152 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



HORTICULTURAL EDUQATION. 

 By F. J. Bakek, A.R.C.Sc. 

 [Lecture given on October 23, 1906.] 



Education is being so much discussed at the present time that the subject 

 becomea wearisome to many. Only six weeks ago the lecture given here, 

 although under a somewhat different title, really covered almost the entire 

 range of horticultural education. 



Considering that the subject has been so recently dealt with, I propose 

 to restrict myself, as far as possible, to the branches either omitted or dealt 

 with very briefly. 



One very frequently hears the question. Why is it necessary to educate 

 so highly the gardener and others ? Our fathers and predecessors did 

 very well without so much book knowledge ; why is it so necessary to-day ? 

 Among the answers which may be given to such querists I would say, 

 formerly the number of varieties of cultivated plants grown w^as very much 

 more limited than now. Those few were generally hardy, although in 

 other respects not up to present-day requirements, they were better 

 able to withstand climatic changes and attacks of enemies. 



Cbeap glass has enabled the cultivator to force — often unduly — an 

 enormous number of plants ; and has often, alas ! induced him to become 

 comparatively careless of ordinary cultural methods out of doors. Chemical 

 fertilisers enable him to push on plants, to modify their vegetative and 

 reproductive parts to a degree altogether beyond the dreams of the older 

 cultivators. 



These aids are largely the outcome of scientific investigation. Culti- 

 vators to-day are employing the fruits of the labours of past and present 

 investigators. In order to obtain the greatest benefit, it is necessary that 

 each cultivator should himself possess a sound, if elementary, knowledge 

 of the nature and properties of the substances he employs. I give one 

 example. Our forefathers fully appreciated the value of lime (either 

 freshly burnt or the mild forms) as a sweetener and general im- 

 prover of the soil. To-day it is much neglected, but one commonly 

 used fertiliser is superphosphate of lime, a substance which is rightly 

 said to contain much lime ; but unfortunately this lime is quite incapable 

 of sweetening — indeed, so acid is superphosphate of lime that it is most 

 essential there should be sufficient mild (or carbonate of) lime previously 

 in the soil in order to rectify the extreme sourness. One often finds 

 cultivators making fatal mistakes through not knowing the nature of the 

 substances employed. 



Horticultural education may be divided, briefly, into that given in 

 colleges, w^here future instructors and many who hope to become leaders 

 in the gardening world and the like are being trained ; County Council 

 lectures, given by persons sent out to selected centres, to reach the masses 

 of the people ; school gardens and other work to instruct the children ; and 



