170 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Essex County Council, at Swanley, in Edinburgh, are schools 

 where the principles of horticulture are practically taught, and 

 where the practice is constantly referred to the principles 

 underlying it. 



If we cannot have such a school at Chiswick, and at present 

 that seems impracticable, we might at least in justice to our 

 students do something more for them than merely allow them to 

 carry out the routine duties of the garden. At Kew valuable 

 series of lectures and demonstrations are given which are much 

 appreciated by the young men, and which may be of incalculable 

 value to them hereafter. What a boon it would be to our 

 Chiswick students if haply they might be permitted to avail 

 themselves of these lectures. Already, we believe, the young 

 gardeners from Kew occasionally avail themselves of these 

 gardens for the purpose of seeing carried out those operations in 

 the culture of fruit and vegetables which form no part of the 

 work at our noble national establishment. Chiswick and Kew 

 are but a mile or two apart. Would it not be of great advantage 

 if, so far as the instruction of gardeners goes, this reciprocal 

 action could be regularised and extended so that the one esta- 

 blishment could be made the complement of the other? Govern- 

 ment aid cannot be expected in this country for the development 

 of any such scheme. It is not our way of doing things to rely 

 on State aid. At the same time many of the County Councils 

 have shown and are showing a desire to utilise the funds placed 

 at their disposal in the promotion of the higher education of 

 gardeners, and were a suitable scheme propounded it is hardly 

 to be doubted that substantial aid and encouragement might be 

 forthcoming from this and probably from other sources. 



Discussion. 



Sir Joseph Hooker expressed his pleasure at being present 

 at such an interesting meeting, and listening to such an in- 

 teresting discourse by Dr. Masters. He was, perhaps, the last 

 man in this country with a knowledge of horticulture as it was 

 in the twenties. David Douglas, that famous collector of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society, was a personal friend of his, and 

 from him he received a good deal of instruction in his early days. 

 Indeed, he once saved his life by pulling him out of the rapids. 



