BOTANY, 



85 



work has been, and much greater though it may be, their total pro- 

 ductions have counted for little in the aggregate of food requirements 

 of the country. The consequences, however, of turning the thoughts 

 of such a large number of intelligent people to consideration of the 

 products of the soil may be very important. The fact is emphasized 

 that there is plenty of plain, straightforward work for the botanist 

 to do here before imagination need open up new fields of discovery. 



Every gardener is familiar with the cry for the best variety of 

 every sort of plant, and nurserymen and seedsmen are always trying 

 to turn out something better than the last. Most of the problems 

 involved in scientific husbandry turn upon the variety of the plant 

 grown — for the plant is the thing. Such problems include inquiry 

 as to the variety of the finest flavour and bulk, or the variety which 

 contains in the most concentrated and accessible form the special 

 property which makes it valuable — the one which can be most 

 cheaply cultivated as regards labour and manures, and the one 

 which exhausts the soil least - which is the best resistant to certain 

 diseases or drought, and incidentally the one which offers most useful 

 by-products. The evolution of the ideal plant for a given purpose 

 is work for the botanist, and this task alone offers sufficient justifi- 

 cation for his existence. The wholesale purchaser, or manufacturer, 

 who uses raw material, employs the most expert buyers he can get, 

 and in many cases the analyses of practical chemists are needed 

 in order to test how nearly its qualities approach what is looked 

 for in the ideal product. The grower needs the assistance of botanists, 

 to stand towards him in the same relation as the chemist to the 

 manufacturer ; and between the chemist and the botanist there should 

 be constant co-operation. The services of the botanist would ulti- 

 mately be as advantageous to the manufacturer as to the grower. 



It would be invaluable to the cultivator of small holdings to 

 have reliable assistance in respect of the maximum possibilities of 

 his land, especially if, as is possible, entirely new plants of economic 

 value could be introduced. 



During the bad years of farming in the last century, cultivators 

 often had to plant crops knowing they were bound to lose money 

 on them. They often chose those on which they stood to lose least 

 for the moment, although by so doing they reduced the value of 

 future crops. Botanical research and experiment would be an 

 important insurance against the recurrence of such disastrous days. 



The supply of food for future generations is likely to be an 

 increasing problem. The man in the street says airily : "Oh, 

 science will look after that ! " without realizing that the opportunities 

 of science in this country depend upon the encouragement he affords. 



There are many large wasted areas in this country with soil far 

 more fertile than that which in other countries has been improved 

 into valuable agricultural land. There are also enormous tracts of 

 land throughout the world which have more excuse for contributing 

 nothing to the world's larder — rocky mountain-sides, sandy wastes, 



