iv PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



what the 2,000 are doing, I may mention that one of them has given no fewer 

 than 228 lectures and demonstrations in the last six months. 



In addition to the work done by the members of our Panel, we made an 

 effort to respond to the demand for special lecturers prepared and sent forth 

 directly from the Society. 



Accordingly, a number of experts were invited to a fortnight's confer- 

 ence at the Society's Gardens, when the special details of the work were 

 explained and considered, and the teaching to be given in the lectures was 

 standardized so that all might be teaching the same thing and that there might 

 be no divergence in the instruction given as between one and another. 



The Conference succeeded beyond our best expectations, and, by the end 

 of March, these lecturers will have accomplished a vast volume of work. The 

 letters we have received from those to whom they have lectured have generally 

 been most appreciative and encouraging. 



Yet a third way of instructing the country was introduced, and has been 

 widely effective. Fifteen circulating lectures were prepared and printed, and 

 something like 3,000 lantern slides made to illustrate them. 



These have met a demand not otherwise provided for. 



Of these 15 lectures, in most cases 6, and in some cases as many as 12, duplicate 

 sets of slides were prepared, so that the number of lectures actually available 

 amounts to 1 12 ; and, for the most part, they have all been in constant circulation. 



And yet a demand for lectures of a still higher order was evident, and has 

 been met in two ways : First, the Council invited Mr. Cuthbertson to give public 

 lectures in London on Potato Growing. The lectures were felt to be of such 

 importance that the Lord Mayor has been so good as to offer that the first should 

 take place at the Mansion House, and it will be delivered to-morrow at 3 o'clock. 

 Special tickets will be necessary, but you can get them here in the office. 



Such a lecture, delivered under such prominent auspices, will probably 

 attract a large audience, and it will be made widely known by the Press. The 

 lecture itself will be distributed in print immediately after its delivery, and will 

 in future be obtainable as one of the Society's War Pamphlets by all who may 

 like to apply for it at the usual price of 4^. A second lecture by Mr. Cuthbertson 

 will concern autumn work in potato-growing, and will be given at the Caxton 

 Hall, Westminster, on June 19. 



Secondly, Mr. Chittenden, the head of our School of Horticulture and of our 

 Technical Education Branch, is lecturing all over the country in connexion 

 with University Extension Courses and at well-known University and manu- 

 facturing centres, where his lectures are being well received and are proving 

 highly influential in directing food production along right lines, and encouraging 

 others to take up the task of providing their own home-grown food. 



The Society has always been an influential body, but I doubt whether it 

 has ever exercised the same extent of national influence as it is doing to-day. 



The gifts of bulbs and seeds to Base Hospitals and Camps have been most 

 gratefully received and acknowledged, and the thanks of the Society are par- 

 ticularly due to those who so kindly provided the gifts. I might specially 

 mention the bulbs and seeds sent to the British Prisoners' Camp at Ruhleben, 

 and to the Camps and Hospitals near Boulogne which I personally inspected 

 last summer. 



A regular organized Horticultural Society has been established at Ruhleben, 

 and has become a great solace to those who have associated themselves with it 

 under such trying conditions. 



It was with very great pleasure that we received a visit last month from 

 the President of the Ruhleben Horticultural Society, who was one of the first 

 Prisoners of War to be allowed home from thence. On the very first day after 

 his landing in England he called at the offices of the Society to convey the greetings 

 of the Ruhleben Society, and to express their appreciation of the sympathy 

 and help accorded to them by our Society during their captivity. 



Photographs of the Camp are here on the table if any of you would like to 

 see them after the Meeting. To hear of glasshouses built for the most part of 

 packing cases, and of flower shows (figs. 34, 35) being held under such conditions, 

 speaks volumes for the indomitable British spirit and pluck. 



That our efforts have been very effectual in assisting the numerous Camps 

 of Prisoners of War and Base Hospitals may be judged by an incident which 

 occurred a fortnight ago in the neighbouring church of St. Stephen's. Bishop 

 Berry, in the course of a sermon there, spoke of his visit to Ruhleben and laid 

 special emphasis on the really beautiful gardens the prisoners had established, 

 and he asked : " And to whom is all this primarily due ? Why" (he said in 

 emphatic tones) "Why, to the Royal Horticultural Society." 



The report mentions the valuable scientific and practical work still going 

 OS at Wislcy, despite the many difficulties under which the staff is labouring. 



