GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



to fill ill his name and address, and himself place it in an en- 

 velope addressed to the secretary and seal it; each leaf of his 

 block is stamped with a number corresponding to that upon which 

 he has written his name and address. These blocks with ex- 

 amination questions are sent direct to the supervisor, who unseals 

 them in the presence of the candidates, gives them out, collects 

 them at the expiration of the appointed time, reseals them before 

 the candidates leave the room and forwards them to the secre- 

 tary, who is the only person who knows the number correspond- 

 ing to the candidate's name. When the answers have all been 

 received by the secretarv, he places them in the hands of an Ex- 

 amining Board for adjudication. There are various other points 

 and regulations connected with these examinations but to which 

 it does not appear necessary to refer. 



The Final Examination is, in the words of one of the secretary s 

 reports "really a stiff ordeal," but no one can say that it is too 

 stiff to qualify for such a high mark of distinction as the Diploma 

 of that Society. Since its initiation that Diploma has been gained 

 by head gardeners of between fifty and sixty years of age, as 

 well as bv others of all a.ges. It is worthy of note that m one 

 of the rep'orts it was stated that practical gardeners who had had 

 no collene education but who had evidently studied the principles 

 of their profession at home, showed a higher degree of all-around 

 excellence than that shown by many who had passed some years 

 in a horticultural college. 



As regards ourselves it does not appear necessary at the present 

 juncture nor for the purpose we have in view, to institute exam- 

 inations of such a wide and as searching a character as those 

 necessarily adopted by the Royal Horticultural Society for its 

 Diploma, although if we can later on do so, so much the better. 

 It seems that we might eliminate the working and viva voce tests 

 in a garden, immensely valuable as of course these are, and con- 

 fine ourselves to a paper examination, the papers being so de- 

 signed as to embrace both the principles and the practice ot 



gardening. . . , , ^, • ^c 



Written examinations upon both the practical and the scientific 

 -ides of plant culture are constantly being held by the Civil Service 

 Commission in this country for positions connected with the 

 United States Department of Agriculture which have to be filled 

 by competitive examinations. 1 have before me as I write particu- 

 lars of some of these examinations relating to Horticulture which 

 sometimes take two days, and which have been kindly sent me by 

 a friend in the Department. From what has been and is being 

 done 111 this countrv in connection with these Civil Service Ex- 

 aminations it appears very clear that there is no difficulty what- 

 ever in ascertaining by this means a man s knowledge to a suthcient 

 decree to enable us to grant a Certificate of Competency in Garden- 

 ing and I do not see anything which cannot be overcome to pre- 

 vent us arranging these examinations under proper supervision m 

 any part of the country in which candidates may reside. 



The questions would naturally be the same for all candidates 

 and would have to be drawn up and printed beforehand under 

 such safeguards that thev could not possibly become known to a 

 candidate°before he reached the room in which he would write 

 his answers. It should be quite easy to obtain the use of a 

 room in a school house, say on Saturdays when the school is not 

 in session, and one would suppose that some individiial can easily 

 be found in any locality who would give a few hours to the 

 supervising of the examination and sending the papers back. 



The more important of the regulations connected with the ex- 

 aminations might stand as follows : 



(a) The examinations are only for those who are following 



gardening as a means of livelihood. , . 



(b) Candidates must be accepted by the National Association 

 of Gardeners and at the time of making their application 

 must be at least 25 years of age. . 



(c) They must enclose with their application evidence showing 



that they have been continuously engaged in gardening for 

 at least six years. 



(d) Remit a fee to be agreed upon. 



The regulation as to having worked in a garden for at least six 

 years seems to me very important as securing at least that amount 

 of practical experience before being eligible for a Certificate of 

 Competency, but such evidence need not be required from those 

 who have been for at least six years active members of our as- 

 sociation. . ,-11 



There would be, of course, a number of minor details and regu- 

 lations to draw up. but it does not appear necessary to go into 

 them now. nor to discuss the questions to be set for examniation 

 papers If yon agree upon the principle and decide that these 

 examinations should be held, then the arranging of the entire regu- 

 lations could be left to a committee. It would appear advisable 

 that such committee should have delegated to it full powers to 

 carry on the work and to sjiend any money necessary for .so doing. 

 It also seems desirable that if this committee is appointed it should 

 be composed of men residing within reasonable distance of each 



other or of a common center, so that there would be no obstacle 

 to their all meeting together. We cannot get these examinations 

 started too soon, and it should be endeavored to hold them 

 before the end of this year if possible. 



The holding of these examinations would mark a vital and a 

 far reaching step in advance along the lines of increasing the pro- 

 fessional standing, not only of ourselves as individuals, of our 

 Association, but of the profession of gardening generally, and we 

 should by this means be acting up to both the letter and spirit of 

 the object of our Association as set forth in section 2 of the 

 first article of our constitution and by-laws. 



The more we can impress estate owners with the professional 

 character of our calling, that in the true sense a gardener is a 

 man who has been specially educated for his work and whose 

 professional knowledge necessarily embraces at least some ac- 

 quaintance W'ith the many scientific principles upon which the 

 practice of horticulture is based, the greater will be the respect 

 which we shall command and the better will be the conditions 

 surrounding our work. Increasing the prestige of our Associa- 

 tion and of the profession for which it stands is the more im- 

 portant today by reason of the fact that we are receiving a 

 constantly increasing amount of not only passive but of active 

 co-operation from estate owners. Several instances have oc- 

 curred of one estate owner recommending our association to 

 another as being worth while, and in some cases owners have 

 joined us when their head gardeners or superintendents have not 

 thought fit to do so. 



It almost goes without saying that the higher the level to 

 which we can bring our professional qualifications the greater 

 the support we shall deserve and receive from those who employ 

 our professional services. 



The greater the respect which we can show we have as in- 

 dividuals for our profession, the greater the respect others out- 

 side of it will have for us. No one thing will tend to show our 

 appreciation of what gardening stands for more than the institu- 

 tion by ourselves of examinations for proficiency ; these examina- 

 tions are equally necessary to protect us from the stultifying in- 

 fluence of quack gardeners. British gardeners waited for their 

 employers to protect them by instituting such professional exam- 

 inations. Let us have the greater honor of starting them ourselves 

 for ourselves. 



MAY BIRDS 



(Conlinurd from fiagc 580) 



May 6 



.May 8 



Grinnell's Water Thrush 

 Cat Bird 



Rose-breasted Grosbeak 

 Prairie Hen 

 Great Blue Heron 

 Black-crowned Night 



Heron 

 Semipalmated Plover 

 Buff-breasted Sandpi- 

 per 

 Rough-winged Swallow 



Marvland Yellow 



Throat 

 Golden-winged Warbler 

 Nashville Warbler 

 Blue-winged Warbler 

 Tennessee Warbler 

 Blackburnian Warbler 

 Chestnut-sided Warliler 

 Prothonotary Warbler 

 Crested Flycatcher 



Magnolia Warbler 

 Kentucky Warbler 

 Bay-breasted Warbler 

 Redstart Warbler 

 King Bird 

 Scarlet Tanager 

 Bobolink 



Olive-sided Flycatcher 

 Wood Pewee 

 Olive-backed Thrush 

 Red-eyed Vireo 



May 10 Least Flvcatcher 

 Wood Thrush 

 White-eyed Vireo 

 Scoter 



May 12 Connecticut Warbler 

 Warbling \'ireo 

 Yellow Warl)ler 



cheeked 



May 9 



Golden - 



Warbler 



Virginia Rail 



House Wren 



May 13 Cape May Warbler 



Black-throated Green 



Warbler 

 Green Heron 

 Migrant Shrike 

 Red-bellied W o o d - 



pecker 

 Sora Rail 

 Prairie Marsh Wren 



May 14 Black-throated Blue 

 Warbler 

 Y'ellow-bellied Cuckoo 

 Evening Grosbeak 



May 15 Black-poll Warbler 



May 17 Black-bellied Cuckoo 

 Orchard Oriole 

 Cerulean Warbler 

 Bewick's W'ren 



May IS Y'ellow-breasted Chat 

 Ruby-lhroated Hum- 

 ming Bird 

 Wilson Warbler 



May 19 Night Hawk 



Acadian Flycatcher 

 Kirtland Warbler 

 Mounrning Warliler 

 Canadian Warbler 



May 22 Least Flycatcher 



Northern P a r n 1 a 



Warbler 

 Sycamore Warliler 

 Indigo Bunting 



May 26 Yellow-bellied Fly- 

 catcher 



May28Dickcissel 



