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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



in these colonies to be expended, among other things, on Government 

 gardens and the maintenance of a staff of fruit and other experts. It 

 is obvious that most of the educative work done in South Africa is 

 intruded mainly to assist, as in Canada, men already interested in soil 

 cultivation, and not to train raw beginners into a calling or handicraft 

 by which they could earn their living. This of course applies to the 

 white race alone, and I must leave the question untouched whether the 

 native could not be trained to become an expert garden cultivator. 



Passing on to India, we enter again in this area into the tropical belt. 

 Here we have a number of native races that are perhaps the most forward 

 and advanced in the East, and among them the calling of a gardener has 

 long received due recognition. The botanical and other public gardens in 

 India in a sense may be regarded as training grounds for gardeners who 

 can meet European tastes ; but they can do little in this way, and perhaps 

 little is needed, for gardens as such were cultivated in India long before 

 the advent of Europeans. The total expenditure on these gardens is 

 over £27,000, and the provinces rank as regards support given in the 

 following order : Bengal, North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Punjab, 

 Madras, Central Provinces, Bombay, Burma. In the first two provinces 

 named are located the well-known gardens at Calcutta and Seharunpore. 

 It may be noted that in British India about 3 per cent, of the total crop 

 area is under orchards and gardens, and that the acreage so occupied 

 is about the same as the acreage under Barley and also that under Gram, 

 both of them important crops. Scattered through the various provinces 

 there are also a number of experimental farms and gardens, all of them 

 utilised tor distributing plants and seeds, and they may be regarded 

 a- fairly satisfactory demonstration centres for the native community. 

 Nothing educational, however, is done in India for Europeans from the 

 horticultural point of view; certainly there is no demand for Europeans 

 as gardeners ; yet the opportunity of obtaining a knowledge of horticultural 

 principles as affected by tropical conditions would be valuable to all who 

 live and work in the country, and have to be responsible on Tea, Coffee, 

 and other estates for what are practically a series of horticultural opera- 

 tions. The difference also from the horticultural point of view that exists 

 between the natives of India and Africa may be said to be, that the 

 former know a good deal about the practice of gardening, while the 

 latter know little if anything at all ; and that though some of the methods 

 of the Indian gardener, local and climatic conditions considered, may be 

 open to improvement, he generally knows his business; the African, on 

 the other hand, has to be taught all the practical details that make up 

 the ordinary routine of horticultural operations. 



In Ceylon, as an important educative factor, there are the Royal 

 Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya, which, besides a scientific director, has 

 various specialists on its staff. Mr. Carruthers, writing to me from these 

 gardens on horticultural education in Ceylon, says : " This department 

 helps the Department of Public Instruction to carry out 'nature studies' 

 in the native Sinhalese and Tamil schools. In addition to this our garden, 

 of which there are five branch ones, is each a demonstrating medium 

 of horticultural methods, and we sometimes send out skilled gardeners to 

 instruct in grafting, budding, &0., and other horticultural technique.. 



