BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 



Superintendent of the Gardens. He felt that this was 

 a post out of his "line " and special interests, and one 

 distinctly fitted for a systematic botanist. He there- 

 fore refused it. 



He returned to England and spent a few months in 

 writing a book on * Rubber arid Rubber Planting ' 

 (Camb. Univ. Press) the result of his extensive 

 experiments and study of rubber during his time in 

 Ceylon. He then accepted an Inspectorship under the 

 Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. He was given 

 charge of Birmingham and district, Shropshire, Stafford- 

 shire, and the fruit- and hop-growing counties of 

 Worcestershire, Herefordshire, and Gloucestershire. 

 He threw himself into his work with his usual ardour. 

 An Inspector under the Board of Agriculture has to 

 travel continuously through his extensive district, 

 with the object of persuading farmers and fruit and 

 hop growers to check the spread of plant diseases. 

 R. H. Lock was a keen and expert motorist, and he 

 travelled thousands of miles in his two-seater car, 

 enjoying the beauties of the English countryside after 

 his sojourn in the Tropics. He always exerted in his 

 work a very powerful influence upon those with whom 

 he came in contact, and as an Inspector this was 

 particularly noticeable. A friend of his a well-known 

 Professor of Agriculture wrote : 



' In the summer of 1913 I spent a day with him 

 visiting Birmingham, and was much interested in 

 observing the quiet and forceful manner in which he 

 got his own way.' 



As he had now little time or opportunity for sport, 



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