REPORT OF THE CONFERENCE ON GENETICS. 31 
held our recent great Show at Holland House, by noticing the extra- 
ordinary development which has taken place in modern times in the 
genus Begonia. We can see at a glance what has beem done in regard 
to that one genus of plants, and I only mention it because it is so 
almost immediately perceptible. But the same thing is being done in 
the case of many other genera of flowers, fruits, and vegetables; and I 
am sure that the public generally have never fully recognised, as it is 
desirable they should, the very great obligation they are under to plant- 
breeders and to plant-raisers in every way. 
I have often wondered what position we in this country should 
be in but for introductions from abroad, and for the intelligence, 
sagacity, and industry which have been devoted to their improvement 
by horticulturists, British as well as foreign? Why, if all these exotics 
were suddenly banished from the scene, we should be left with the 
comparatively few trees, shrubs, and flowers which are indigenous ; 
whereas now there is scarcely a garden in the land, however humble, 
that has not in it some plants which it owes to the patient intelli- 
gence of the plant-breeder. Therefore I say we are under very great 
obligations to them. 
Speaking of our own country, I do not think that, up to the 
present time, we have, as a nation, allowed our minds to grasp the great 
importance of the industry of Horticulture and of the incalculable 
influence of science in relation to it, and indeed to all other aspects of 
our daily life. I think we are, to some extent, behind foreign nations, 
even in such matters as gardening; and IJ am sure that in agriculture we 
have not followed the guidance of science as closely, or as obediently, as 
we ought to have done. I dare say you noticed, only a day or two ago, 
that a dinner was given to a very eminent man of science, Dr. Perkin, 
who has made some very striking and remarkable discoveries under 
circumstances with which many of you are doubtless fully cognisant. 
We know that other countries reaped the benefit of his discoveries. Why 
was not the importance of his discoveries grasped by Englishmen? I 
lay no claim to being a man of science myself, but I have some small 
smattering of the scientific spirit, and I venture to remind you of what 
Huxley said—that the scientific spirit is more valuable than any of its 
results. What we in this country want is the scientific spirit. It is a 
remarkable circumstance that in the present House of Commons, elected 
after a very arduous fight and after many speeches of great force and 
power, there is not a single person whose opinion on any scientific subject 
is worth regarding. That is a rather remarkable fact, but I believe it 
is perfectly true, and if it is so, 1 must say we are still sadly lagging 
behind foreign countries in regard to scientific matters. 
I referred just now to plant-breeding, and, as most of you are aware, I 
have devoted a certain amount of attention to the cultivation of orchids, 
and I can recommend the cultivation of orchids to people who wish to 
have a very interesting as well as a very instructive pursuit. I have 
sometimes been asked whether I think orchids are more beautiful than 
roses. I think that that is such an absurd question that I always 
endeavour to hear some other question that-may be asked at the same 
time with a view to answering it instead of the other; the truth being 
