ISHS Acta Horticulturae 5: Horticulture: Challenge and Opportunity
FOREWORD |
| Author: | H.B. TUKEY |
| Abstract:
The setting for the masterly address, "Horticulture - Challenge and Opportunity", by Dr. H. R. Fletcher, Regius Keeper, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, Scotland, was the closing banquet of the XVII International Horticultural Congress, at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, August 19, 1966. Five hundred persons from all corners of the world were in attendance. Only once in a long, long time does the "perfect" occasion arise. This was one. The arrangements were choice - in food, comfort, and stimulating companionship. Flowering bulbs had been flown from The Netherlands to grace the tables and to show what industry and science can do working together. This was the climax of the Congress - a week and more of excellent papers, discussions, tours, and entertainment. It was this audience that Dr. Fletcher addressed. The reception and response from all those who were present was overwhelming in admiration and appreciation. To all that had gone before was now added a blueprint for the future, a call for action. The Congress Theme -"THE PLANT, THE ENVIRONMENT, AND MAN" - was now complete with the final emphasis upon horticulture in its relation to man - human population growth, human needs, the quality of life, scientific resources, plant materials, the tropics and the subtropics, horticultural training, horticultural implementation, the International Society for Horticultural Science - Challenge and Opportunity. The Proceedings of the Congress will include this address; but it is so outstanding and so significant at just this time in World Horticulture and in the needs of mankind, that it is re-printed in this special number of Acta Horticulturae for distribution to many places that the Proceedings may not reach. It is the hope that many will be stirred to move aggressively in the areas that Dr.
Fletcher has so vividly revealed. | |
