iv PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Charterhouse School. He is the author of a magnificent monograph on the 
genus Iris, and is a thoroughly practical gardener. He is at present investi- 
gating the family of Tulips. The Council believe that in Mr. Dykes the Fellows 
will find a very able successor to Mr. Wilks, who will efficiently carry on the 
work of the Society under the direction of the Council. The Council are glad 
to say that they will still continue to have the assistance of Mr. Wilks, who has 
consented to be nominated for one of the vacancies on the Council, 
Another resignation which the Council had to accept with regret was that 
of Dr. Frederick Keeble, F.R.S., C.B.E., Director of Wisley Gardens. Soon 
after the commencement of the war the Council released Dr. Keeble for war- 
work in order that he might take up the Directorship of Horticulture in the 
Food Production Department of the Government. Discovering the utility of 
having a distinctly horticultural section of the Board of Agriculture,' and, as 
a post-war development, the Government formed a separate department for 
horticulture, and appointed Dr. Keeble Secretary. He has also been appointed 
Sherardian Professor of Botany in the University of Oxford. His successor 
as Director of Wisley is Mr. Frederick J. Chittenden, F.L.S., V.M.H., who has, 
for many years, been working for the Society in the Scientific and Experimental 
Department at Wisley, and also as Editor of the Journal and Secretary of the 
Scientific Committee. The Council feel themselves happy in being able to 
retain the services of Dr. Keeble on the Wisley and other Committees. 
6. Conjoint Board of ScientiJQc Societies. — Captain Arthur Hill, M.A., 
a Member of the Council, has been appointed to represent the Society on the 
Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies in the place of Dr. Keeble, F.R.S., re- 
signed. This Society is doing a very useful work in the direction of co-ordinating 
the energies of the various Scientific Societies of this country. 
7. War Relief Fund. — Substantial progress has been made with the Society's 
War Relief Fund. The total amount received exceeds ;^40,ooo made up of 
contributions from all parts of the Empire. The Fund is being managed by a 
special Conimittee, the Presidents being Lord Lambourne and Lady Northcote, 
C.I., the Council being represented by Mr. F. J. Hanbury, who acts as Chair- 
man, Sir Harry J. Veitch, Treasurer, and Sir Albert K. Rollit, who is Consul- 
General for Roumania. 
Considerable supplies of seeds and garden requisites have already been 
sent to Belgium and Roumania, whilst 33,000 packages of onion and cabbage 
seeds suitable for autumn sowing were recently distributed in the devastated 
districts of France. Arrangements are now being made for the distribution 
of large quantities of fruit trees, seeds, and tools during the present winter 
and spring, the Committee being in communication with the Relief Committees 
of the Allied countries. 
8. The R.H.S. Food Production Campaign. — The Society's war- work on 
Food Production was closed on March 31, at the instance of H.M. Government, 
who considered that a further Grant in aid of it was no longer needed. The 
enormous labour which the Food Production Campaign involved will never 
be forgotten by those officers of the Society whom it more directly concerned ; 
but one of the most pleasant features of the war years, which assisted and 
encouraged the work, was the hearty spirit of co-operation which was shown 
to the Society in all parts of the country, and found its concrete expression 
in the Society's Panel of Honorary Expert Garden Advisers, upon which over 
2,000 names were enrolled. It was with no little pleasure that the Council 
recognized the work done by members of the Panel by bestowing upon each 
of them a Diploma worded as follows : — 
" Diploma of Voluntary Service in Food Production. 
To.... 
for patriotic assistance rendered during the Great European War, 1914- 
1919, as a Member of the Society's Panel of Garden Advisers." 
This Diploma was welcomed by the Panel Members to a far greater degree 
than had been anticipated by the Council, and the letters acknowledging it 
have been filed and placed in the Library as very pleasing historical documents 
in the annals of the Society. 
9. Chelsea Show. — It was with some hesitation that the Council entered 
tiie Chelsea Show in its programme for the year. The decision having to be 
