Report to the Anniversary Meeting. xix 



imperfectly understood. To discover the recondite laws of vege- 

 table life^ and to ascertain the effect of chemical influence^ as 

 well as of mechanical and j)hysical condition^ in promoting, re- 

 tarding, or modifying their agency, are among the problems of a 

 higher science than we yet possess; and it is the empirical 

 assumption of fallacious principles having the semblance only of 

 truth, which leads to so many false theories and wrong practices, 

 and brings disgrace and injury on the just cause of a sound and 

 discreet application of genuine science. It will be the constant 

 duty of the Council to impress upon every member of the Society 

 their uniform and decided opinion, that experiment must ever 

 form the indispensable basis of scientific truth, and practice the 

 only sure and satisfactory road to agricultural improvement. 



At the last general meeting of the Society, the Council an- 

 nounced to the members their intention to apply to her Majesty's 

 Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests, for a space of ground 

 on which to erect, in London, a complete establishment for the 

 local purposes of the Society in the metropolis, and Lord Dun- 

 cannon not only placed at the refusal or acceptance of the Council 

 a suitable space of crown land in the neighbourhood of St. 

 Martin's-lane, but Mr. Dean also favoured them with numerous 

 plans for the construction of the edifice. These proposals re- 

 ceived the deliberate consideration of the House Committee, to 

 whom they were referred, and the Council on receiving their 

 report resolved to abandon that design on the grounds of the 

 almost ruinous outlay of capital required for its accomplishment, 

 and the local advantages only which would be attained by the 

 undertaking; while the general interests of the Society would be 

 injured by the financial embarrassment resulting from its adoption. 

 The Council, therefore, concurred in the recommendation of the 

 House Committee, that a suitable house should be selected for 

 the ordinary purposes of the Society's official business ; in which 

 ample accommodation could be obtained for the secretary's office, 

 the meetings of the council and committees, and the general 

 meetings ; and in which a library for the reception of works of 

 reference and the most recent English and foreign publications 



