218 
For many of us this means the breaking ot new 
ground. We have taken up the science because we 
soyed it, and if we have been able to sned any lignt 
on its numerous problems the work has brought its 
own reward. But some of us have on occasion been 
brougnt into touch with economic problems, and sucn 
must have felt how inadequate was our national 
equipment for dealing with some of these. In recent 
years we have made several beginnings, but these 
beginnings must expand mightily 11 present ana future 
needs are adequately to be met, and if we are deter- 
mined to make the best use of the material to our 
hand. 
Without trenching on the domain of economics, we 
may assume that increased production of foodstuffs, 
timber, and other economic products will be desirable. 
The question has been raised as to the possibility of 
increasing at the same time industrial and agricultural 
development. But as in industry perfection of 
machinery allows a greater output with a diminished 
number of hands, so in agriculture and horticulture 
perfection of the machinery of organisation and equip- 
ment will have the same result. 
The improvement of the plant from an economic 
point of view implies the co-operation of the botanist 
and the plant-breeder, The student of experimental 
genetics, by directing his work to plants of economic 
value, is able, with the help of the resources of agri- 
culture and horticulture, to produce forms of greater 
economic value, kinds best suited to different locali- 
ties and ranges of climate, those most immune to 
disease and of the highest food-value. Let the prac- 
tical man formulate the ideal, and then let the man 
of science be invited to supply it. Much valuable 
work has been done on these lines, but there is still 
plenty of scope for the organised Mendelian study of 
plants of economic importance. 
The introduction of new plants of economic value 
is within the range of possibility; our répertoire has 
increased in recent years, but an exhaustive study of 
food plants and possible food plants for man and 
stock would doubtless yield good results. 
We have heard much lately as to the growing of 
medicinal plants, and experience would indicate that 
here is opportunity for investigation, and, unless due 
care is taken, also danger of waste of time, money, 
and effort. A careful systematic study of species, 
varieties, and races is in some cases desirable in order 
to ensure the growth of the most productive or valu- 
able plant, as in the case of the Aconites; and such 
a study might also reveal useful substitutes or addi- 
tions. Here the co-operation between the scientific 
worker and the commercial man is imperative. 
The advantages arising from a closer co-operation 
between the practical man and the botanist is illus- 
trated by the research laboratories recently organised 
by the Royal Horticultural Society at Wisley. Such 
an institution forms a common meeting-ground for 
the grower of plants and. the botanist. The former 
sets the problems, and the latter takes them in hand 
under conditions approaching the ideal and with the 
advantages of mutual discussion and criticism. Insti- 
tutions such as these will give ample opportunity to 
the enthusiastic young botanist wha is anxious to 
embark on work of investigation. The student of 
plant physiology will find here work of great interest. 
The grower has perforce gained a great deal of in- 
formation as to the behaviour of his plants under 
more or less artificial conditions, but he is unable to 
analvse these conditions, and the co-operation of the 
physiologist is an invaluable help. Experiments in 
the growth of plants under the influence of high- 
tension electricity are at the present time being carried 
out at Wisley. Such experiments may be conducted 
anywhere where land and power are available, but it is 
NO. 2455, VOL. 98| 
NATURE 
[NovEMBER 16, 1916 i 
~ 1 
obviously advantageous that they should be condueted 
by an expert plant physiologist versed in scientific — 
method and not directly interested in the result. Dr. 
Keeble’s recent series of lectures on ‘* Modern Horti- 
culture” at the Royal Institution deal with matter — 
which is full of interest to the botanist. For instance, — 
he shows how the work of Continental botanists on 
the forcing of plants has indicated methods, in some 
cases simple and inexpensive, which have proved of 
considerable commercial value, and that there is 
evidently scope for work in this direction, which, while 
of interest to the plant physiologist, may be also of 
general utility. 
The subject of the soil offers problems to the botanist 
as well as to the chemist and proto-zoologist. In the 
plant we are dealing with a living organism, not a 
machine; and an adequate knowledge of the organism 
is essential to a proper study of its nutrition and 
growth. 
The study of manures and their effect on the plant 
should attract the botanist as well as the chemist. In 
this connection I may refer to Mr. Martin Sutton’s 
recent work at Reading on the effects of radio-active 
ores and residues on plant-life. A series of experi- 
ments was carried out in two successive years. with 
various subjects selected for the different character of 
their produce, and including roots, tubers, bulbs, 
foliage, and fruit. From the immediate point of view 
of agriculture and horticulture the results were nega- 
tive; the experiments gave no hope of the successful 
employment of radium as an aid to either the farmer 
or gardener. But, though the immediate result was 
unsatisfactory to the grower, there were several points 
of interest which would have appealed to the botanist 
who was watching the course of the experiments, 
and, if followed up, might throw light on the effect 
of radium on plant-life and lead in the end to some 
useful result. As Mr. Sutton points out, many of the 
results were ‘contradictory,’ while a close examina- 
tion of the trial notes, together with the records of 
weights, will furnish highly interesting problems. For 
instance, there was evidence in some cases that ger- 
mination was accelerated by the presence of radium, 
though subsequent growth was retarded; and the fact 
that in several of the experiments plants dressed with 
a complete fertiliser in addition to radium have not 
done so well as those dressed with the fertiliser only 
may be regarded as corroborating M. Truffaut’s sug- 
gestion that radium might possess the power of releas- 
ing additional nitrogen in the soil for the use of 
plants, and that the plants in question were suffering 
from an excess of nitrogen. Certain remarkable varia- 
tions between the duplicate unmanured control plots 
in several of the experiments led to the suggestion 
that radium emanations may have some effect, appar- 
ently a beneficial one. I have quoted these experi- 
ments as an example of a case where the co-operation 
of the botanist and the practical man might lead to 
useful results, and at the same time afford work of 
much interest to the botanist. i ! 
The utilisation of wastelands is a big subject and 
trenches on the domain of economics. But important 
botanical problems are involved, and careful ecological 
study will prepare the way for serious experimental 
work. The study of the growth of plants in alien 
situations is fraught with so many surprises and ap- 
parent contradictions that successful results may be 
looked for in most unlikely situations. ; 
The study of the diseases to which plants are liable, 
and their prevention and cure, offers a wide and in- 
creasing field for inquiry, and demands a larger supply 
of trained workers and a more definite and special 
system of training. For the study of those which 
are due to fungi it is obviously essential that a 
thorough general knowledge of fungi and laboratory 
