492 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
[Arni 20, 1895, 
BDITORIAL NOTICES. 
Advertisements should be sent to the PUBLISHER. 
P 
pages, of gardens, or of 
de, ; eee eee tock oP bye’. 
APPOINTMENTS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK, 
MEET 
Royal 50 cultural bg h n Com- 
j mittees, pe the Drill Hall mea 
TUESDAY, APRIL 23 Stree e ee sais 
4 Nn and Auriculas. 
SHO 
0 Society’ 3 Second 
ct Chrysanthemum Society’s 
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24 Show of Spring , North at Anoa 
ve; 5 umber- 
Ja: and New 3 otaa cal 
and Hort r Society ‘aSpriog 
Show (2 ee Battle cf Flower 
at Eastbour: 
SALES. 
Palms, Begonias. 
Fer 
MUNDAY, APRIL aa) Poi mt 3 8 & Morris’ 
Rooms. 
TUESDAY, Apri 23 i 3 at Protheroe & Morris’ 
ETO 3, — 4 ori 
Plants, Lilies Se Bey bn 
at Room 
Unusually gg eee — Sale of "the 
Selwood Collection of Established 
8 by order of ee 3 
rs of the late G. Ow 
otheroe * Mortis 
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24 
FOR 
IN M THE OBSERVATIONS 
OF FORTY- THREE YEARS, AT CHISWICK.—49°.5 
Tuar the Gardeners’ Chronicle 
should feel some amount of 
satisfaction at the symptoms o 
progress in cultural education and experiment 
in the various counties of Brit 
Technical 
Education. 
mh 
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urgent necessity for such measures, in view of 
ever-increasing foreign competition and other 
in the diffasion of cultural knowledge and in 
the promotion of research, that our patriot- 
ism was impugned, and we were charged with 
nr Sr other countries at the expense 
on We are not inclined to bandy 
8 we may at leest ar 3 
of objects “ made in ny.” At the same 
time we showed how vi necessities of the times 
demanded that, so far as circumstances allo o ved, 
horticultural methods should be followed by ihs 
farmer. Many have seen the necessity for this 
=- 
wing does 
not pay, but on the average theculture of Grapes, 
T. rs, flowers, fruit, and forced 
vegetables does pay, where the conditions are 
favourable, and where the proprietor knows his 
business. Itis folly to suppose that any one can 
Aman 
its principles and trained in its practice. The 
failures that one hears of are mostly traceable to 
the notion that a man can suddenly, and without 
prove training, manage a business profitably. 
s seems a bare platitude, and so it is; never- 
chelate, experience shows that people do not 
realise ‘the force of the truth it enunciates. 
The practice in the different County Councils 
varies a good deal, but the ultimate object is the 
same. In some counties the interests of the 
present generation are alone considered ; prac- 
tical instruction in cultural details is the main 
thing aimed at. Instruction is given by peri- 
patetic teachers, who visit the country districts, 
and supply valuable information to the residents. 
When this is combined with actual demon- 
stration, and, still better, with actual practice, as 
where gardens and allotments are visited at 
ee by competent instructors, the result is 
ely to be excellent. Local exhibitions also 
serve to stimulate emulation, and supply profit- 
able object-lessons, 
Extremely valuable as is the kind of instruc- 
tion just given, it clearly does not meet all the 
necessities of the case. So far as mere practice 
goes, our best cultivators are as good, or even 
pa 
85 
But, assuming that 
the notion, that the average British cultivator 
is the best in the world is true,—what then ? 
How much better is he than his forefathers? 
Put out of consideration the superior material 
advantages placed at his disposal by the progress 
k science, and the more general diffusion of 
wealth, how much better is the practical man of 
to-day than his predecessor of the last soon P 
Not much, ree if at all. Indeed, we ha 
see how he ‘oa A man’s practical car is 
limited within a narrow range; his person 
experience is equally bounded by the horizon of 
come to knowledge, the oase is far otherwise. 
Its range is always extending, and its possessor 
can transmit it to on successors, to be by them 
extended in their tur 
Some of the Cs Councils have recognised 
this, and framed their plans with 3 to 
e not co 
instil the best practical tei ae available, but 
they are endeavouring to secure the diffusion of 
knowledge of cultural principios as the most 
fruitful source of futur 
tice, 
taught, and with this object the Essex County 
Council, for one, trains—note the word, trains—a 
number of instructors every year. These men 
and women (for the instruction is not confined to 
) 
men) are thoroughly instructed in the principles 
0. ohemistry, 
2 and botany, as applioable 
bete or They are not 
erely from t t ods 
made to teach themsclven | by actual work i 
laboratory, a i training is more 
complete of its kind than that given at Chelms- 
ford, as is evidenced by the results shown in the 
competitive examination, and still more in the 
preparation of elaborate monographs, dealing in 
the most complete manner with the structure 
and natural history of particular plants. But it 
will be said these highly-trained teachers are 
not practical men—they have no experience in 
the field or garden, To this it may be replied 
teaching is their business, not 
enable them to give to practical men just the 
ae of information grå laok, to Pages hints 
and suggestions that t unassisted actical 
PVP 
man would never think of, and to enable him to 
meet new conditions, and profit by o 
that would otherwise be neg Si inn 
A third method 8 by many of the 
County Councils is that of practical experiment 
and research, such as is also carried out by the 
Agricultural Research Association o tland; 
the Agricultural Department of Uni iversity 
College, Bangor, under the superintendence of 
Mr. Durron; and others. This is the plan followed 
by the Wilts County Council at Warminster, 
whose report on experiments with Potatos and 
Onions, published by Eyra & Sporriswoops, is 
before us. We cannot go into details of the 
several experiments made in the cultivati 
manuring, Ko. These were very satisfactory on 
the whole, though nothing pona novel 
was elicited, and but for the ac edged neces 
sity of “ beating things into — heads, we 
should have characterised the experiments in the 
same category as slaying the slain. Object 
lessons, however, such as these at Warminster, 
are most valuable for the instruction of that very 
large class of the community who never read, or 
at least never act on what they read. From this 
point of view, we are glad to see that during the 
coming season it is hoped that practical and 
theoretical classes will be arranged in connection 
Whilst, then, we are still wofully behind our 
neighbours, there are at least some obvious signs 
of progress, which a quarter of a century ago 
were not perceptible, 
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SOPHRONITIS GRANDIFLORA, — Our Supple 
mentary Illustration represents an instance of note f 
worthy success in Orchid cultivation from the : 
gardens of Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., President c 
the Royal Horticultural Society, whose collection of 
these plants is so interesting and valuable, and 5 
withal managed with such ee, care, that we 
have frequently to sele s exhibited from 
Horticultural Society on March 12, when 11 ! 
was awarded a Firat- class Certificate, it carried 
sixty very fine blooms, The plant has bye grow 
from a small 3 — se Trevor La 
re), who has frequently 
grower (Mr. W. H. W: 
in our —— Calender — ber r 
cultivating this s 
— — hich our “a 
Trevog for the photograph ren w 
tration was take 
ROYAL HORTICULTURAL Sociery.— The 
meeting of this pan will be e in the 
Hall, James Street, Westminster, on 
April 23, when, in Satia to the " Societ; 
y show, the Natio icula 
trating the Conference, the Coancil = 
of exhibits of as many different natural 
Primula as possible 
THE Royal HORTICULTURAL 800 
Harpy uber Cutture.—The Council ° 
Royal Horticultural Society of a Britain © 
prize of £10 for the best essay on The Ce 
