PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 319 



The critical study of British plants was supposed to be an exhausted field, 

 but with the necessary insight and careful and critical observation there is much 

 work still to be done. Exchange clubs are active, and additions to local floras 

 are continually being made. New species, varieties, and hybrids are published 

 from time to time. As an instance, Fotaino(jtton upsuliensis, hitherto only 

 known in Sweden, has recently been found in this neighbourhood. Hybrid 

 orchids are being keenly studied, and the occurrence of hybrids in this and other 

 classes of plants opens a wide and interesting field of investigation. 



A much-desired piece of work is a continuance of Starkie Gardner's interesting 

 investigation of the fossil flora of the Bagshot beds so well shown in the 

 Bournemouth and adjoining cliffs. Some of these have proved exceptionally rich 

 in remains of tropical and sub-tropical plants. Among the genera claimed to be 

 represented are Acacia, Smilax, Lygodium, Gleichenia, Myrica, Eucalyptus, 

 Araitcaiia, Diospyros, Nipadites, S 'quoin, and a palm [Iriurteu), now only found 

 in tropical America. So far, in regard to these plant remains, we may say with 

 La Place : ' What we know is but little : what we do not know is immense.' 



After an interval unprecedented in the history of the British Association we 

 meet once more under its high authority so that the leaders in science and men 

 of affairs with wide and deep experience may take council together and discuss 

 the latest results of scientific investigations. We have everything to gain from 

 a free exchange of experience and ideas. This is a time when science does well 

 to renew its touch with daily life both for its own sake no less than for the sake 

 of true progress. It is recognised that the enormous advance in the material 

 comfort and the prosperity of our race during the last century has been due to 

 the application of science. Nevertheless, in the newer times which we are now 

 entering upon we shall require all our energy and all available scientific know- 

 ledge to win through to success. It is encouraging to realise that since we met 

 at Newcastle in 1916 there has been a truly remarkable progress in every branch 

 of science. Also, a fuller recognition of the value of science and education ns 

 means, whereby the material interests of the world may be enlarged. 



My distinguished predecessor, whose work has been largely concerned with 

 the systematic and philosophical side of Botany, has rightly expressed the general 

 desire for a more cordial understanding between botany and its economic 

 applications. ' It is certain,' he said, ' that our outlook must be widely different 

 after the war, and the changed environment must find us ready to respond in 

 the interest of our country and mankind.' 



With your permission, and acting on a suggestion made by my Committee, I 

 propose to travel a little outside the usual scope of previous addresses and review 

 the many, efforts that have been made, and are still being made, to promote the 

 interests not only of the home land but of the Empire as a whole. My own 

 activities have been more or less intimately connected with the Tropics. Their 

 productions are daily in increasing demand, and are becoming more and more 

 necessary to the inhabitants of temperate countries. Before the war it was 

 estimated there were about three million square miles of British territory within 

 the tropical zone. A portion of this area, including India, was already pro- 

 ducing commodities of the estimated value of 230 million sterling. 



It is, therefore, in the national interest to keep closely, in touch with the 

 conditions and prospects of our tropical possessions, in order that we may render 

 them still more capable of supplying the raw material so necessary to the main- 

 tenance of our commercial prosperity. 



In recent times one of the most important steps taken in this connection was 

 the establishment, on the recommendation of a Royal Commission, appointed by 

 Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, of an Imperial Department of Agriculture in the West 

 Indies. The provision for the upkeep of the Department, approved by Parlia- 

 ment, was at the rate of £17,400 per annum. From the first special efforts were 

 made to bring the resources of science to bear on all matters relating to the 

 welfare of the Colonies concerned. The laboratories and the headquarters of 

 the Department were established at Barbados, together with a staff of University 

 men with special qualifications for research. The latter carried on their work 

 in co-operation with officers of a like standing at British Guiana, Trinidad, and 

 Jamaica. 



When fully orga.iiseJ the Department made grants for teaching science at 



