cclxviii PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The Council find that there is generally more demand for those who have 

 been trained at the Society's gardens than there are students to satisfy the 

 inquiries. 



Scientific Work. — Reference has already been made above to the 

 Council's intention to start a scientific station at Wisley so soon as the 

 new Hall has been paid for, and the more general work of the Gardens 

 organised. The initial cost of the laboratory and other buildings, and of 

 the necessary instruments, can hardly be far short of £1,500 or £2,000, 

 and the annual expense for salaries and general upkeep would be at least 

 £500 a year. It is confidently hoped that the Horticultural Research 

 Station will be the pioneer of many such centres of study and investiga- 

 tion throughout the country. The students being trained in the Gardens 

 will also in due time thus have the additional advantage of an insight into 

 the methods of modern scientific research. The many problems in plant- 

 breeding, in the treatment and investigation of plant diseases, and in 

 hybridisation, will be approached in time from every side, and the applica- 

 tion of gases, of electricity, and of various chemical agents will be both 

 practically and scientifically demonstrated. (See also page cxxxi.) 



Meteorology. — Scientific meteorological work has already been begun 

 at Wisley, and the observing station in the Gardens bids fair to rank as 

 one of the best in the kingdom. 



The instruments in use are as follows : 



1. A standard maximum thermometer, Negretti pattern. 



2. A standard minimum thermometer, Rutherford pattern. 



3. A psychrometer— dry and wet bulb standard thermometers. 



4. Three soil thermometers, Symons's pattern. 



(a) One at 1 foot deep. 



(b) One at 2 feet deep. 



(c) One at 4 feet deep. 



5. Two terrestrial radiation minimum thermometers with cylindrical 

 bulbs. 



G. A stout eight-inch copper rain-gauge, Meteorological Office pattern. 

 7. A Campbell- Stokes sunshine recorder, new Meteorological Office 

 pattern. 



The thermometer screen is a " Stevenson," Royal Meteorological 

 Society's pattern. 



All the thermometers have certificates from the Kew Observatory, 

 giving their errors at all parts of the scale, and the whole station has 

 been placed under the inspection of, and is being worked in co-operation 

 with, the Government Meteorological Office. 



THE JOURNAL. 



The present issue of the Journal completes the seventeenth volume 

 which the Society has published since the great revival in 1887. The 

 earliest volumes published were issued in quarto size and called 

 " Transactions," and were illustrated with magnificent coloured plates 

 which cannot be surpassed even at the present day. The first series of 

 these " Transactions " was published between 1805 and 1830, and the 



