REPORT OF THE COUNCIL FOR THE YEAR 191 7. 



vii 



REPORT OF THE COUNCIL FOR THE YEAR 1917. 



1 . The Year 1917. — At a time when almost every individual — and certainly 

 every Society and Organization in the Kingdom — has sorely felt the pressure 

 of War conditions, it would ill become the Council of a Society which has been 

 able to be of such great practical use to the nation, to complain. At the same 

 time it is no more than their duty to point out, that it is only by the loyal support 

 of the Fellows that they have been able to accomplish so much, and to act as 

 an Assistant in Horticulture to the Government ; and it depends entirely on 

 the continued support of the Fellows whether the Society will be able to maintain 

 its help and advice or compelled to forgo it in future. To say that the Society 

 cannot live without Fellows' subscriptions is a truism — but it is also a fact on 

 which everything turns, and which possibly many forget. It would be sad 

 indeed if, after 114 years of marvellously successful work for the horticulture 

 of this country and its colonies, culminating in its recent most useful develop- 

 ment during this War — it would be sad indeed if the Society were permitted 

 to suffer loss. 



2. Increase of Garden Produce. — Since the War broke out the Society 

 has been of incalculable benefit to the nation. It will be remembered that it 

 was so quick to see the necessity for home-grown food that, on the very day 

 after the declaration of War, a letter was sent to the Press urging this very 

 matter. This letter inaugurated the Society's Food Campaign, which it has since 

 pursued unremittingly. 



It is, therefore, not a matter of surprise that, in the beginning of the year, 

 the Government sought the Society's co-operation in still further organizing the 

 country and stirring it up to make an adequate effort to produce all the fruit 

 and vegetables required for home consumption ; and, further, that the Director- 

 General of Food Production should have asked the Council to release Dr. Keeble, 

 the Director of the Society's Gardens at Wisley, to take the head of the Horti- 

 cultural Section of his Department, under a joint arrangement between that 

 Department and the Society. The Society was thus linked up with, and officially 

 recognized by the Government of the country, since when, by this happy co- 

 ordination of effort, the Society and the Food Production Department have 

 been able to accomplish a vast amount of work in the direction of Food-producing 

 and Food-conserving. 



The work of the year 191 7 in its earlier stages was organized by the Society's 

 Food Production Committee. In this connexion the President and Council 

 desire to thank Mr. Nugent Harris, Mr. R. Phillips, Mr. Mattheson, and Mr. 

 Edward White for the helpful services they rendered. This Committee un- 

 doubtedly set in motion new and very useful forces in connexion with horti- 

 cultural organization, the final issue of which is as yet far from being fully realized, 

 but will certainly have an important bearing on the horticulture of the future. 



3. R.H.S. Panel. — At the beginning of the year the Council set up a Panel 

 of Expert Garden- Advisers, and nearly two thousand names from all parts of 

 the Kingdom are now inscribed upon it : capable men, who at a moment's 

 notice are prepared to give voluntary help and assistance to allotment holders, 

 cottage gardeners, and amateurs, by lectures, demonstrations, and advice, 

 wherever the Council may send them. From the periodical reports received, 

 it is abundantly evident that the members of the Panel have done a vast amount 

 of good work, and have earned the gratitude, not only of the Society but of the 

 country at large. The work of this Panel is being still further organized and 

 applied, as rapidly as the staff and circumstances permit. 



A set of fifteen circulating lectures, with admirable lantern slide illustrations, 

 have been prepared and printed for the use of the Panel and are in great demand. 

 These lectures cannot be too strongly recommended to new societies and organiza- 

 tions. No charge is made for their hire, the only cost to the borrower being 

 the postage on their return, and the making good of any slides broken. 



4. Connexion with the Government. — In the summer a promise of a 

 Grant of money was received from the Treasury to assist in defraying the 



