442 



NATURE 



[January i, 1920 



speare, and may be sent. Of shrubs, rosemary, 

 lavender, lavender cotton, box, woodbine. :ind 

 many others should be planted. 



The trustees, in their circular, refer to several 

 early g-ardening books which give accounts of 

 the plants in cultivation in the latter part of the 

 sixteenth century, but they omit to mention the 

 excellent book by the late Canon Ellacombe, a 

 keen student of Shakespeare, whose " Plant-lore 

 and Garden Craft of Shakespeare " is a mine of 

 useful information on the plants in cultivation in 

 Shakespeare's day. The list of plants grown in 

 the garden at Bitton vicarage in 1831, reprinted 

 in the recently published memoir of Canon 

 Ellacombe, might also well represent what would 

 have been found in a garden three hundred years 

 agfo, and should be referred to by those anxious 

 to assist in the good work. 



Fortunately, there are still collections of the 

 old roses from which it may be possible to supply 

 plants for the "Great Garden." Anyone having 

 any of the old-fashioned plants suitable for the 

 garden should send them to Mr. Frederick C. 

 Wellstood, secretary to the trust, Shakespeare's 

 Great Garden, New Place, Stratford-on-Avon, 

 by whom they will be gratefully acknowledged. 

 The names of the donors will be preserved at 

 Nash's House, adjoining New Place, which was 

 once the property of Thomas Nash, the husband 

 of Shakespeare's granddaughter Elizabeth. 



There are probably many people who would 

 wish to take part in this interesting tribute to 

 Shakespeare's memory, but have no flowers to 

 send ; contributions in money from such will be 

 equally acceptable, and should be sent to the 

 secretary to the trust. 



A RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR NEW 

 ZEALAND. 



UNDER the will of the late Thomas Cawthorn, 

 of Nelson, New Zealand, the sum of 

 240,000/. was left for the founding of a technical 

 institute. The trustees were unanimous in desir- 

 ing that the Cawthorn Institute should be a re- 

 search institution, and appointed a private com- 

 mission of scientific men to advise as to the best 

 method of procedure. The commission consisted 

 of Sir J. C. Wilson, President of the N.Z. Board 

 of Agriculture, Profs. Benham, Easterfield, Mar- 

 shall, and Worley, and Dr. Leonard Cockayne. 

 At the request of the trustees, the commissioners 

 have consented to become an honorary advisory 

 board. The main recommendations of the com- 

 mission have been adopted by the trustees. The 

 chief work of the institute is to be " instruction in 

 and performance of .scientific research ; such re- 

 search to be definitely related to the industries of 

 Nelson and of the Dominion." 



.\ beautiful, well-wooded site overlooking- Tas- 

 man Bay has been secured, the area being ap- 

 proximately 20 acres and the distance from Nelson 

 about three miles. It is expected that the build- 

 ings will be commenced at an early date. At the 

 last meeting of the trustees it was decided, with 



NO. 2618, VOL. 104] 



the approval of the advisory board, to offer the 

 position of director to Prof. T. H. Easterfield, 

 professor of chemistry at Victoria College (Uni- 

 versity of New Zealand), \\'ellington, who has 

 accepted the position. Mr. T. Rigg, of the Cam- 

 bridge School of Agriculture, a New Zealand 1851 

 Exhibitioner, has been appointed agricultural 

 chemist ; other staff appointments \\ ill be made 

 shortly. 



.\ liberal scheme of scholarships and fellowships 

 is arranged, so that university graduates may be 

 attracted to carry out investigations under the 

 guidance of members of the staff. 



An annual "Cawthorn Lecture " has been estab- 

 lished. The 191 7 lecture was delivered by Prof. 

 Easterfield on "The Aims and Ideals of the Caw- 

 thorn Institute " ; the next lecturer was Prof. 

 Benham, and the lecturer in 1919 was Dr. L. 

 Cockayne. 



Questions having been raised as to the legal 

 right of the trustees to establish a research insti- 

 tute, an originating summons was taken out undt r 

 the Declaratory Judgments Act. The decision of 

 Mr. Justice Chapman was to the effect that the 

 scheme set out in the report of the commissionei^ 

 falls, in its main features, within the terms of the 

 testator's intentions. It is proposed to introduce a 

 Bill embodying the chief points of the judgment 

 in the New Zealand Parliament next session. 



Though it is intended that the work of the insti- 

 tute is to have a distinct economic bearing, it has 

 been made clear that the trustees recognise that 

 no sharp line can be drawn between technical and 

 scientific research, and that the term " technical " 

 will be understood in a broad and liberal sense. 



DR. CYRIL G. HOPKINS. 



C,2TL'DENTS of agricultural science In fill 

 ^--^ countries will learn with regret of the death 

 on October 6 of Dr. Cyril G. Hopkins, the distin- 

 guished head of the department of agronomy in j 

 the University of Illinois. Dr. Hopkins had for | 

 the past twelve months been studying the ex- ] 

 hausted soils of Greece under the auspices of the 

 .'\merican Red Cross. He had written his report, 

 seen it translated into Greek, and received a 

 decoration from the King of the Hellenes. He was 

 on his way home, but when three days out from 

 Gibraltar was suddenly struck down with con- 

 gestion of the brain, with malarial complications. 



Dr. Hopkins's chief service to agriculture was 

 his urgent and persistent advocacy of the need for 

 the honest and adequate use of fertilisers. His 

 region of operations was the State of Illinois, of 

 which he had a very extensive knowledge. It was 

 the present writer's privilege to accompany him 

 on an agricultural tour through this .Slate in 1912, 

 and to learn at first hand some of his interesting 

 agricultural deductions and conclusions. Dr. 

 Hopkins's critical scientific outlook was mani- 

 fested in his lectures and writings. Besides being 

 popular with his students, he had a great faculty 

 for getting on well with farmers, and was obvi- 

 ously a welcome guest in their homes. English agri- 



