1922.] 



Institute of Agricultural Botany. 



1075 



As the scheme developed its basis broadened. The Ministry 

 of Agriculture proposed that since this new Institute existed 

 with the object of seed improvement, all seed problems, includ- 

 ing potato " seed," should come within its scope. To it was, 

 therefore, handed over the administration of the Official Seed 

 Testing Station, which had recently been set up in the Food 

 Production Department. It was further arranged that the 

 Institute should be entrusted with the growing of the potatoes 

 entered for the annual trials for immunity to Wart Disease, 

 the Ministry retaining the responsibility for pronouncement of 

 immunity and the certification of varieties. Owing to this dele- 

 gation of functions the Institute became a semi-official body. 



Finance. — Capital. — That there was a demand for such an 

 undertaking is evident from the nature of the response which 

 resulted from the founder's appeal for funds with which to 

 give shape to the conception. With the assistance of his fellow 

 members on the Council £44,870 was soon accumulated, includ- 

 ing the value of the gift by Mr. Fred Hiam of a 344 acre farm 

 (since re-named '"The Hiam Farm ") near St. Ives, Hunting- 

 donshire. Of this sum no less than £23,850 was derived from the 

 Seed Trade and the Farming Industry. The whole of this amount 

 was earmarked for the Institute's Capital Fund. 



The Development Commission was approached in 1916 with 

 a view to obtaining a grant for building the Official Seed Testing 

 Station and a loan for the other activities of the Institute. Its 

 final recommendations to the Treasury were accepted in 

 November, 1919, and a grant of £25,350 and loans amounting 

 to £21,568, making a total of £46,918, were sanctioned. 



Maintenance. — Sanction was also given to the principle of an 

 annual grant equivalent to two-thirds of approved expenditure 

 on salaries, upkeep, etc., until such time as the Institute's sale 

 of its products shall have put it on a self-supporting basis. The 

 remaining third has to be made up by private subscriptions. 



The Testing of Seeds being a public service, the whole cost 

 of maintenance of the Official Seed Testing Station is borne on 

 the Ministry's Vote, and is met out of public funds. 



For the Institute's work in connection with the Potato 

 Immunity Trials, the Ministry provides two-thirds of the salaries 

 of the Superintendent of the Station and of his assistant, and 

 £100 for each acre occupied by the Immunity Trials, in addition 

 to the repayment of certain other items of expenditure. The 

 remainder of the cost of operating the Station falls on the general 

 funds of the Institute. 



B 2i 



