Good Hope (1892), 6. 



"Need for organised research in Cape Colony": Addresses and 

 Papers. Brit, and S.A. Assocs. for Adv. of Sc. (1905), 1, 221. 



'' Fertility of some Colonial soils as influenced by geological con- 

 ditions "' : Trans. S.A. Phil. Sac. (1907), 18, 13. 



Presidential address, Sect. B, Rept. S.A. Assoc, for Ad7\ of Sc, 

 Bloemfontein (1909), 33. 



"The study of the soil": Agricultural S. Africa (1910), I9- 



"Soil Surveys": Proc. Jsi Ann. Transvaal Dry Farming Congress 

 (1910), 25, 30. 



