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placed under a lady superintendent, where the women students 
board. They have an eight hours day, five for practical and 
three for theoretical work. The subjects of study include 
chemistry, botany, physics, zoology, including entomology, and 
the theory of horticulture, and there is a handsome lecture-hall 
where the men and women, of course, study together. The inclu- 
sive fees for a year’s training are from £70 to £80, but arrange- 
ments are made whereby ladies can give the work a few weeks’ 
trial, and see how it agrees with them, fora weekly sum. It 
remains to be seen whether women in sufficient numbers will be 
found able and willing to undertake the general work of an orchard, 
although, no doubt, there are certain branches, such as flower- 
gardening, fruit-preserving, and scent-making in which women 
might excel. I am in communication with the principal of the 
college, and the novel experiment will undoubtedly be watched 
with interest. Nevertheless, the board deserve credit for taking 
this step, and it ought to meet with a hearty response. Country 
horticulturists, when in town, are also invited, but I must confess 
that when a systematic course of study is followed, as will be done 
here, attendance at occasional lectures, say in the middle of some 
subject, is apt to prove rather unsatisfactory and disappointing. 
This suggests, however, that a short continuous and connected 
course of lectures might be arranged, say six, at certain seasons 
of the year when absence from the orchard would be least missed. 
The course could either be on one subject and by one lecturer, or 
on a variety of subjects, and various experts of the Department 
could take part in them. The subjects might be similar to those 
chosen by the British Fruit-growers’ Association in response to 
the invitation of members of the County Council, London, to be 
lectured on in any part of Great Britain, viz.:— 
1. The Principles of Vegetable Life. 
2. Soil—Constitution and Management. 
8. The Culture of Apples and Pears. 
4. The Culture of Stone Fruits. 
5. The Culture of Small and Bush Fruits. 
6. Gathering, Packing, Marketing, and Preserving Fruits. 
This work is already partially done by the experts of the Depart- 
ment, who visit and lecture in various districts, but the idea 
intended to be conveyed here is to give the fruit-growers an 
opportunity once a year of getting the benefit of the best and 
ripest experience, in a connected form, on some important matters 
bearing on their industry. 
But this is only one of the various ways in which the horti- 
cultural school may be utilized for the benefit of the community, 
as I hope that occasional lectures may be delivered here that will 
benefit even the denizens of our cities or suburbs who cultivate a 
