82 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



When I asked the Royal Horticultural Society whether it might 

 not be desirable to stimulate further the study of economic botany, 

 I was invited to read a paper on the subject. I did not bargain for 

 such an answer, but the matter seems to me so important that I 

 presume to call attention to a few points which, however elementary 

 to the few experts who have been trying for some time to enlighten 

 public opinion on the matter, may give a fresh idea of the possi- 

 bilities of botany to some who have not thought about the subject. 



British science suffers from the chief defect of the old " Con- 

 temptible Army." The personnel is too small for the needs of the 

 great Empire. Little help is received from laymen, for a wide gulf 

 stands between the average Englishman and the scientific expert — 

 the former recalls, perhaps, the superior attitude which boys are too 

 often taught at school to adopt towards the " modern " men. He 

 is as reticent in referring to science as in speaking a foreign language. 

 Formerly, he preferred to let the other man speak English ; nor did 

 he worry if Germans filled important scientific appointments of 

 this country. Unfortunately, even the lessons of the War have not 

 taught some people the value of science and the importance of finding 

 out the best means to a given end. It has been suggested in more 

 than one responsible newspaper that British character has beaten 

 German science in the great War : the fact being, I believe, that 

 British character was losing the War until British science was called 

 in aid. 



In the war of industry also, which looms ahead, business capacity 

 will have to be supplemented by superlative efficiency if we are to 

 hold our own. Not every man can nor need be what we call a scientist , 

 but it can and should be part of the education of every child in this 

 country to be taught precisely what science means and why it is 

 imperative to maintain under favourable circumstances our quota 

 of investigators in every branch of knowledge. 



Not many of us are anxious to converse with Germans, in any 

 language, at present ; and there are loud demands in many quarters 

 for their future exclusion from British scientific appointments. This 

 will be as it will ; but it is worth noting that the Revolutionary German 

 Government has decreed that henceforth science will be taught in 

 schools without charge; so, certainly, there will be in the future 

 more Germans than ever capable of filling such posts in other 

 countries, if not in our own. 



To the shoemaker there is nothing like leather, and those who 

 are interested in British Horticulture must encourage high efficiency 

 of the parent science of botany. Especially important is economic 

 botany, which is charged with the study of plants in respect of their 

 use to man. 



The vegetable kingdom is probably the greatest on earth, judged 

 by the number of living subjects. The expression, " Vegetable King- 

 dom," recalls that game of one's youth, which hardly suggested the 

 true proportion of objects originating in plant life. There is little in 



