338 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



EXAMINATION OF SCHOOL TEACHERS IN COTTAGE AND 

 ALLOTMENT GARDENING. 



April 21, 1915. 



Four Hundred and Eighty-one candidates entered for the Exami- 

 nation of School Teachers in Cottage and Allotment Gardening held 

 on April 21, 1915. Of these, 24 obtained a first class, 184 a second, 

 and 238 a third, leaving 20 failures and 15 absentees. 



The Examiners, Mr. F. J. Chittenden, F.L.S., Mr. John Fraser, 

 F.L.S., Mr. W. Crump, V.M.H., and Mr. C. R. Fielder, V.M.H., report 

 that the average number of marks earned was not quite as high as 

 last year. This, together with the reduction in the number of candi- 

 dates, is probably the effect of the war, its demands upon thought and 

 time, and to enlistments in His Majesty's Forces. 



The answers were of the usual variable quality. The majority 

 of candidates showed a better knowledge of the cultivation of plants 

 than of the treatment of fruit trees ; and as for root-pruning, some 

 would dig a trench one foot from the stem, whilst others would give 

 manure to a tree which had been root-pruned because of its too luxuri- 

 ant growth. The latter particularly lacks thought. The question 

 on ridging and trenching was well answered ; indeed, several of the 

 answers were very good. Question 3 produced a lew, but only a few 

 carefully considered seed orders of fair average cost. 



By recommending a weed-killer for dressing cultivated land to 

 get rid of obnoxious weeds, candidates quite ignored the result upon 

 subsequent crops. The answers on root and stem vegetables 

 were collectively the worst, several failing to get any marks at all. 



In Section B it appeared evident that candidates rely far too much 

 upon acquired information stored up in their minds rather than upon 

 a knowledge of principles, and the application of them to matters 

 of everyday gardening. The answers were at fault not so much in 

 actual errors as in serious omissions, and in the failure to apply elemen- 

 tary scientific facts to garden practice. Unless this be done these facts 

 remain only " interesting " and of no practical value in horticulture, 

 garden work remains " rule of thumb," and progress, hard to win in 

 any case, is checked until it is almost or quite at a standstill. 



As regards the style of answers, it must be added that there was 

 generally perceptible a more methodical orderliness, rendering the 

 work of marking easier and more intelligible, with a corresponding 

 benefit to the candidates. Many lost time by being insufficiently 

 concise and by not confining their answers strictly to the questions 

 asked. Again, there were instances of candidates failing to comply 

 with the request to commence each question on a fresh sheet of paper, 



