Horticultural Society and Garden. 473 



In the north, without this aid, near Londonderry, an agricultural and 

 scientific seminary has been established, and is now in active operation. 

 The object of the Munster school is excellent ; the motives, we have no 

 doubt, are pure and patriotic j and if only a part of the good which is 

 anticipated be the result, the consequences to Ireland cannot be otherwise 

 than beneficial. The plan of combining labour with instruction is judicious ; 

 because the one will give a zest to the other, and the former contribute to 

 health and industrious habits at the same time. It is gratifying to contemplate 

 in perspective the time, which, from the progress of things, must certainly 

 one day arrive, when every gardener, agricultural labourer, and shepherd shall 

 have received the education contemplated in the following paragraph ; in 

 other words, when all these different branches of knowledge shall be taught 

 in every parish school in the empire, and when every parish school shall 

 have a large garden attached. How much more agreeable, entertaining, 

 and invigorating it would be for schoolmasters and their pupils to go 

 through such a course of instruction, than through the dull, half-useless 

 routine at present followed, every gardener who has spent half a dozen 

 years of his life attending a parish school in Scotland can very well judge. 



" The education of both classes of pupils should consist of a knowledge 

 of nature, or of minerals, plants, and animals, including physical geography 

 (termed natural history); of chemistry, analysing, making new compounds, 

 and turning to use the component parts of these bodies ; of mechanics, 

 bringing under controul and rendering efficient, directing, concentrating, or 

 diffusing, many of the motive-powers which chemistry and observation dis- 

 cover; of as much of mathematics (or the knowledge of the relations of 

 numbers and quantities) as may be necessary to surveying, civil engineer- 

 ing, and other practical arts ; and of the 'practical application, by the pupils 

 themselves,of these branches of knowledge, chiefly to agricultural operations, 

 including the culture of gardens, fruit, and forest trees. Drawing, as well 

 as writing, should be taught, as a necessary accessary to the acquisition of 

 all these branches of knowledge. History including geography, legislation, 

 political economy including statistics, intellectual philosophy, poetry, and 

 miscellaneous literature should be secondary objects occasionally lectured 

 on, chiefly with a view to private cultivation by means of a well selected 

 library. Music, dancing, and gymnastic exercises should be cultivated as 

 amusements ; and facilities for such amusements should be afforded to the 

 pupils." (p. 9.) 



To all who are interested in the establishment of provincial schools in 

 Ireland, or indeed in any country, we recommend the perusal of this little 

 pamphlet. 



Art. III. Horticultural Society and Garden. 



Dec. 4. — Read. An account of Scotch Pears, by Mr. Archibald Gorrie, 

 C.M.H.S. Description of a Hot-bed Frame, by Sir George Stewart Mac- 

 kenzie, Bart. F.H.S. 



Exhibited. Fruit of the long variety of Li-tchi, from John Reeves, Esq., 

 F.H.S. Anandssa bracteata, from Robert Barclay, Esq. F.H.S. Stunner 

 Pippins, and Apples unnamed, from Mr. E. Dillistone, of Sturmer. One 

 hundred and twenty-three sorts of Apples, from the Herefordshire Hor- 

 ticultural Society, sent by the Secretary, Richard Parkinson, Esq. New- 

 town Pippins and Calville Blanche Apples, from James Webster, Esq. F.H.S. 



Also, from the Garden of the Society. Flowers of seven sorts of Chry- 

 santhemums, four sorts of Pears, and five sorts of Apples. 



Dec. 18. — Read. An account of a new method of Grafting, by Mr. 

 Alexander Diack, C.M.H.S. On the treatment of Afymphag'a rubra, by 

 Mr. Christie Duff, C.M.H.S. 



