Its members were chosen for knowledge and experience and chiefly included: Lionel de Rothschild, who was Chairman of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), Mr. F. R. S. Balfour, Sir Arthur Hill, Mr. W. J. Bean (author of "Trees and Hardy Shrubs in the British Isles"), Col. Stern who was expert on planting in chalky soils, Arthur Cotton, who was the keeper of the herbarium at RHS Kew Gardens and became President of the Linnean Society of London, Mr. Gardner, Secretary of the English Forestry Association, Sir Charles Bressey, an eminent road engineer, from the mid 1930s Lord Aberconway, who became President of the RHS, Sir Edward James Salisbury, botanist and ecologist, Roy Robinson, 1st Baron Robinson, forester, and also representatives of the A.A., the R.A.C., the British Road Federation, representatives of Kew Gardens and, labelled as 'very important' by the last President (the 10th Duke of Devonshire)—a business of tree and other plant nurseries which invested its time and advised willingly.