12 



[SUPPJ.EMKXT J 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



June 1, 1912. 



lasts three to six days. The ladies' course 

 for the preservation of fruit lasts three to 

 six days. 



In spite of the specialisation of the Dahlem 

 course, the training of our young gardeners 

 is very mauy-sided. Tliis is necessary, be- 

 cause the nursery-gardens in Germany are 

 far more complicated and varied than, for 

 example, tUiose in Belgium and Holland. 

 Formerly, the German gardener went much 

 abroad, and even now we like to see foreign 

 cultivation and to become acquainted with 

 the methods of our neighbours; but prac- 

 tical work in other countries has now lost its 

 importance in the training of gardeners. For 

 a horticultural profession it is necessary to 

 have both practical experience and theoreti- 

 cal knowledge. Excess of the one is detri- 

 mental only when llhe other is lacking, and 

 so horticultural colleges must set themselves 

 the task of combining both in the right way, 



The Educa.tion of a. Gardener. 



There was a very practical strain run- 

 ning through the paper on this important 

 topic by Mr. W. Hales, A.L.S., Curator, Phy- 

 sic Garden, Chel&ea, but for the purpo&cti of 

 the conference, and considering that each 

 member of the conference had a copy, it 

 light well have^been summarised, for though 

 the*paper was exceedingly good, it was rather 

 long, and Mr. Hales, who read it, failed 

 to make himself heard at the back of the 

 hall. After admitting that in the methods 

 for the education of the gardener in this 

 country there was a good deal of "drift," 

 Mr. Hales went on to point out ways to 

 better things, explaining how, in his opinion, 

 gardeners should be trained, and finished up 

 by paying a complimentary tribute to the 

 value of exhibitions, and also the gardening 

 Press, as well as mutual improvement socie- 

 ties, in helping forward the educational 

 work of the gardener. 



Horticultural Education in 



Belg^ium. 



An item not on the programme was the 

 reading of an extra paper by Professor A. 

 Buyssens, of Yilvorde, on the above topic, 

 and his remarks, rendered in very good Eng- 

 lish, are mostly embodied in the report on 

 horticultural education prepared by the 

 committee for the conference, and doalt 

 largely "with the methods employed at the 

 various educational centres in Belgium. 



DISCUSSION. 



There was an expression of relief on most 

 of the faces of the persons present when the 

 reading of the papers came to a finish, and 

 the members of the audience who desired to 

 take part in the discussion handed in their 

 names. Five minutes was allowed to each 

 by the chairman, and the Eev. Bernard Hall, 

 who &et the ball rolling, began by exceeding 

 the limit, in a vigorous yet pleasant speech, 

 in which he criticised some of the methods 

 now in use, and substituted ideas of tra-ning 

 gfardeners which, in his opinion, were tetter. 

 Professor Bretland Farmer, of the Eoyal 

 College of Science, who followed, paid gar- 

 deners the compliment of having grit, but 

 said that the young men, in matters of 

 education. «should not have things made too 

 easy for them. He upheld the desirability 

 of a thoroughly practical training, which at 

 the same time advanced the infereets of 

 science. 



Mr, Macoun, horticulturist of the Govern- 

 ment of Canada, described the work of the 

 horticultural sections of the Educational 

 Department in that Colony; and, while he 

 deplored the fact that they had no means 

 of training gardeners, he observed that 

 the British gardeners who came to Canada 

 soon adapted themselves to the conditions 

 and proved their ability. 



In a lucid speech. Professor Ainsworth 

 Davis, of the Eoyal Agricultural College, 

 Cirencester, spoke of a scheme he had in 

 haiid by which it was hoped to make the work 

 of Mutual Improvement Societies more edu- 

 cational, and he also emphasised the neces- 

 sity of more being done in the way of con- 

 tinuing education after the young garde 

 schools days are over. 



A lady member of the Swanley College 

 staff devoted her five minutes to an account 

 of the methods employed at that establish- 

 ment. 



Professor Bayley Balfour, Edinburgh, ad- 

 vanced the claims of book-keeping and men- 

 suration in the education of a gardener, and 

 in further thoughtful remarks, said that in 

 teaching the rising generation, we should 

 draw more on the experience of the old gar- 

 den ei'^ who had done such splendid work. 

 We should, he said, work up from the prac- 

 tical, not the other way; and made the re- 

 mark that most of the gardeners trained at 

 Edinburgh emigrated to America. 



Mr. Frogbrook, of Leytou Parks, Essex, 

 supported the apprenticeship system as a 

 means of training gardeners, and the County 

 Instructor from Hertford also spoke on this 

 point. 



The discussion was brought to a conclu- 

 sion by Mr. J. C. Newsham, manager of the 

 Hampshire Farm School at Basing, who 

 made reference to the low salaries that hor- 

 ticultural instructors could command after 

 going through all the training that some 

 of the speakers thought was necessary. Mr. 

 Newsham also had a good word to say for 

 the Horticultural InstructoSrs' Association, 

 which, very strange to say, was the first 

 time this body was mentioned at all in 

 the conference, which seems to suggest that 

 it is either too modest, too unenterprising, or 

 it has failed up to now to attract the notice 

 of the authorities that it deserves. In de- 

 scribing what the association had done, the 

 speaker pointed out what a lot more it might 

 do, and concluded by saying that he should 

 like to see young horticulturists as keen on 

 working up for diplomas as young agricul- 

 turists are. 



The proceedings closed with the usual votes 



of thanks. 



The Right 



Legislation in Connection with 



Plant Diseases. 



The second of the two conferences arranged 

 in connection with the International Horti- 

 cultural Exhibition was held on Friday, May 

 24, and was not less successful than the 

 gathering on the pre\dous day. 

 Hon. A. H. Dyke-Acland again presided, and 

 there was a large attendance, the members 

 of the conference including the leading 

 scientists both at home and abroad who de- 

 vote special attention to insect pests and 

 fungi injurious to plant life, some of the 

 leading members of the nursery and seed 

 trades, and a few gardeners. The subject 

 for consideration wa^s " Legislation in connec- 

 tion with Plant Diseases," and the great in- 

 terest taken in the papers that were read and 

 tlie su'bsequent discussion was evidenced by 

 the fact that, although the proceedings com- 

 menced at the earlv hour of 9.30 a.m. for 

 the purpose of enabling the members of the 

 conference to join the party visiting the 

 Royal Gardens at Windsor, the sitting 

 continued until about one and a-half hours 

 after the special train had left Paddington 

 without any appreciable diminution in the 

 numbers present. It was evident that the 

 importance of a full discussion on the legisla- 

 tion in relation to plant diseases and plant 

 pests was so fully appreciated by those pre- 

 sent, that the great attractions of the Royal 

 Gardens was not sufficient to divert any 

 considerable number from taking advantage 

 of the opportunity of becoming fully ac- 

 quainted with what has been done in the 

 framing of legislative measures with a view 

 to the prevention of the conveyance of in- 

 sects or fungi of an injurious character from 

 one country to the other. 



In opening the proceedings the Chairman 

 said that the Science and Education Com- 

 mittee, which had been sitting nearly two 

 years, had wisely selected the subject that 

 would be dLscussed, and hoped those pre- 

 sent would give all the help they could in the 

 elucidation of the various points. He heartily 

 welcomed the many scientific and practical 

 men from abroad, and their presence was a 

 sufficient proof that the subjeet was one that 

 concerned other countries as well as our own. 

 The Chairman then called upon Professor J. 



Ritzema Bos, chief of the Phytopathological 

 Service of Holland, to head his paper on 



The Value of Importation 



Regulations. 



vme- 



It is a natural consequence of world traffic 

 said Professor Eitzenia Bos, that animal and 

 fungous enemies of agriculture and liorticul 

 ture are sometimes transported with the 

 plants on which they live from one country 

 to another. So two very dangerous enemies 

 of the vine, the Downy-mildew (Peronospora 

 viticola) and the only too well-known Phyllo- 

 xera vastatrix have been successively trans- 

 ported from America toi nearly atll 

 growing countries of the Old World, 

 in recent times the serious American Goose- 

 berry mildew has come from America to 

 Europe, where it has spread over several 

 countries in a short time. So the not less 

 grave San Jose Scale has been carried from 

 one State of the American Union to nearlv 

 all others, and the authorities in severa 

 European countries, too, fear its introduc- 

 tion. So the Gipsy Moth and the Brown-tail 

 Moth were transported from Europe to 

 America; and last, but not least, the potato 

 " Blackscab " is spreading in every country 

 where the diseased tubers are brought by 

 trade and heedlessly planted for seed. 



Now the question, he said, suggests itself: 

 In what -way has a country to guard against 

 the invasion of injurious animals and plants 

 diseases from abroad? 



The answer seems to be simple. When 

 some very injurious organism feeds on a 

 certain plant in a certain country, take care 

 not to import from that country specimens 

 of this plant or parts of it. In former days 

 this, indeed, was the opinion of the public, 

 the authorities, and the Governments, and 

 this point of view is still held by some 

 people. When about 1877 and 1878 the 

 Colorado-beetle spread in America, some 

 European States closed theix boundaries for 

 the import of potatoes from the New World, 

 though neither the beetle nor its grub hve 

 in the tubers; thev only feed on the foliage. 

 When the- San Jose Scale made a great stir 

 in the Eastern States of America about 1898, 

 most of the European countries closed their 

 boundaries to the importation of American 

 nursery stock, and some of them did so, too, 

 for the importation of American fruit. And 

 since the American Gooseberry mildew 

 causes a great deal of damage in some Eiir- 

 pean countries, nearly every State ii^- 

 ordered prohibitive measures concerning 

 importation of goosberry, currant, and rasp- 

 berry bushes. , 



While not absolutely dissenting from tlie 



idea of prohibitive regulations, 

 Eitzem^a Eos drew attention to some ditncui- 

 ties connected witii those measures, and tnen 

 proceeded to show that in most cases tm 

 only represent a misuse of both labour ana 

 money. To-day one pest, to-morrow anotner 

 menaces a couiitrv from abroad. Again an 

 again, new prohibif ve orders will be neces- 

 sary in every country. At last several btau 

 will be .almost entirely isolated, 

 to the cost of their trade, their culture, ^ 

 short, of their whole population. 



Often the insistence 01 prohibitive ine 

 sures is not free from protectionistic i^^^'i'^^ 

 tions. Interested persons are anxious to 

 out pests or blii<-hts on the stock ot comp 

 ing countries in order to have a P^'^f.^^. 

 requesting the Government for a proJiioi^ 



order. . ^rti 



With regard to the results of the impor; 



tion regulations, the question may be as^ 

 Are they proportional to the ^xpectaii^ 

 they raise? The answer of the Professor ^as- 



No, indeed ! «uvavs 

 In the first place, they are nearly an . 

 issued too late. Not until a certa:n pe*t 

 ously damages our cultures, and not untu 

 newspapers interfere with it, as a r X- g. 

 the Governments remolded that someU^^^^^^^ 



should be do-e. But between th^ tim^ 

 and the issue of a Governmental orcier^^.^^_ 



pas-^es and when busy ^'O"^'^^^'^ ^^^pgt is 

 exist between the country where t lie p ^ 



feared, aud the country where it ^^^"^ ^.^i^^ 

 firm footing, no doubt it will have ^^^^^^ 

 across the boundaries long before tne 



lie 



