504 JOUKNAL OF THE EOYAL HOETIC ULTURAL SOCIETY. 



WISLEY SCHOOL OF HORTICULTURE. 



Nine students, having completed the two years' course of instruction, 

 sat for the Diploma Examinations on June 30 (written papers) and July 1 

 (practical papers), Mr. John Fraser, F.L.S., acting as external co- 

 examiner. Eight candidates satisfied the requirements of the examiners 

 and fulfilled the other conditions as set forth in the regulations of the 

 school, and were awarded the Diploma of the Society. 



Seventeen students entered for the General Examination of the 

 Society (Senior division) and were all successful. Mr. J. W. McCaig 

 taking the first place. 



The prizes and certificates were distributed to the successful candidates 

 on Wednesday, October 6, 1909, by Mr. H. J. Veitch, F.L.S., V.M.H., 

 there being also present Mr. W. Marshall, V.M.H., and Mr. J. Hudson, 

 V.M.H., representing the Council, the Rev. W. Wilks, M.A., Secretary 

 of the Society, and the Right Hon. Arthur H. Dyke Acland, P.C., M.A. 



Mr. Hudson congratulated the students on the successes of the past 

 year, and the pronounced advance in their work manifested by their 

 examination papers. He commented upon the need for cultivating legible 

 handwriting despite the demands of other work and study, and the possibly 

 adverse influence of the rough labour of the garden, and emphasized the 

 need of attention to the smallest details and neatness in all garden work, 

 of original thinking, and of courteous deportment, finally pointing out the 

 power of a definite aim and the inspiration of an ideal in the shaping 

 of the future, which lay before everyone. 



The Right Hon. Arthur H. Dyke Acland, P.C., being invited by the 

 Chairman to speak, said : " I came down to Wisley to see the beautiful 

 garden of the Royal Horticultural Society, but little knew that work of an 

 educational nature was going on here, nor that I should be asked to 

 speak at such a gathering as this. I have been closely connected with 

 education during the greater part of my life, have attended many prize 

 distributions, and am delighted to find such an Institution as this, 

 which at once commands sympathy and admiration, in the Society's 

 gardens. 



" I think that all amateur gardeners who really care at all about 

 gardening feel that ours is one of the best and most useful of the public 

 societies in this country. No place is better calculated for the cultivation 

 of fine taste than a garden. It confers blessing on all, rich or poor, and 

 a great debt is owing to horticulturists who have done so much in 

 collecting species and raising endless varieties. I know of no other 

 pleasure so useful as, or equal to that of gardening, but knowledge is 

 essential. Not only is there the esthetic side, but gardening has 

 become a very popular industry and must do good wherever it spreads. 

 The enormous developments made in our lifetime are bound to increase 

 the pleasures of the work, and these are mainly due to the labour of 



