14 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. lxxvi, 



lovers and tree owners, who would not take any amount 

 of money for the stately forest veterans which have been 

 the pride of their estates. There are large areas of 

 territory not yet reached by the fungus. We may hope 

 that its course may be run, or that study and experiment 

 may evolve an 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 organ- 

 isation 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 import- 

 ance to the practical grower of plants. We need onh* 

 o-lance 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 im- 

 portance 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 dis- 

 seminates a great amount of accurate and valuable infor- 

 mation 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 connection with each institution. These agents are 



