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JOURNAt OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



experimental orchards — a term which includes the growing of small 

 fruits— are established as object lessons in various parts of the Province. 

 Practically the same kind of work is done by the Provincial Government 

 of Ontario, this Government also sending experts and specialists to give 

 demonstrations and practical instruction. All the other Provincial 

 Governments, in respect to the work they undertake in the interests of 

 horticulture, follow more or less on similar lines. The Canadian 

 cultivator usually desires and asks for information on two points, viz. 

 What fruits shall I plant, and how shall I cultivate them ? The answer 

 to these questions he obtains through the provincial horticultural stations, 

 the subsidised provincial horticultural magazine, and also at the meetings 

 of the local and provincial horticultural associations. These men, who 

 are opening out the land in Canada, do not trouble themselves very 

 much about the theory of any operation ; but when they do, and 

 laboriously evolve one, it is apt to be as startling as it is unscientific. 

 What they do desire is guidance in performing practical horticultural 

 operations. The work of the Provincial Governments, as outlined, is in 

 turn emphasised by the Federal or Dominion Government, which has 

 five experimental farms located at widely distant points and in very 

 different climates, and in each of them there is a horticultural section. 

 The annual reports and bulletins of these stations are sent free to all 

 who apply for them, while trained men from them are also sent to 

 discuss, with fruit-growers and others, subjects pertaining to horticulture. 

 Having to appeal to adult established cultivators, the system of horti- 

 cultural education in Canada is, therefore, mainly that of practical 

 demonstration, leaving the why and wherefore to be learnt, if desired, 

 through specific questionings addressed to the scientific staff retained by 

 both the Federal and Provincial Governments, such as botanists, ento- 

 mologists, chemists, and others. 



Passing from Canada to the West Indian group we enter the region of 

 tropical cultivation. Instruction must here be so arranged as to appeal to 

 two distinct classes, i.e. the Anglo-Saxon estate proprietor or manager and 

 the Negro peasant proprietor or labourer. The W r est Indian Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture which costs the Home Government about 

 .t 17,000 yearly, is mainly occupied in furthering horticultural interests. 

 There are three botanic gardens and nine botanic stations in this area, all 

 intended to afford practical instruction in the cultivation of tropical plants, 

 to be the media for introducing and testing new plants, and to some 

 extent to train men and boys in horticultural pursuits. At work as 

 curators or overseers are practical gardeners trained at Kew, who after 

 some time, when they have gained experience in tropical cultivation, are 

 able to go about and instruct the people all over the country. Through the 

 initiative of the Imperial Department of Agriculture in the West Indies, 

 elementary school teachers in this area are also now being taught the 

 elementary principles of horticulture: that is, they are being called upon to 

 have some acquaintance with the growth and treatment of plants and their 

 uses, and in turn to teach the subject in their schools. All schools are 

 further being induced to start box and pot cultivations, as a starting-point 

 for school gardens, in which the pupils at the elementary schools will receive 

 instruction in the preparation of the soil, formation of seed-beds, raising 



