IRISH GARDENING 



Horticultural Instruction in the 

 Netherlands. 



By Mr. 



)EN Berg. 



I HOPE to have made plain to readers in the pre- 

 ceding articles what I have written about the 

 different horticultural centres in Holland; that 

 horticulture in that country is a very important 

 industry founded on sound lines, and it is 

 unnecessary to say that this would be impossible 

 unless horticultural instruction had attained a 

 very high standard of excellence. 



Horticultural instruction in Holland is divided 

 into three grades, namely, high, secondary, and 

 elementary instruction. High instruction is given 

 in the Government University for Agriculture, 

 Horticulture and Forestry at Wageningen, and 

 only those students are admitted who have success- 

 fully passed a five years' course at a high school 

 or gynmasium; they are those who can show that 

 they are qualified to enter an university. The 

 course lasts three years, and having passed the 

 different examinations and been employed one year 

 at practical work students obtain the Horti- 

 cultural Diploma. A large experimental garden 

 for practical work is attached to the University 

 at Wageningen, while lectures are given in the 

 following subjects ; — 



First year.— Physics, meteorology, plant physi- 

 ology, mineralogy and soils, chemistry, drawing, 

 national economy, general plant culture, mathe- 

 matics, surveying and levelling, mechanics, 

 ,l)otanical terminology and practical work. 



Second year. — Botany, plant pathology, free- 

 lumd drawing, garden architecture, treatment 

 and improvement of soil, surveying and levelling, 

 agricultural chemistry, theory of manures, 

 systematic classification of horticultural plants, 

 arboriculture, fruit culture, vegetable and flower 

 culture, national economy and business methods, 

 civil law, and practical work. 



Third year. — Botany, Y)hytopathology, freehand 

 drawing, garden architecture, theory of manures, 

 systematic classification of garden plants, arbori- 

 cvdture, fruit culture, vegetable and flower culture, 

 luitional economy and business methods, civil law 

 and practical work. 



Secondary teaching in horticulture is given in 

 several Government horticultural winter schools, 

 tlie principal school being situated at Boskoop. 

 Aulsmeer, Lisse, Nualdwyn, Floorn, &c. Students 

 luust be at least 16 years of age and have to pass 

 an entrance examination, while they must be able 

 to prove that they have Ijeen employed one year 

 a( iiractical irorli. The object of these Govern- 

 ment horticultural winter schools is to supply at 

 moderate cost- future heads or technical leaders 

 of nurseries or horticultural institutions with 

 tlieoretical knowledge, having as a first principle 

 learning the theory in the school and the 

 practical work in the nursery. With this in- 

 tention these schools are mostly always situated 

 in a horticultural centre, and thus there is plenty 

 of op))()i1 unity to be found for the students to 

 rngagc in i)ractical woik and to see ])iac- 

 licai wcuk. Although teaching is given in all 

 tiii^ different sul)jects to be descril)ed further, the 

 main teaching, however, centres round the chief 

 culture, practised in the centre in which the 

 school is situated. Thus, the main subject taught 

 at the horticultural winter school at Lisse, which 

 is situated in the bidb district, is bulb-growing; in 

 the school at Boskoop, the centre of the tree nur- 

 series, arboriculture; in the .school at Aulsmeer, the 

 centre of florists, flower culture; while at the 



school of Nualdwyh, situated in the Westland dis- 

 trict, fruit and vegetable culture is the chief sub- 

 ject taught. 



The course at those schools lasts two winter 

 sessions, generally from September till May, while 

 in the summer the student^ are employed in the 

 nurseries of the centre in which the school is situ- 

 ated, or they go sometimes to nurseries in foreign 

 countries. 



Lectures are given in the following subjects : 

 botany, arboriculture, fruit and vegetable culture, 

 flower culture, bulb-growing, landscape gardening 

 and garden drawing, glasshouse building and 

 heati«g systems, nomenclature, phytopathology, 

 chemistry and physics, bookkeeping, business 

 methods, commercial geography, English and 

 German commercial correspondence, while at 

 several schools special courses are given in 

 Russian, Swedish and Danish commercial 

 correspondence. 



The students of the Government horticultural 

 winter schools live in lodgings round the school, 

 and after having passed with good results at the 

 end of the second year, they get a diploma, and 

 they go, mostly, away for a few years to nurseries 

 in foreign countries, to obtain a good knowledge 

 of foreign languages, and to see other methods of 

 working. 



Attached to these winter schools are more or 

 less extensive gardens, where students receive 

 practical instruction, where experiments are 

 carried on, and for supplying material for the 

 lectures and for training future students in 

 practical work. 



Elementary instruction is given in the winter 

 courses, held in several places and supported by 

 the State with money grants. Each course extends 

 two winter sessions, and lectures are given in the 

 evening. Students, such as youths employed in 

 the nurseries, attend these classes in winter even- 

 ings. They enter every two years and must be at 

 least fifteen years of age. The teaching is mostly 

 done by national school teachers, who possess the 

 necessary qualifications, while practical gardeners 

 are also employed for teaching. 



Teaching is given in all the elements of natural 

 science, including plant diseases and pests; ma,n- 

 ures, soils, treatment and improvement of the 

 ground; fruit and vegetable culture; flower cul- 

 ture; arboriculture and horticultural drawing. In 

 1913-14 the number of those winter courses was 132. 

 Another school where horticultural instruction is 

 given is the Gerard Adriaan van Swieten school 

 at Frederiksoord. This school is surrounded by a 

 large garden in which are many glass houses, and 

 at this school more especially head gardeners are 

 trained, while many of the students go out to the 

 colonies as employees on the plantations of rubber 

 trees, &c. The course at this school lasts three 

 years and provides both theoretical and practical 

 training. 



A school for lady gardeners is found at Rijswuh, 

 a suburb of the residential city of the Hague. 



Besides these courses for young people there 

 are special courses for adults, and in 1913-14 season 

 there were 72 of these courses, all receiving jjrants 

 from the State. Tlu^ State also assists horticultui al 

 societies which organise lectures and courses. 



Twelve Horti<'uitural teachers are appointed l)y 

 the State in different parts of the country, and it 

 is their duty to advise officials and professional 

 gardeners to deliver lectures, to lay out experi- 

 mental plots, to conduct experiments and in 

 gen(M'al to further the interests of horticulture. 



Five of them are at the same time directors of 

 the Government Horticultural Winter Schools 

 above mentioned. 



