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The Florists^ Review 



59 



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TEACHING HORTICULTURE 



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TRAININa LOVE FOR FLOWERS, 



How Others Do It. 



Slowly and surely a taste is develop- 

 ing in America for plants and flowers, 

 a love for horticulture. I have seen great 

 changes in the twenty-five years I have 

 been coming to this country, I think, 

 gentlemen, that it is our duty to fur- 

 ther and to foster the love for plants 

 here. We must have something in the 

 future to which to devote our time. 

 More and more the people are working 

 fewer hours. We must try to give them 

 something other than a desire to attend 

 the movies and to speed along the roads 

 at the rate of fifty miles an hour. This 

 can only be done by educating them to 

 love plants. Allow me to point out to 

 you what other countries are doing, in 

 order to give the necessary horticul- 

 tural instruction and education. Nat- 

 urally, I am speaking about Holland, 

 the country with which I am most ac- 

 quainted. 



In the first place, there is elementary 

 horticultural training in the winter 

 courses, for which the state gives a 

 subsidy. Each course extends over two 

 winter semesters. The teaching is done 

 by the state school teachers, who have 

 acquired the necessary qualifications; 

 qualified practical gardeners are also 

 employed to do the teaching. Students 

 may enter every two years and must 

 not be under 15 years of age. The 

 course comprises: The elements of nat- 

 ural science, including plant diseases 

 and pests; manures, soils, treatment 

 and improvement of the ground; fruit 

 culture, vegetable and flower culture, 

 arboriculture and horticultural draw- 

 ing. 



On a Wide Scale. 



As far as possible, the instruction is 

 adapted to the requirements of the par- 

 ticular kind of gardening in the loca- 

 tion. In 1914 there were 132 winter 

 courses in the country and there were 

 twelve horticultural teachers appointed 

 by the state who must travel all over 

 the country; they give advice on any 

 subject wherever wanted without any 

 extra pay. They deliver lectures, con- 

 duct experiments and, in general, fur- 

 ther the interests of horticulture. Be- 

 sides these courses, there are special 

 courses for adults; in 1914 there were 

 seventy-two of these courses, all with a 

 state subsidy. 



Secondary training in horticulture is 

 given in five horticultural winter 

 colleges. One is in Aalsmeer, flowers; 

 one in Boskoop, nurseries; another at 

 T^isse, bulbs; at Naaldwyk, fruit; at 

 Hoorn, vegetables, and at the Horticul- " 

 tural College at Frederiksoord. The ob- 

 ject of these colleges is to give the 

 necessary horticultural education to 

 young gardeners, florists, nurserymen, 

 ("tc. The schools are divided into two 

 classes and the period of instruction 

 covers two winter semesters, from Oc- 

 tober to April. In the summer months 

 these young men work with their va- 



Talk given by P. M. Roster. BridKeton. N. J.. 

 »erore a meetlnc of the Phllndelpliia Florists' 

 ^"iD Tuesday erenlng, March 7. 



rious employers; this way almost every- 

 body can afford to attend these col- 

 leges. The colleges are surrounded by 

 more or less extensive grounds, where 

 students receive practical instruction 

 and where experiments are taken. 



Higher horticultural education is 

 given in the High School for Agricul- 

 ture, Horticulture and Forestry, at 

 Wageningen. This is a 3-year course 

 and embraces physics, meteorology, 

 plant physiology, mineralogy and soils, 

 chemistry and agricultural chemistry, 

 botanical terminology, botany, draw- 

 ing, surveying, arboriculture, fruit 

 growing, vegetable and flower culture, 

 civil law and practical work. 



Besides all this valuable knowledge, 

 foreign languages are taught, which is 

 a great assistance to our horticultural 

 education, as it enables us to read hor- 

 ticultural papers in foreign languages. 

 It also prepares the young men for their 

 extensive travels in foreign countries, 

 where they generally go after learning 

 their trade at home. 



It is not only in Holland that this 

 horticultural education is given; it is 

 the same in England, Germany, Bel- 

 gium and France. 



That sometimes the knowledge of a 

 foreign language is directly responsible 



for horticultural gains is illustrated by 

 the way Koster 's blue spruce was found. 



My father, who was the great-great- 

 grandson of a nurseryman, soon under- 

 stood that in order to make Boskoop a 

 horticultural center, we did need a 

 larger area than Holland to sell our 

 products, and father did all he could 

 to induce the government to devote 

 time and money to horticulture and to 

 the teaching of foreign languages. He 

 himself had acquired, through self- 

 study, a considerable knowledge of Eng- 

 lish, French and German. One day, 

 reading in the Revue Horticole, father 

 saw a description of the beautiful blue 

 spruces of the Rocky mountains and 

 read that the botanical garden at Zu- 

 rich had received seeds of some of the 

 finest specimens. Immediately father 

 wrote for some seeds, received some 

 and one of the seedlings was the blue 

 s])ruce which now is universally known 

 as Koster 's blue. If father had not 

 been able to read French, would the 

 plant have come to life? Would others 

 have seen the great beauty of this 

 l)lant and would it have been propa- 

 gated? 



This is not the only instance; other 

 ]>lants have been described in iforeign 

 papers and propagated. These, other- 



P. M. Koster. 



