1922. J 



Institute of Agricultural Botany. 



1077 



excluded. At the same time no trouble was spared which 

 would make for working efficiency, and the result has been the 

 provision of the best-found Station at present in existence. 



As it stands, it is a two-storied building with a hipped man- 

 sard roof which allows space for an attic floor. It is con- 

 structed of local brick of varied shades, and consists of a central 

 block, flanked on either side by projecting wings, forming an 

 open court. 



It is of interest to note that the whole of the main block 

 is devoted to Seed Testing. On the ground floor, facing south, 

 are the offices of the Seed Testing Station, in one of which 

 samples are received, and from the other, reports of the tests 

 are sent out. The office of the Chief Officer is centrally situated 

 on the first floor, and the office above, on the attic floor, is 

 occupied by the Principal Seed Analyst. The work of the 

 Station is divided among four Sections — Vegetables and Cereals 

 on the ground floor with Grasses and Clovers above. Each 

 Section has its large laboratory for purity examinations, a 

 room for the Head of Section (with a window looking into the 

 purity room), and a smaller laboratory fitted with incubators 

 in which germination tests are made. There is an additional 

 clover germination room on the first floor, and the large labora- 

 tory on the attic floor is fitted with incubators of a special 

 type — Copenhagen tanks — used principally for germination 

 tests of the seeds of smaller grasses; also on the attic floor are 

 the research laboratory, studio, dark-room, and store-room. 



The ground floor of the west wing contains the offices of the 

 Director, Secretary and Accountant of the Institute, and is 

 therefore the centre of all the Institute's activities. From 

 here also the work of the Crop Improvement Branch is 

 controlled. On the first floor of this wing is the Council 

 Boom, the walls of which consist of panelled presses in 

 cypress which already contain the nucleus of a reference 

 library of books and pamphlets on subjects relating to the 

 w T ork of the Institute. The upper panels are gradually being 

 replaced by portraits of Members of the Council and benefactors 

 of the Institute. % 



On the first floor also are the Librarian's Boom, Committee 

 Boom and office of the Manager of Field Plots. 



The west wing consists of a Staff dining-room and kitchens on 

 the ground floor with flats for members of the staff above. 



A small existing farmhouse is occupied by the Secretary of the 

 Institute. The adjacent farm buildings, and the remainder of the 



