iv PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



are Living Universities of the dead, legacies of the great dead of all ages to the 

 living, and friends which never alter or forsake. The revision of " Pritzel " 

 is one of the most exacting works the Society has ever undertaken, and it will 

 certainly be one of the most enduring services to Science which it has ever been 

 our privilege to render. The Librarian is present in this room, with the old 

 edition, in order to show it to anyone, and he will be pleased to explain its scope, 

 the method of reference to its plates, and the like. A great debt of gratitude 

 is due to Sir David Prain, Captain Hill, of our Council, and their staff at 

 Kew Gardens for the assistance they are so ungrudgingly rendering, as also to Dr. 

 Daydon Jackson, Dr. Rendle, Mr. Bowles, and other members of the Com- 

 mittee. The Fellows are urged to take seriously this task, which the Society has 

 set itself on scientific and public grounds, and to give it such financial assistance 

 as lies in their power ; for, if the new issue is to be sold at a sufficiently low 

 price to place it within reasonable reach of the many, a large sum must be 

 forthcoming in donations to reduce the cost of the publication. As a result of 

 the Council's letter of appeal, about ^500 has already been received, including 

 £100 from Lady Dilke, who has sent a cheque in order that the memory of 

 her late husband, a personal and parliamentary friend of mine, may thus be 

 perpetuated and "associated with this important work of Botanical and Horti- 

 cultural reference. 



The work at Wisley, in the beautiful Surrey Highlands and Pinewoods, the 

 County of Commons, the Shire of open spaces, continues to hold the attention 

 and confidence of the Horticultural community. The careful and observant 

 Cultivation, Research and Scientific work going on there in our Gardens and 

 Laboratory, and the valuable Trials which are being made, have attracted much 

 attention, e.g. this last year the trials of Climbing Beans caused even some sensa- 

 tion in the Horticultural world. Now that the War is over, the area of our Wisley 

 Gardens is being enlarged, and the Staff is being strengthened by the appointment 

 of qualified scientific and practical teachers and assistants in our Wisley School of 

 Horticulture — which ought to have become a College of the University of London 

 — as rapidly as financial means will permit. Dr. Darbishire is already working 

 on analyses to determine the food and dietetic values of the different varieties 

 of vegetables. 



A new departure in the work of the Society, and one which indicates the 

 confidence which it has won in the Provinces, is the establishment, under our 

 Society's direction, of Trial Experimental Demonstration Plots in Birmingham 

 and Manchester by their Municipal Corporations. There is no doubt that these 

 Plots will become of great educational assistance to the thousands of people 

 who are now devoting their leisure to growing vegetables on Allotments and 

 small Holdings, and to petite culture, occupations which conduce to the health, 

 and so to the strength, wealth, and welfare of the people, and which can never 

 be infra dig. (Laughter.) The old Greek Fabulist told of men digging to find 

 gold, but who found their reward not in gold but in golden crops, worth more 

 than gold to foodless peoples, a fable which has found its application amid the 

 wars of our own time. For the Report also records the important work done 

 in helping to bring about increased home-production of fruit and vegetables, 

 the value and influences of which can hardly be fully estimated. More than ever 

 we realize that the ruthless spoliator, be he William the Conqueror, or William 

 the Hohenzollern, in his boast that where his war-horse plants his hoof the grass 

 never grows green again, is the Enemy, and he who makes two blades of grass 

 grow where only one grew before is the Saviour, of mankind. (Applause.) 



Moreover, it must be very gratifying to the Fellows to know that the practical 

 powers and position of their Society are such that it was at once called upon 

 by the Food Production Department of the Government to assist the Ministry 

 in the work which it took up in 19 16, and from that time onward a very close 

 a»d organized co-operation has existed between our Society and that Depart- 

 ment of the Government. The Report also outlines the various ramifications 

 of our Food-Production work, and I particularize the enormous amount of labour 

 done by the Society's Panel of Expert Gardeners and by the Lectures and 

 instruction given by them throughout the country. 



With regard to the future of Allotments and the attitude of the Society 

 towards their patriotic cultivators, I may say that anything the Society can 

 do in the future it will do, to help this excellent movement to continue and 

 prosper ; and I venture to express a hope that the new Parliament may be able 

 to provide that in future every man who is willing to cultivate an allotment 

 garden may well be helped to do so to the best advantage. A King of France 

 uttered the pious prayer that every Frenchman should always have a fowl in hi9 

 pot. This aspiration was not realized, but a cottager's own well-directed labour 

 may ensure both wholesome food and a healthful diet. 



