EXAMINATIONS IN HOKTICULTURE, 1911. 



211 



II. GENEEAL EXAMINATION. 



Apeil 5, 1911. • . 



Seniors : over 18 years of age. 



Two hundred and two candidates entered for the Society's Senior 

 General Examination, held on April 5, 1911. Four of these, however, 

 were unable to present themselves on the appointed date. 



The Examiners, the Eev. Professor Henslow, V.M.H., and Mr. 

 James Douglas, V.M.H., report, that of the Senior candidates obtaining 

 a place in the Pass List, 33, or 16 per cent., secured places in the first 

 class; 95, or 48 per cent., in the second class; while 69, or 35 per 

 cent., appear in the third class. Only one candidate failed altogether. 

 The same standard of marking and of class division as used in former 

 years have been retained. 



The answers of the candidates in the first class were in many cases 

 remarkably good, but there were two or three points which they fre- 

 quently described erroneously. Thus, transpiration was generally said 

 to be due to temperature, whereas it is the red and violet rays of light 

 which especially affect it. Heat, on the other hand, produces eva^pora- 

 tion. Eespiration, too, is stimulated by heat and not by light. 



" Bast " fibres are not formed by the cambium, but by the' peri- 

 cycle outside the soft part or phloem. 



We are glad to see there is a strong tendency to realize the 

 importance of the study of the adaptation of plants, both in nature and 

 horticulture. 



The papers in Section B (horticultural practice) were quite up to the 

 average of previous years. Generally speaking, a good knowledge 

 was shown of manures and their chemical composition — matters which 

 must be of considerable value in the practical work of the garden; 



Most of the candidates displayed a good practical knowledge of 

 hardy-fruit cultivation and the various systems of training fruit-trees 

 on walls. I 



There is, however, still a tendency amongst the candidates When 

 answering a question to range outside the subject-matter of the ques- 

 tion itself. Some of the candidates do not read the instructions 

 carefully; it is distinctly stated that eight questions only may be 

 answered — four from Section A and four from Section B. jt is 

 therefore a waste of time to write answers to more than four in jeach 

 section, as some candidates in the Senior division have done. Before 

 answering any question candidates should give it very careful icon- 

 sideration. Some of the questions are in two parts, dealing Iwith 

 different details of the work. The two parts ought not to be niixed 

 up, but each detail be given clearly in its right order and sequence. 



