336 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE.—1915, 
number, an endeavour has been made to appoint one secretary at least in every 
county, and in the case of counties not represented by any society the Section 
has appointed district secretaries in place of corresponding secretaries. But of 
the 117 counties I may say that between one-half and two-thirds are represented 
by a secretary in touch with us, a decidedly encouraging result. But this was 
not done at once; several appeals had to be made before a single reply was 
received, usually because of absence, of deferred meetings, &c., and nearly a 
thousand appeals were sent, involving various replies, to obtain this result, 
To each corresponding secretary nominated by a Society, after application 
to the secretary, the following suggestions for local work were sent as a basis 
for his or her own active campaign :— 
Suggestions for Local Socielies. 
It is suggested that your Society might possibly carry out the following 
programme as far as it can be adapted to local needs :— 
1. Choose a member to act as a corresponding secretary who would keep in 
touch with the movement and report measures adopted, or instances of 
extinction. : 
2. Constitute itself a local body ready to :— 
A. Inform the Recorder of any cases of extinction, with their causes, 
and send photographs of sites as well as definitely compare present 
records of the flora with earlier ones. 
B. Educate the people locally by means of the Press as to the importance 
"of plant protection. 
c. Help to distribute information and display notices as to plant 
preservation (to be obtained from the Selborne Society). 
p. Memorialise the County Council to obtain a local order for plant 
protection, and secure signatures to a petition for legislation (a 
Bill is being prepared). 
zr. Endeavour to create locally a public opinion against the too 
abundant collection of plants. 
r. Work to obtain the purchase of tracts that need reserving, and dis- 
cuss with the Selborne Society the formation of sanctuaries where 
needed. 
A quarterly report should be sent as to facts ascertained (a and Ff), 
progress made (B-E), and help and advice needed. 
In addition to such work, the Section proposes to obtain the help of the 
secretaries in obtaining data in each area as to the need for the reservation of 
any tract of land, or the protection of any particular plant. This will be in the 
nature of registration, as followed out in Prussia, and in exceptional cases 
exact maps of such areas may be required. 
This is an era of land-inquiries, and as one of the most important aspects 
of plant-protection has to do with the estates of landowners, who as a body 
could help in the work of protection, and as much depredation is carried out 
upon their property, their assistance is to be sought in protecting plants, and it 
is proposed to ascertain who are the landowners in each district, the extent of 
their property, and so on. In this way, if local orders (as is hoped) become 
general, then the Section can lay down all the machinery necessary for the 
carrying out of protection without the creation of a single extra official, which 
is the only objection made to this method of preservation. The necessity for 
organisation is obvious. 1 Fue ' 
Too great emphasis cannot be laid upon the great principle of co-operation, 
without which no work of this national character can be done. One is even led 
to suggest the federation of all such conserving bodies for common strength and 
unity. But the present attitude of harmony towards each other is all that can 
be expected so far, so diverse are the objects in view. 
In this campaign one thing is of paramount importance, the necessity of 
promoting a public opinion upon the matter. Prevention is better than cure. 
The deliberate efforts made towards the proper safeguarding of national 
monuments abroad must be the pattern by which we must work. Though much 
remains to be done in this country, yet much has already been done. There 
