XCVlii PROCEEDINGS OF THE EOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



EXAMINATION IN HORTICULTURE. 



APEIL 10, 1907. 



The Annual Examination in the Principles and Practice of Horticulture 

 was held on April 10, 1907, when 150 candidates entered. 



Three hundred marks were allotted as a maximum. Twenty candi- 

 dates, or nearly 14 per cent, of the whole number, were placed in the First 

 Class. 



Fifty-nine, or about 40 per cent, of the whole, were placed in the 

 Second Class. 



Sixty-three, or a little over 44 per cent., were placed in the Third Class. 



It is noticeable that the successes of the First Class are nearly double 

 those of 1906—13-8 per cent. (1907), 7 per cent. (1906)— while the Second 

 Class has decreased from 50 to 40 per cent. The Third Class is nearly 

 stationary. 



With regard to the papers on the Principles of Horticulture. Many 

 of the answers were extremely good : but too many candidates gave an 

 account of Assimilation in error for Bespiration ; and in replying to the 

 question in the Divisions, gave merely the distinctions between the 

 Classes of Dicotyledons and Monocotyledons, which was not asked for. 

 It is to be regretted that Darwin's mistake as to the "injuriousness " of 

 self-fertilisation still holds its ground, though it was shown to be not true 

 to nature thirty years ago. 



With regard to the Practice of Horticulture, with a few exceptions the 

 candidates answered the questions fairly well. None of them obtained 

 the maximum number of marks. Many candidates started well and 

 obtained the maximum number of marks in the first or second questions, but 

 fell off towards the third and fourth. There are about 26 minutes allowed 

 for each question, and if the eight questions were apportioned into 26 minutes 

 each, a more uniform degree of merit would be obtained. Allusion has 

 been made in previous years to the candidates introducing irrelevant 

 matter into their answers, but there is not much reason for comment on 

 this point in the present examination. The main cause of failure has 

 been the spending of too much time on the first questions and failing for 

 want of time towards the end. In two or three instances three questions 

 were answered well, and then a very poor attempt indeed made at a 

 fourth, evidently owing to want of time. 



George Henslow. 

 June 1907. James Douglas. 



