JULY 



IRISH GARDENING, 



vviiy of technical education in horticulture ? 

 Apart from the training- of horticultural instruc- 

 tors at the Albert Agricultural College, Glas- 

 nevin, there is nothing- done in Ireland for the 

 direct teaching- oi the gardener. There is no 

 school of horticulture or specialised course of 

 instruction at any of our technical schools for 

 the benefit of young men desirous of learning 

 the scientific principles upon which the practice 

 of gardening is based. There is even no 

 accredited horticultural examining body in the 

 country, and therefore, so far as Ireland is 

 concerned, gardening as a profession is simply 

 neglected. 



That in respect to the technical training of 

 professional gardeners Ireland is not only lag- 

 gings behind her sister nations, but actually 

 standing still, there is, unfortunately, no gain- 

 saying. We are not marching with the times ; 

 we have not even yet made an attempt to march. 

 We recognise, of course, the enormous amount 

 of g-ood work done by the Department of Agri- 

 culture in instructing farmers and cottagers in 

 the art of fruit and vegetable growing, but it is 

 not that side of the question we have at present 

 in our mind. We want to see the educational 

 status of the professional gardener raised as it 

 is being raised in Great Britain. We want to 

 see provision made for the technical education 

 of the young man who has chosen gardening 

 as his trade, to provide him with such facilities as 

 will enable him to make intellectual progress, 

 and to encourage him to devote his spare time 

 in the pursuit of knowledge appertaining to his 

 craft. 



The organisation of a workable scheme of 

 technical instruction for garden apprentices 

 would certainly require much thought in order to 

 overcome the difficulties peculiar to the case. 

 But a start might be made in towns already 

 provided with technical schools. Facilities 

 for giving practical instruction in the sciences 

 are, in most cases, already in existence, so that 

 it would really only require the addition oi' 

 horticulture to the syllabus of subjects to make a 

 workable scheme possible. It must be under- 

 stood, however, and remembered that the 

 realisation of any such idea rests largely with 

 the gardening fraternity itself. There must be 

 a desire for technical knowledge among the 

 young gardeners themselves, as otherwise we 



must, and assuredly will, remain in our present 

 backward condition. Development must ever 

 come from within. External factors can help, 

 direct and inspire, but the first step in all 

 evolutionary processes must be a spontaneous 

 quickening of the organism itself. 



We are afraid that the existing state of affairs 

 is largely due to the apathy of the gardener 

 himself. He fails to appreciate the situation. 

 He is content to continue in the old way ; to 

 work on rule-of-thumb principles instead of upon 

 principles based upon a knowledge of science. 

 This belief is partly formed on what we have 

 observed close to our own door. Let us state 

 the example: — Kingstown is the centre of a 

 well-to-do district. It has a fine technical 

 school and a large and well arranged school 

 garden. The district has fine residential 

 " places," beautiful gardens, and enthusiastic 

 gardeners. There is a gardeners' association 

 and an annual exhibition of fruit, flowers, and 

 vegetables, second to none of its kind in Ireland. 

 The members of the society meet during the 

 winter months for lectures and discussions, and 

 altogether this district may be taken as being 

 representative of the best gardening districts in 

 the country. 



Here one would think are all the conditions 

 favourable to making a fine start in the 

 educational march that this country must 

 hasten to join if we are to progress with the 

 times. A brave endeavour was made by the 

 Principal of the technical school to organise a 

 first winter's course of systematic instruction in 

 science for the young gardeners of the district, 

 but the scheme failed for want of support. It 

 has failed for two years, and there is a fear that 

 the garden which is such a valuable asset to 

 real teaching must be abandoned. May we 

 make an appeal to the gardeners in this district ? 

 We appeal to the older men to exert their 

 influence with the younger, so that next winter 

 may see a specialised course for gardeners in 

 full swing at these technical schools. A 

 beginning and a success here will mean the 

 opening of similar classes elsewhere, and thus a 

 movement will be set agoing that will in time 

 vibrate throughout the whole oi' the country. 



There are, we believe, winter schools ot 

 agriculture for young farmers in different parts 



