296 THE JOUR>"AL OF BOTANY 



The Presidentml Address of Sir Daniel Morris to the Botanical 

 Section of the British Association at its recent meeting at Bournemouth 

 included a useful summary of recent botanical research in this country, 

 but was mainly devoted to a very interesting and comprehensive 

 review of " the many efforts that have been made, and are still being 

 made, to 'promote the interests not only of the home land but of the 

 Empire as a whole." The work of the Imperial Department of 

 Agriculture in the West Indies in connection with the sugar-cane 

 is summarized ; there is an account of the investigations into wheat- 

 breeding on Mendel ian lines carried on by BiSen at Cambridge 

 and in India by the Howards, which " clearly demonstrates the 

 value of thorough acquaintance with pure botany as a qualification 

 for grappling with questions of economic importance " ; cotton 

 and its diseases come under consideration, as does rubber and its 

 diseases. The account of the development of the cacao industr}^ on 

 the Gold Coast, which Sir Daniel regards as " probably the most 

 remarkable instance on record of the successful combination of science 

 and enterprise in the Tropics," ma}^ be quoted: "Thirty years ago no 

 cacao of any kind was produced on the Coast. Owing, however, to 

 the foresight of the then Governor (Sir William Brandford Griffith), 

 who sought the powerful aid of Kew, cacao growing was started in a 

 small way among the negro peasantr}^ with eventually extraordinary 

 results. After selecting the locality for the experiments, seeds and 

 plants were obtained through Kew, and a trained man was placed in 

 charge. The first exports in 1891 amounted to a value of £4 only. 

 So rapid was the development of the industry that ten years later 

 the exjDorts reached a value of £43,000. By this time both the 

 people and the Government had begun to realise the possibilities of 

 the situation, and s^^stematic steps were taken to organise under 

 scientific control a sta:ff of travelling agricultm-al instructors to advise 

 and assist the cultivators in dealing with fungoid and insect pests and 

 improve the qualit}" of the produce. In 1911 the exports had increased 

 nearly fourfold, and reached a total value of £1,613,000, while in 

 1916, what may possibly be regarded as the maxinuun exports, were 

 of the value of £3,847,720." 



At the recent meeting of the Botan}^ Committee of the Devonshire 

 Association, Mr. Hiern resigned the post of Hon. Secretary, whicli 

 he has occupied since the formation of the Committee eleven years 

 ago. He has been succeeded by Miss C. E. Larter. 



We learn with interest that the University of Leeds has con- 

 ferred tlie degree of Doctor of Science on our veteran botanist 

 Mr. John Gilbert Baker, F.K.S. 



Mr. W. K. Sherrin, A.L.S., has been appointed Curator of the 

 South London Botanical Institute. 



We greatly regret to announce the death of Prof. J. W. H. 

 Trail, of Aberdeen, of Avhom a notice will appear in due course. 



The address of the Ilev. E. S. Marshall, who is leaving We^t 

 Monkton, is ** Offa's Dyke," Tidenham. near Chepstow. 



