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Wednesday afternoon at which matters of interest to both parties will 

 be brought up for discussion. 



It is to be hoped that the present conditions will not hinder the co- 

 operation which — ^in order to be really international and of real signi- 

 ficance — must take place between experts in all countries where official 

 seed testing stations exist or are planned. 



You are now welcome to make any remarks you wish as to my paper, 

 and I earnestly request you to criticise anything with which you disagree. 

 Dr. Volkart and I have carried out the work alone during the past three 

 years ; we are aware that much more ought to have been done, but th& 

 conditions have been difiicult. Each of us has been very busy with our 

 official duties. We have, therefore, not been able to devote as much time 

 to the co-operative work as we should have wished, nor have we had the 

 means for obtaining the necessary assistance. 



I thank the English Government for having invited us to this Con- 

 ference, and also those gentlemen, especially Sir Lawrence Weaver and 

 Mr. Chambers, who have had the trouble of making the necessary arrange- 

 ments. My best thanks also to those who have agreed to read papers, and 

 to those colleagues who have contributed to the work during the past three 

 years. i 



As Chairman of the Association I beg to extend to all those present a 

 hearty welcome to the Congress. Especially I address this welcome to 

 those colleagues who did not take part in the Conference at Copenhagen. 

 I was very sorry when Professor Munn and Dr. Brown Wrote me that the 

 United States of America would not be officially represented at the Con- 

 ference, as I had hitherto derived so much benefit from the co-operation 

 of our American colleagues and had, consequently, looked forward with much 

 pleasure to meeting them here. I telegraphed at once to both Professor 

 Munn and Dr. Brown inviting them to attend the Congress in an unofficial 

 capacity, and to my great pleasure Professor Munn has been able to come. 

 We bid him, as President of the Association of Official Seed Analysts of 

 North America, special welcome. We also thank Mr. Clark, from Canada, 

 very much for taking such a long journey in order to take part in the 

 Congress. We take it as an indication that our colleagues on the other 

 side of the Atlantic Ocean desire to co-operate with iis. To this co-operation 

 I extend a hand on behalf of the Em?opean Seed Testing Association. 



I am hopeful that we shall now have some very instructive and 

 successful days together. 



