34 THE SCOTTISH BOTANICAL REVIEW 
effective remedy before the disease shall cover the remaining chestnut 
territory.” 
The expense of the Department may be great ; but when the value 
of the work done and research carried out in the realms of applied 
botany is set off against it, the expense becomes dwarfed to vanishing 
point. Surely the American Government is very wisely and well 
advised in spending a paltry thousand pounds in order that, by study 
and experiment, an effective remedy may be evolved to save not only 
the remaining chestnuts but the future crops, whose annual value is 
reckoned in millions. 
Germany has now also a vast and well-equipped organisation for 
research in connection with plant protection. 
At home the practical cultivator of plants may get scientific advice 
from the Board of Agriculture, apart from which he has to seek his 
scientific advice from the staffs of our Universities and Agricultural 
Colleges. Many private societies and even individuals have hitherto 
done much to disseminate scientific knowledge of great importance 
to the practical grower of plants. We need only glance at the 
publications of many different societies to find much information, 
not only of great scientific interest, but with a direct bearing on 
questions of practical importance and utility. The Agricultural and 
Horticultural Press has become a valuable national asset owing to 
the way in which it has kept abreast of the times, and disseminates a 
great amount of accurate and valuable information and advice on 
matters where applied botany can be of assistance to farmers, 
gardeners, fruit-growers, and all who cultivate the soil. 
How THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY MIGHT EXTEND ITS 
RANGE OF USEFULNESS. 
In organising their Department of Vegetable Pathology, the 
Americans found it necessary to have special agents in conneetion 
with each institution. These agents are appointed in as many 
different localities as possible. One of their principal duties is to 
instal and supervise experiments of various kinds. Their reports 
are sent in to the Central Institution, and when the results from a 
sufficient number of localities seem to justify any conclusion being 
drawn as to the success of, say, some preventive or remedial measure 
in connection with a certain disease, then such information is printed 
in bulletin form and circulated. 
In Germany we find much the same kind of organisation. In 
Bavaria, for example, the Central Institution, namely. the Institute of 
Agricultural Botany, is situated in Munich, and is under the direction 
of Dr. Hiltner, who has a staff of highly trained experts in all 
branches of plant protection. In conjunction with this Central 
Institution there are a great number of local stations (Auskunft- 
stellen) situated in the smaller towns, villages, etc., throughout 
Bavaria. In charge of these centres are local agents or representatives, 
not necessarily expert plant pathologists, but nevertheless men of 
