EXAMINATION OF MEN EMPLOYED IN PUBLIC PARKS. 213 



EXAMINATION OF MEN EMPLOYED IN PUBLIC 

 PARKS AND GARDENS. 



Januaey 11, 1906. 



The Council of the Royal Horticultural Society consented to hold this 

 examination, at the suggestion of certain public authorities charged with 

 the administration of the public parks and gardens of this country, who 

 desired to obtain some independent and competent test of the relative 

 knowledge possessed by the men they employed. 



The examination was partly written and partly vivcl voce, and occupied 

 three hours and twenty minutes in all. It was held in the Society's 

 Great Hall in Vincent Square, Westminster. 



Ninety candidates entered their names, and of these only one was 

 absent ; but another was taken ill during the course of the examination 

 and was obliged to resign. 



Speaking generally, the answers, both written and vivcl voce, revealed 

 a distinctly remarkable absence of observation and thought, combined 

 with by no means too high a degree of ordinary education. Most of the 

 candidates appeared to possess a rough and elementary knowledge of 

 the subjects inquired of, but were unable to give expression to their ideas 

 in coherent and intelligent language. This may be accounted for, perhaps, 

 by the fact that it was, to the great majority, their first experience of an 

 examination, and many of them showed evidence of a quite unnecessary 

 degree of nervousness. 



The examiners have given credit wherever possible for good intentions, 

 and regret that, even so, they are unable to include more names in the 

 class list. 



The examiners desire to impress on the candidates the absolute 

 necessity of observation as they pursue their daily work, and the appli- 

 cation of thought as to the why and the wherefore of what they do and 

 what they notice. A man can never be really fit for high place in any 

 calling in life unless he both thinks and observes. Rules are good, but 

 only so long as they lead to the inquiry as 'to why in each case they 

 should be followed, and what effect they are intended to produce. 



The examiners urge the unsuccessful candidates not to be disheartened 

 by failure in their first attempt, but to set themselves carefully to observe 

 the things about them, and to think out for themselves the reasons of 

 their different operations. Twelve months of this, coupled with inquiry 

 from their superiors on pcints which seem difficult to fathom, will 

 probably result in their success at the next or at some subsequent 

 examination. 



