clxiv PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



14. STUDENTS AT WISLEY. 



The Society admits young men, between the ages of sixteen and 

 twenty-two years, to study Gardening at Wisley. The curriculum 

 includes not only practical garden work in all the main branches of 

 Gardening, but also Lectures, Demonstrations, and Horticultural 

 Science in the Laboratory, whereby a practical knowledge of Garden 

 Chemistry, Biology, &c., may be obtained. 



15. DISTRIBUTION OF SURPLUS PLANTS. 



A few years ago 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 j and they valued 

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

 Council felt they must either systematize 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 surplus plants ? It was, therefore, decided to keep all 

 plants till the early spring, and then give all Fellows alike 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 is 

 permitted. The great majority also are, of necessity, very small, and 

 may require careful treatment for a time. 



Fellows are particularly requested to note that a Form of Applica- 

 tion and list to choose from of the plants available for distribution is 

 sent in January every year to every Fellow, enclosed in the *' Report of 

 the Council." To avoid all possibility of favour, all application lists are 

 kept until the last day of February, when they are all thrown into a 

 Ballot \ and as the lists are drawn out, so is the order of their execution, 

 the plants being despatched as quickly as possible after March i. 



Of some of the varieties enumerated the stock is small, perhaps not 

 more than twenty-five or fifty plants being available. It is, therefore, 

 obvious that when the Ballot is kind to any Fellow he will receive the 

 majority of the plants he has selected, but when the Ballot has given 

 him an unfavourable place he may find the stock of almost all the plants 

 he has chosen exhausted. A little consideration would show that all 

 Fellows cannot be first, and some must be last, in the Ballot. Applica- 

 tion forms received after March i and before April 30 are kept till all 

 those previously received have been dealt with, and are then balloted in 

 a similar way. Fellows having omitted to fill up their application form 

 before April 30 must be content to wait till the next year's distribution. 

 The work of the Garden cannot be disorganized by the sending out 



