HISTORICAL SKETCH. 75 



December, 1830, included, besides the Experimental Garden and Cem- 

 etery, a plan for an " Institution for the Education of Scientific and 

 Practical Gardeners," which was as follows : — 



" In this age of general improvement, Avhen institutions and associations 

 have been formed for inculcating intelligence in every branch of knowledge 

 and among all walks of society ; and when it is perceived how successful 

 have been the efforts for affording instruct ion in the Mechanic Arts, to 

 masters, journeymen and apprentices, it is not only desirable, but highly 

 important, that measures should be taken for extending similar advantages 

 to those persons who may wish to become accomplished Gardeners. 



" As a Science and an Art, Horticulture embraces a wide field of 

 intelligence, requiring an extensive acquaintance with Natural History 

 and Physics. Botany, Mineralogy, Hydraulics, Mechanics, Architecture, 

 Chemistry, and Entomology are called upon to furnish their respective 

 contributions, while many of the practical duties of the profession are of 

 such a delicate and difficult character, that they cannot be satisfactorily 

 performed without proper instruction, and long experience, under the 

 tuition of capable Gardeners. 



" Theory and practice must be taught in sucli a manner, that science 

 and skill may be cotemporaneously acquired ; and this can only be done 

 in a well managed establishment, where all the varieties of trees and plants, 

 commonly introduced into a garden, or which may be employed in the 

 embellishment of grounds, are collected and constantly cultivated in the 

 most perfect manner. 



" How harmoniously, then, may a Horticultural School be combined Avilh 

 an Experimental Garden. Such an institution has been recently founded 

 at Fromont, in France, by the Chevalier Soulange Bodin, under the 

 patronage of the King ; and among the objects which the London Horti- 

 cultural Society had in view, in forming the Garden at Chiswick, was 

 ' The education of young men, to fill the places of Gardeners,' and that 

 is now considered ' one of the most important advantages which is accru- 

 ing to the public,'^ from that celebrated establishment. 



" The practical information and skill can be pleasantly and easily 

 acquired, under the chief Gardener, and the aid of such Assistants as may 

 be found necessary for superintending the Pomological, Floral, Esculent, 

 Arboricultural and other departments. 



" Whatever relates to the theory and subservient sciences and arts, must 

 be confided to competent Professors, who should be required to deliver 

 lectures on Botany, Vegetable Physiology, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Archi- 

 tecture, Hydraulics, Mechanics, Entomology, and such other branches of 



* Report of the Garden Committee of the London Horticullural Society, 1826. 



