August 27, 1904. 
THE OA R DEN/NO WORL D 
679 
he Qardenirvg\\/brld. 
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inaition is now on our table; and from it we 
can glean, that forty-four passed in tbe first 
class, a, larger number in the second class, 
and twenty-nine in the third class. The 
examiners regarded with satisfaction the 
Large number of papers that were submitted 
to them, most of which were of comparative 
excellence. They, at the samei timei, ex¬ 
pressed regret that a, large number of the 
candidates showed a. deficiency in. respect of 
practical knowledge in allotment and cottage 
gardening. As these papers were written 
by educated people, we can understand that 
the papers would be superior from, a, literary 
point of view, yet from this very fact they 
would be likely to show where their weak¬ 
ness lay as just expressed by the examiners. 
The questions relating to the composition 
of soils and manures were, in, most cases, 
well answered, but the examiners were of 
opinion that the candidates displayed more 
knowledge gleaned from books' than from 
actual practice. They also, said fihlat the 
candidates should make them,selves familiar 
with the actual operations required in 
practical gardening. Those who have gar¬ 
dens: of their own could certainly put their 
information into actual practice if they have 
any taste for gardening. At the same time, 
there may be young men who have no gar¬ 
dens of their own, and cannot therefore turn 
their knowledge to practical account with 
spadei, rake, and pruning knife'. It seems 
to us 'that there is all the more' reason that 
a, garden of some extent at least should be 
attached to every school, whether situated 
in towns or rural districts. The candidates' 
had no very clear idea, of what was meant by 
hardy perennials, which was a. veiy simple 
question indeed, but couched somewhat in 
technical gardening terms. Botanical books 
would hardly explain, this, but, surely these 
candidates for certificates of horticultural 
knowledge' would profit by procuring a, gar¬ 
dening book or two, in order to make them¬ 
selves acquainted with the more important 
or frequent technic,alitie® used in, gardening. 
Seeing that this was the, first examination 
of the kind, we are not a,t all surprised that 
many of the' candidates were unprepared to 
be tackled by the learned men in professional 
gardening. Another question that was 
somewhat puzzling was the proper cropping 
of ai garden or allotment, in, winter. As a 
rule, this is a, matter that, is, greatly neglected 
in cottage gardens. 
O O 
- 0 —- 
Meteorological Observations. 
the shade was registered. The mean tem¬ 
perature of the month was 64.1 deg. The 
lowest, reading on the grass was, 45 deg., and 
occurred on the 2nd and 4th of the month. 
No ,frost was registered. Rainfall at least 
to the extent of .01 fell on ten days'. The 
greatest amount, of rain in twenty-four hours 
wa,st 0.89 on the 25th ult. The total amount 
during the month, was 2.21 in. This rainfall 
greatly exceeded the total amount for June, 
so that the drought was not so severe, 
although the temperature was higher. The 
total rainfall since January 1st has now 
reached 12.12 in., which is slightly over the 
half of the annual average for London. If 
this had been) equally distributed over the 
months that have passed, there would have 
been little room for complaint either on the 
score of drought or rain. These observa¬ 
tions are being taken by Mr. Charles Dixon,, 
gardener to Lord Ilchester. 
Holiday Course in Gardening 
for Teachers. 
Somei time ago we mentioned the initia- 
tivei taken by the Essex Education Com¬ 
mittee to plae© before the teachers of the 
county an, opportunity for qualifying them¬ 
selves to: instruct the pupils of their schools 
in the principles underlying gardening. The 
plan was to organise a class that would meet 
at Chelmsford during the school vacation, 
which will explain, the' heading of this para¬ 
graph. That intention has now become an 
accomplished fact. There were forty-four 
applications and eighteen attended the course 
of instruction. Almost all were head-mas¬ 
ters and mistresses. They worked with 
great enthusiasm both in the laboratory, at 
the botanical principals and in the gardens. 
On the successful termination of this first 
course of study Wei should imagine that a 
class will be arranged for annually, and that 
the teachers will now be encouraged to come 
forward and qualify for giving instruction. 
The practical work will no doubt be the most 
difficult part of gardening to be grasped by 
these learned students', but the facilities 
-yldch are now offered by the gardens, garden¬ 
ing staff and biological: staff should quickly 
overcome all difficulties in, this respect. 
Practice in the garden under the direction 
of instructors is ,a grand aid to remembering 
the principles that have been taught in the 
class-room, or acquired from books. 
Professor L. H. Bailey. 
EDITORIAL NOTES. 
Examination in Horticulture. 
Some time' ago an examination in cottage 
and allotment gardening for the benefit of 
teachers wa® organised by the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural S'Ociety. The result of that exam- 
During July the barometer at Holland 
House, Kensington, was highest on the 18th 
of the month,, when it registered 30.55, and 
lowest on, the 26th, being 29.9. The 
highest temperature' in the shade occurred 
on the 15th, vhenl 86 deg. wa®, registered, 
while it fell to 45 deg. on, the 4th of the 
month. These figures,' of course, take no 
account of August, showing that 91 deig, ini 
Professor Bailey, of the Cornell University 
Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca,, 
New York, is now on a tour toi Europe, and 
we were pleased to, meet him for the second 
timei at, the new Horticultural Hall on Tues¬ 
day last. He hais done much for American 
horticulture, and isi now preparing a supple¬ 
ment to hisi great work, “ Cyclopaedia of 
Am eric an H o r t i c ul t ur e. ” 
