EXAMINATIONS IN HORTICULTURE, 1914. 



95 



EXAMINATION OF SCHOOL TEACHERS IN COTTAGE 

 AND ALLOTMENT GARDENING. 



April 22, 1914. 



Eight hundred and twenty-eight Candidates entered for the Exami- 

 nation of School Teachers in Cottage and Allotment Gardening, held 

 on April 22, 1914, 32 obtained a first class, 399 a second, and 295 

 a third, leaving 87 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 general standard of the answers was good. Systematic 

 order in the answers is, however, very frequently wanting — a matter 

 for surprise in an examination of Teachers. Verbosity, instead of 

 conciseness, is another failing. 



A better knowledge than in previous examinations was shown on 

 artificial mxanures, and some very good answers indeed were given on 

 Pests, Crop Rotation, and Hardy Perennials. The difference between 

 hardy and half hardy, perennial and annual plants, was again a 

 prominent difficulty. Candidates would identify them more readily 

 by studying the R.H.S. Code of Rules for Judging, a new edition 

 of^ which has just been published, price is. 6d., post free from the 

 R.H.S. Office, Vincent Square, London, S.W. The restoration of 

 neglected land was well understood, though some forgot the shallow 

 pocket of allotment holders and cottage gardeners. The principles 

 underlying the planting of fruit trees were not understood, the 

 directing of roots to run downward into soil mixed with strong 

 farmyard manures being quite a mistake. Selections for successional 

 plantings were out of date, and the prices of fruit trees were not 

 those usually prevailing. 



The questions in Section B were rarely answered completely. 

 Transpiration was confused with respiration, and, in the majority of 

 cases, processes of absorption with transpiration. Much irrelevant 

 matter was thus introduced. 



Another point upon which considerable misapprehension still 

 exists is the relative value of vegetative propagation compared with 

 seed-raising, many answers being vague or entirely beside the point. 



