iv PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



2. Staff Enlisted. — As a proof of the share the Society has taken 

 in matters more immediately connected with the war, it may be men- 

 tioned that no less than 25 members of the staff have enlisted or joined 

 the Territorial Battalions to which they had previously belonged, 

 most of them being now on active service abroad. All of them are 

 receiving half-pay from the Society, and their posts will, as far as 

 possible, be kept open for them. 



3. Care of Food Committee. — On the outbreak of war a Committee 

 was at once appointed to consider how the food needs of the country 

 stood so far as horticulture was concerned. As a result, an appeal 

 was made by means of letters in the daily newspapers and by the 

 despatch of no fewer than 50,000 circulars, urging all who had vacant 

 patches of land to sow or plant them with certain vegetables mentioned, 

 with a view of meeting any shortage which might occur in the winter 

 and early spring. Many thousands of plants were also distributed 

 through the Society's agency, and the Council has had the satisfaction 

 of learning that this action was taken up with enthusiasm all over the 

 country, and that many valuable additions have in consequence been 

 made to the general stock of winter vegetables. A permanent result, 

 it is hoped, will also issue from this, most people being previously 

 unaware that such vegetables could be sown or planted so late as the 

 first week in August and yet produce considerable returns. 



4. Wisley Development.— At the Annual Meeting in February 

 1914 it was explained that a Committee of eminent scientific and 

 practical horticulturists had been appointed by the Council to consider 

 how the Society's work at Wisley should be extended. The recom- 

 mendations of these experts were presented to the Council in the form 

 of a Report, which urged that steps should be taken at once to make 

 Wisley the foremost horticultural institution in the world, with a more 

 complete equipment, including laboratories for scientific research and 

 experimental work, and an increased staff of men of the highest 

 possible qualifications for the particular work entrusted to each. To 

 do this thoroughly, the Report estimated would involve an expenditure 

 of at least £2,500 a year, besides the further capital outlay on buildings, 

 and if these additional responsibilities were to be undertaken there was 

 urgent need (as was explained to the meeting) for the formation of a 

 Trust, so that, once taken in hand, the work might be independent of 

 any future fluctuations in the Society's finances. The Meeting there- 

 upon passed the following resolution : — " That the Council of the 

 Society be requested to create a special Trust Fund to carry on and 

 augment the Society's work at Wisley, and that part of the present 

 invested funds of the Society be allocated to that purpose." 



An Endowment Trust of £25,000 was accordingly founded, and it 

 was hoped to be able to devote to it a sum not exceeding £5,000 a 

 year until the independent maintenance of Wisley is for ever secured. 



