46 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
this grand old Society such an establishment. I believe there is 
nothing that is so likely to revolutionise the scientific knowledge of 
animals and plants as such an establishment as I am _ speaking of 
would; and I think the best result of such a Conference as this is to 
stir up people’s minds and make them think seriously of my sugges- 
tion. It is perfectly certain that there are great successes to be reached 
in these fields. I feel certain our experiments will not prove sterile, but 
will produce flowers and fruit which will be awarded by posterity with an 
“BR.C.C.” This means—I explain for the benefit of the uninitiated—that 
the fruit of this Congress will be hereafter judged and awarded a first- 
class certificate. 
Monsieur DE LA DrvANSAYE (who spoke in French) :—Sir Trevor 
Lawrence, your Excellencies, my Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen,—It gives 
me the greatest delight to respond to this toast. Hybridisation has been 
one of the great pleasures of my life. I see in it the potentiality of quite 
an amazing extension of the world of plants, and that not in the very far 
distant future as world periods are reckoned. There appears to me to be 
practically no limit to what the hybridist may accomplish. Of course I 
mean no limit within that boundary of natural laws which Mr. Bateson 
has so humorously referred to. Gentlemen, I wish I could address you 
in your own language, but it is too hard for me. Ithank you for inviting 
me to this most interesting Conference, and I hope it may be continued 
and reopened at our great Exhibition next year in Paris, when we shall 
be only too proud to give you as hearty a welcome in my country as we 
foreign guests have so heartily appreciated and enjoyed in yours. 
Mr. Water T. Swiyeue, Department of Scientific Agriculture, 
Washington, U.S.A. :—It is with particular pleasure that I, a cousin 
from across the sea, rise on this occasion to respond to the toast of 
“ Hybridists.”” It seems particularly appropriate that the Conference 
should be held in England, for it is in this island that Thomas Fairchild 
made the first hybrid known to the learned world. I don’t think it was 
the first hybrid that existed, but it was the first hybrid known. It is 
also with particular pleasure that it is under the auspices of the Royal 
Horticultural Society, which has published the magnificent work of Dean 
Herbert, that I respond to this toast. It seems to me it is scarcely 
possible for us to over-estimate the future of the hybridist. When we 
recollect that scarce two hundred years ago Thomas Fairchild made the 
first hybrid ever known, and that now there have come people from all 
parts of the world deeply interested in the subject, and when we think of 
what a tremendous future there is for the improvement of our flowers, 
our fruits and foodstuffs, and all that appeals to our pleasure and our 
sense of beauty, we realise that hybridisation is the best and noblest 
branch of horticulture. 
In proposing the toast of “The Royal Horticultural Society,’ Lord 
Justice LinpuEy, Master of the Rolls, said:—Mr. President, your Kx- 
cellencies, my Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen,—It will probably be a 
matter of some speculation and perhaps surprise that an old lawyer like 
myself should be invited to propose to you the toast of the Royal 
Horticultural Society. The reason is known to a few, and I will state it 
to those who are unaware of it. Iam the bearer of a name which-I am 
