WHAt CAN WE DO AT CHISWICK? 



165 



the trials ; but the answer is only partial, and in some other 

 respects it is to be feared the response must be in the negative. 



Horticulture, if the entire body of thoughtful cultivators 

 may be so personified — horticulture looks to us — to the Royal 

 Horticultural Society and to the Council as our representative — 

 to take the initiative, so far as circumstances will permit, in all 

 matters concerning the development and welfare of our art. In 

 considering this phase of the subject and leaving purely cul- 

 tural details to those more competent to speak with authority, 

 we may consider the matter of our future development at 

 Chiswick under the two heads, those of education and of 

 instruction. 



For educational purposes, it may be suggested that Chiswick 

 should be made as perfect an object-lesson as it is possible to 

 make it. The days for indiscriminate collections of fruit trees, 

 vegetables, &c, are gone, and we have not room for them ; but 

 we might have what may be called type-collections, or, rather, 

 selections of what are generally admitted to be the best races of 

 vegetables and fruits. These would form a standard of compari- 

 son of the utmost use in connection with the trials just alluded 

 to. We do not want in our type collection Messrs. So-and-So's 

 " maximum superbum," nor Messrs. Somebody Else's " maxi- 

 mum superbissimum improved." These may indeed find their 

 place at the proper time in the trial grounds to ascertain what, 

 if any, difference there is between them, and how they differ 

 from the recognised types, but in the permanent educational 

 plots now under consideration we should look, let us say, for 

 specimens of the best types of cabbages, savoys, Brussels sprouts, 

 kails, broccolis, and so forth. Thus the young gardener and 

 the amateur might at the appropriate season be sure to see 

 and be able to appraise the value of the most generally useful 

 varieties. And as for cabbages, so with lettuces, potatoes, tomatoes, 

 fruit trees, and even florist's flowers and decorative plants. So 

 treated, the vegetable and fruit quarters, and the plant-houses, 

 would be as books of reference containing all that is essential in 

 orderly arrangement, but not bewildering the student with 

 countless details. At intervals lectures should be given calling 

 attention to these variations, and their characteristics and special 

 uses, with demonstrations as to cultural matters. Needless to 

 say, the best methods of cultivation, pruning, training, &c, should 



