10 
knowledge as well as practical skill. At present the scientific 
course is not very extensive, but: by-and-by, as the school extends 
and expands, the scientific will keep pace with the practical, and 
not merely the subjects of study, but the extent to which they 
are studied, will widen out, as students pass into their second and 
third years. 
Agricultural science in its relation to horticulture will be 
taught, and will deal with such fundamental and important sub- 
jects as soils, tillage, drainage, irrigation, and manures; and the 
insect foes of the orchard will be attended to as may be considered 
desirable by the Government Entomologist. 
Botany in its bearings upon horticulture will also be dealt with 
under the three principal headings of Vegetable Physiology, or 
the healthy life and growth of plants and the conditions suitable 
thereto ; Systematic Botany, or the arranging and classifying of 
plants in their proper families, &c.; and Vegetable Pathology, or 
the diseases of plants. 
HorricuLtursL SCHOOL FOR THE GOOD OF THE COMMUNITY. 
But I may digress here for a little to point out that the Horti- 
cultural School will not merely exist for and benefit those inside 
its walls, but it will prove an educative and improving influence 
for the entire horticultural community. The school possesses in 
the experimental gardens attached to it a means of education not 
only for students who may attend there, but for the fruit-growing 
and gardening community at large. 
No doubt horticulture is being specially attended to in the 
sister colonies, as is evidenced by the decision in New South Wales 
to. appoint a thoroughly competent pomologist ; the labours of the 
Agricultural Bureau in South Australia ; and the project in Queens- 
land of instructing pupils in horticulture by gentlemen connected 
with the Botanic and Acclimatisation Gardens; yet, as already 
stated, it has been reserved for Victoria. to open the first School of 
Horticulture, devoted wholly and solely to instruction in practical 
and scientific work. 
Such places are of great practical value, and have become a 
necessity of our time. They afford the means whereby the 
teachings of science are translated into the language of ordinary 
life and put into practice. They supply that “connecting link” 
between science and practice which bridges the gulf between the 
two. 
The place that science should hold in a scheme of agricultural 
or horticultural education is not yet definitely agreed upon, but it 
is generally acknowledged that a scientific training, added to prac- 
tical experience gained in the field, is necessary in the keen com- 
petition of modern life. ‘Our theory here is that it is better to 
