October 22, 1891. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER . 
339 
C ONSIDERABLE attention is now being devoted in rural dis¬ 
tricts to the extension of education in useful gardening amongst 
cottagers, allotment holders, and those in the occupation of small 
plots of land. The matter is being taken up very earnestly by 
several County Councils, and there is every prospect, under well- 
devised systems, of much good being performed. In one county 
Mr. J. Wright has prepared an admirable course of lectures, covering 
the whole subject in an efficient manner. I have been invited to 
undertake a similar task for a neighbouring county, and several 
Fellows of the Royal Horticultural Society, and other organisa¬ 
tions, are already engaged in duties of this character. Before the 
termination of the present County Councils’ period of office, 
horticultural and agricultural instruction will be in full progress 
under the conditions of the Technical Education Act in numerous 
districts, and the new Councils will have the opportunity of 
benefiting by the experience of their predecessors. At present it 
seems, to a large extent, to be merely experimental. There is no 
generally recognised authoritative scheme of working, and the 
result will be that many different methods will be adopted, and 
anything like a uniform test of the instruction imparted will be 
impossible. In some cases it is expected that the instructor will 
cover the whole range of the subjects in an elementary form in 
four lectures, to be delivered in different districts in succession, 
each course to be complete in itself. Another plan provides a 
course of twelve lectures, and others are arranged upon a two or 
three-years system of six lectures each, gradually advancing in 
importance, but each affording a complete stage to be tested at 
the end of the respective seasons. The character of the instruc¬ 
tion imparted should, of course, be chiefly regulated by the 
requirements of the various districts ; it will then not only oxcite 
more interest, but will be of more real service than otherwise. 
In one place fruit culture would be the prominent feature, in 
another vegetables would occupy the leading position. Allotments 
might, in some instances, be the prominent considerations; in 
others, cottage gardens or small farms. In all, it would, however, 
have to be borne in mind that the lectures or lessons are not 
intended for gardeners, or to add to their ranks, but to enable the 
bulk of the people in rural districts to improve the culture of 
such small plots of land as might be within their reach ; to add 
to their home supplies ; possibly, in suitable localities for 
marketing, to aid in extending slender means ; and, above all, 
to give the rural population greater inducements to remain in the 
country, and to check the continual flocking into towns. The 
objects are so worthy that they deserve every effort on the part 
of all concerned in the welfare of the people to accomplish them, 
or at least to give the matter so thorough a trial that its success 
or otherwise can be fully demonstrated. 
Apart from the County Council system of horticultural 
education, another of a more elementary kind is likely to be 
adopted in country schools. At the special request of one of the 
leading authorities in educational matters the British Fruit 
Growers’ Association was invited to prepare a scheme of 
progressive education in horticulture adaptable to schools that 
could be submitted to the Education Department for incorpora¬ 
tion in a new code. A sub-committee was appointed to prepare 
a draft, which was submitted to a special Committee under the 
No. 591.—Yol. XXIII., Thikd Series, 
chairmanship of Sir James Whitehead, Bart., and including 
amongst those present Dr. M. T. Masters, F.R.S. ; Dr. J. Stanis¬ 
laus Makovski, A. H. Smee, Esq., of the Surrey County Council, 
and several practical horticulturists. The matter was discussed at 
considerable length, and it was ultimately resolved that the scheme 
to be recommended should assume the form of a three-years 
course, the first stage to be devoted to an elucidation of the 
principles of plant life, not on a botanical basis, but in strict 
application to cultural requirements. The second stage would deal 
with the elementary operations of gardening, to include the 
description and use of the implements required. The third stage 
would be simply an extension of the second, giving fuller details of 
the respective operations, and referring briefly to fruit, vegetable, 
and flower culture, insects and fungi, and other general matters. 
It is especially intended that the principles and operations dealt 
with should be practically demonstrated at every step, and in some 
cases it is thought that for a suitable fee qualified gardeners in the 
various districts would occasionally undertake this task. Where 
convenient or desirable the pupils in the third stage could perform 
the simpler work under the direction of the teacher, who in the two 
earlier stages had acted merely as a demonstrator. 
To give a better idea of the scheme, the synopsis adopted is 
subjoined, and could be divided into any convenient number of 
lectures, though forty were suggested as a suitable number for 
each stage. 
First Stage. Plant Life. 
Seeds, Nature of, and Germination. 
Requirements of growth, water, heat, air. 
Soils. 
Nature and composition. 
Roots. 
Nature and functions. 
Branches, fibrils, and root hairs. 
What they do, and how ; what helps, what hinders them. 
Stems and Branches. 
Their nature. 
Work and uses. 
Helps and hindrances. 
Leaves. 
What they are, what they do. 
Helps and hindrances. 
Buds and Tubers. 
Leaf buds, flower buds, tubers. 
Growth. 
Increase in size and changes of composition. 
Formation and storage of food materials. 
Flowers. 
Their component parts. 
What they do. 
Fruit. 
Changes and development during ripening. 
Forms and varieties, as Apple, Strawberry, Plum, &c. 
Second Stage. Elementary Operations. 
Description and use of implements under each head. 
Operations Connected with the Land. —With explanations 
and illustrations of good and bad methods. 
Digging and trenching. 
Draining. 
Hoeing, stirring the soil, and weeding. 
Watering. 
Preparation of Seed Bed. 
Rolling and raking. 
Sowing, transplanting, and thinning. 
Potting. 
Planting. 
Positions and shelter. 
Staking. 
Earthing and blanching. 
Propagation. —Elementary principles. 
Cuttings. 
Budding. 
Grafting. 
Layering. 
Insect and Fungus Pests. 
No. 2247.— Yol. LXXXV , Old Series. 
