FEBRUARY. 
27 
In Fruit and Vegetable Culture— 
Kinds of Fruits adapted for various soils 
and exposures. 
The Propagation, Pruning, and Training 
of Fruit Trees. 
The Structure and Functions of the Organs 
of Trees, considered in their relation to growth 
and reproduction. 
The Forcing of Fruit Trees, and their cul¬ 
tivation under glass, both in and out of pots. 
The Theory of Eipening, and the principles 
that ought to regulate the preservation of 
fruits after they are ripe, or their subsequent 
maturation. 
The Packing of Fruit for transmission to 
great distances. 
The Kinds and Quantities of Vegetable 
Seeds and Roots required for cropping gardens 
of given dimensions. 
The Most Approved Mode of Culture of 
the different kinds of Vegetable and Salads. 
The Preparation of fermenting materials for 
artificial heating. 
The Forcing of Vegetables and Salads. 
Soils, Water, Atmospheric Air, Light and 
Heat in their relation to the successful culti¬ 
vation of Fruit and Vegetables. 
Manures, and their application. 
The Diseases and Insects to which Fruit 
Trees and Vegetables are subject, and their 
remedies. 
The Erection, Heating, and Ventilation of 
Garden Structures. 
Text Books :—“ Lindley’s Theory and 
Practice of Horticulture ” (Longmans). “The 
Cottage Gardener’s Dictionary” (Bell and 
Daldy ). “ Hogg’s Fruit Manual,” Third 
Edition (171, Fleet Street). “ Rivers’s 
Miniature Fruit Garden ” (Longmans). 
“ Brehaut’s Modern Peach Pruner ” (171, 
Fleet Street). 
The successful candidates at this Examination have an opportunity to 
win, besides the usual Certificates of the 1st, 2nd, and Brd class, six prizes 
in Botany, Floriculture, and Fruit and Vegetable Culture, offered by the 
Society of Arts; seven prizes in the same subjects, offered by the Boyal 
Horticultural Society; and three prizes in Floriculture, and Fruit and 
Vegetable Culture, offered by the Proprietors of the Gardeners' Chronicle , the 
winning of the latter prizes depending partly on a knowledge of Book¬ 
keeping or Mensuration. Let the candidates take this as their motto :— 
Polina non sine jndvere. 
GLADIOLI IN 1866. 
[The valuable paper subjoined, written by one of the first cultivators 
in the United Kingdom, and giving a statement of his doings during 1866, 
both in the garden and at the exhibition tables, has recently been published 
in the Gardeners' Chronicle.'] 
I planted five hundred of my best bulbs in five beds of one hundred 
each (commencing about February 6th, and getting all in by about the 
20th), in the richest soil I ever used for this flower, it being composed of 
about one-lialf of sods left to rot for two years, and the remainder of rich 
old manure. The beds were made in December, and the soil was turned and 
mixed on every possible occasion up to planting-time. Each bulb had 
sharp river sand placed under and over it as usual, and fully 4 inches of 
the same rich soil was placed over all. The nice green shoots began to 
appear about April 12th, and all were well up about the middle of May, 
with just nine deaths—a very small per-centage, but I had gone over my 
bulbs very carefully before planting, and thrown out every one that showed 
symptoms of unsoundness, little black marks on the corner of the bulb being 
a sure sign of future decay. I top-dressed twice in June with rich loam, 
and mulched all in July heavily with good old manure. I gave water 
moderately until about July 1st, and then very heavily for three or four 
weeks, during the melting weather of that period, using strong liquid manure 
about twice a-week, and ceasing watering finally about August 1st, when a 
