Ixxxviii. PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



in the address, which is easily accessible. I may remind our 

 Members that, as one of its corresponding societies, we receive 

 annually a copy of the British Association report in return for 

 our " Proceedings." Experiments show that comparatively few 

 seeds outside those of leguminous plants retain their vitality for a 

 long period, those allied to mallows and myrtles being the 

 principal. The long-lived ones are mostly encased in a hard, 

 impermeable coat, which may be softened by steeping in 

 sulphuric acid for a few hours to obtain quick germination. I 

 do not know whether these experiments considered the deep 

 burial of seeds in the ground, which appears sometimes to keep 

 them alive for long periods. The wild progenitor of our 

 potatoes was quite unknown, and has only lately been discovered 

 after many years' experiments by Mr. Sutton in the species 

 named Solanum etuberosum, from which, at last, potatoes indis- 

 tinguishable from the ordinary cultivated form have been 

 developed. Whilst on this subject I should like to correct a 

 statement set forth by high authority that the first figure of our 

 potato was published by a Frenchman, Clusius or L'ecluse, in 

 1602. I have lately become the possessor of a copy of the first 

 edition of Gerard's Herbal, dated 1597, which contains an 

 excellent figure of this plant under the name of " Potatoes of 

 Virginia," which, he states, he has growing well in his garden 

 (in Holbourne), and, as I am not aware of an earlier figure, we 

 may claim that honour for an Englishman. At Woburn and 

 other places experiments have been made in regard to the best 

 method of planting trees, and it has been found that, contrary- to 

 our preconceived ideas, the most successful plan is to make a 

 small hole just large enough to take in the roots gathered up 

 together, throw some earth in, and ram it down as hard as 

 possible. I hope to try the effect of this process, which is much 

 less trouble than the usual one followed by careful gardeners. A 

 difficulty in the introduction of foreign strains of the cotton plant 

 into India is caused by the cotton moth (Sylepta deroga/a), which 

 attacks them most destructively, while the Indian varieties, 

 strange to say, are comparatively uninjured. 



