Presidential address: Ecology and grassland

[First paragraph(s)...]
We will search in vain in many dictionaries for the word" ecology" Similarly will we search in vain amongst many grassland practitioners for a knowledge of ecology or an appreciation of its significance in grassland farming. Those of us who have virtually grown up with an ecological background and bias find it difficult to understand how it is that some people do not realise its importance Yet day after day we meet people in various callings who are performing acts which they would regard as being quite unsound were they to understand the ecological significance of what they are trying to achieve.
There is the farmer who rings up his seed merchant and asks him to send out the "same mixture as usual" or merely" enough seed for 20 acres" The merchant mayor may not know where the seed is to be sown or how the pasture is to be used He, nevertheless sends out a "seeds mixture," which mayor may not be suitable. If either the farmer or the merchant had a knowledge of ecology, not necessarily by that name, a suitable type of seeds mixture would have been sown.