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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



dozen plants and half a dozen kinds of animals, whereas the horticulturist 

 has thousands of plants to deal with from all parts of the world, varying 

 in their requirements of treatment, temperature, and soil ; of pruning, 

 light, and shade ; and of every influence which contributes to the work of 

 the successful gardener, and therefore I think I may truly say that the 

 scientific side of gardening in the Gardens of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society will make the Society of more use- to the practical side than 

 it has ever been before. 



The work, however, is not quite new or strange to the Society. In 

 1864 we invited the co-operation of the Society of Arts in holding 

 examinations in horticulture throughout the country, and in 1892 the 

 Society commenced its present system of General Examinations, for which 

 nearly two thousand candidates have entered. I must also, as the repre- 

 sentative of the Council of the Royal Horticultural Society who has been 

 coupled with this toast, acknowledge with pleasure the co-operation we 

 are here now just commencing with the Surrey County Council. At 

 present it is true the benefits seem to be all on one side — the County 

 Council's — but we hope the day is not far distant when the County 

 Council may see its way to affording, as well as to receiving, material 

 assistance. The work we are starting to do is a practical work. Those 

 engaged in practical gardening come from a class who, when they have 

 large families, are often tempted to consider only how soon they can 

 utilise their sons in helping to keep up the home. The temptation is a very 

 great and real one, and if it is indulged in it is calculated to do a greater 

 harm to a young gardener than to a lad in any other similar profession, 

 because a few years' training in the scientific theory of gardening is 

 nowadays so very essential to a thoroughly good gardener's education. 



As contrasted with farmers, gardeners are a particularly contented race. 

 They do not complain, although I think they often have (and certainly 

 this year have) very just cause for complaint. A poet of Scotland says 

 something about the " sunny spring," but this year neither spring nor 

 summer has deserved the adjective. However, there is now, I think, a 

 promise of better things in the future, and I hope the gardener's troubles 

 are behind him, and not before him. But, although gardeners are a 

 contented lot, they have their weak points. Few gardeners, I fancy, 

 think they have done their duty to their employer unless they spend at 

 least two-thirds of his annual income on the gardens ; all the rest of the 

 establishment they consider as a mere appanage of theirs, which is the 

 primary department. If we want good gardeners, we must not only 

 educate them in practice and theory, we must also be liberal with them in 

 plants and necessaries, and they must turn them to good account. 



3. THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE. 



Proposed by Sir William Chance, Bart. 

 Responded to by Sir Thomas H. Elliott, K.C.B. 



Sir William Chance said : — I notice in the programme that the toast 

 appears as " The Board of Agriculture and Horticulture." This is not the 

 usual title of the Board : they call themselves " The Board of Agriculture 



