1911—12.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 3 



translations, abstracts or reviews of botanical work, 

 regarding any branch of botanical knowledge, practi- 

 cal, physiological, geographical, and palaeontological. 

 and the application of such knowledge to agriculture 

 and the arts." 

 This is what led me to select as the theme of my address 

 some practical aspects of applied botany. 



In the whole range of botanical science, possibly cecology, 

 physiology, and pathology are the three most important 

 departments as applicable to the industries and arts. 



The Society at the present time is strong in oecological 

 experts, and has within the last year or two published 

 several important communications bearing on cecological 

 problems. 



Regarding the introduction and cultivation of new 

 plants of economic value, we find that this branch of 

 economic botany has not received as much consideration 

 and thought as its importance deserves. Xo doubt the 

 world has been searched for plants of value in horticulture, 

 and many trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants of great 

 ornamental value have been introduced, but no properly 

 organised and systematic endeavour has been made to 

 introduce and test new species of economic rather than of 

 ornamental importance. Several of our large seed firms 

 and many private individuals have rendered valuable 

 service to the nation by the production of new and im- 

 proved varieties of plants already in cultivation, and the 

 recent science of Genetics is certain in the near future to 

 enable man to produce with greater rapidity and certainty 

 plants of improved quality. It is. however, not only 

 necessary to discover or to artificially produce new 

 varieties : we must go further, and test the suitability of 

 these new species and varieties under varying cecological 

 conditions. Owing to the endless modification in soil and 

 climate, it is not possible to formulate definite rules, and to 

 say whether a variety which is a success in one place will 

 do equally well in another. Still, by making an cecological 

 study of a plant in its native habitat, we can form a very 

 good opinion of how it will behave when introduced into 

 new conditions. A knowledge of a plant's oecological 

 characteristics enables us to select those conditions of 



