NOTICES TO FELLOWS 



ccxxi 



12. THE WISLEY RESEARCH STATION. 



The new Research Station and Laboratory at Wisley is nearing com- 

 pletion, and will be opened during the summer. Mr. F. J. Chittenden 

 has been appointed Director of the Research work in matters affecting 

 practical Horticulture, and also Lecturer to the Students. By the com- 

 pletion of this station a long-felt want has been met. In the United 

 States, where so much good work has been done in this direction, all is 

 paid for by Government, but in this country we have to fall back on 

 private individuals or on Societies. 



13. STUDENTS AT WISLEY. 



The Society admits a limited number of young men, not exceeding 

 22 years of age. to study Gardening at Wisley, where the scope for 

 effective training has been recently still further developed by the erection 

 of a Laboratory and Research Station. After August next the course 

 of training will include not only practical work in all the main branches 

 of Horticulture, but also lectures, demonstrations, and practical Horti- 

 cultural Science in the Laboratory, whereby a knowledge of Garden 

 Chemistry, Biology, &c. will be obtained. The Research Station and 

 Laboratory will be equipped with the best apparatus procurable for 

 Students. The training will extend over a minimum period of two years, 

 with a progressive course of study. Students can only enter at the 

 end of September and the end of March, so that a regular systematic 

 curriculum may be followed. 



14. DISTRIBUTION OF SURPLUS PLANTS. 



In a recent Report the Council drew attention to the way in which 

 the annual distribution of surplus plants has arisen. In a large garden 

 there must always be a great deal of surplus stock which must either 

 be given away or go to the waste heap. A few Fellows, noticing this, 

 asked for plants which would otherwise be discarded ; and they valued 

 what was so obtained. Others hearing of it asked for a share, until the 

 Council felt they must either systematise this haphazard distribution 

 or else put a stop to it altogether. To take the latter step seemed 

 undesirable. Why should not such Fellows have them as cared to receive 

 such waste and surplus plants ? It was therefore decided to keep all 

 plants till the early spring, and then give all Fellows ahke the option of 

 claiming a share of them by ballot. 



Fellows are therefore particularly requested to notice that only waste and 

 surplus plants raised from seeds or cuttings are available for distribution. 

 Many of them may be of very little intrinsic value, and it is only to avoid 

 their being absolutely wasted that the distribution was established. The 

 great majority also are of necessity very small, and may require careful 

 treatment for a time. Fellows asking for a share in these avowedly 

 waste and small plants, and then complaining that they are worthless 

 or small, are very iUogical. 



