.nf[,y 15. 1WW.1. 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“Through the Sweet-brier or the Vine, or the’twisted Eglantine. 
Milton, 
NOTICES. 
To Readers and Correspondents. 
—— 
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EDITORIAL NOTES . 
Royal Botanic Society. 
Mr. J. S. Rubinstein, who is closely con¬ 
nected with and interested in the welfare of 
the Royal Botanic Society, sends us a 
pamphlet on “ How to Secure the Future of 
the Society.” He also sends a note relating 
to the same. Some ten years ago the 
society was on the verge of collapse with 
heavy liabilities and a decreasing roll of 
Fellows. As honorary auditor at the time, 
he thought that the policy adopted by the 
society when founded in 1839 was ex¬ 
tremely exclusive and no longer possible. 
In order to bring the society back into 
public favour he advocated, with the assist¬ 
ance of the Press, certain innovations which 
he succeeded in carrying out. One of these 
was the abolition of the necessity for ob¬ 
taining Fellows’ vouchers before tickets for 
fetes could be purchased. He also secured 
the opening of the gardens to the public by 
payment on certain week days. “ The 
granting to public bodies and recognised 
societies of the use of the gardens for 
garden parties and reception®,” was also one 
of his innovations. Considerable success 
followed these innovations, and the 
number of Fellows rapidly increased 
for a time, but the evils originally com- 
p’ained of are again interfering with the 
progress of the society of which the evi¬ 
dence consists in the decrease of Fellows. 
Our correspondent states that the council 
intend raising the Fellows’ annual subscrip¬ 
tion from two to three guineas, but he does 
not think that this will have the desired 
effect of raising the income, nor of increasing 
the number of Fellows. He cannot placidly 
contemplate the prospect of the grounds 
passing into the builders’ hands, but surely 
the society cannot be in such straits, con¬ 
sidering the improvements that have been 
effected in the gardens during recent years. 
We should indeed be sorry if the grounds 
were closed even from the public point of 
view—the introduction of buildings in 
what is one of the most beautiful pieces of 
garden ground in the municipal county of 
London. 
The R.H.S. Examination in Horticulture. 
The annual examination in the principles 
and practice of horticulture under the 
auspices of the Royal Horticultural Society 
was held on April 12th last, when 160 papers 
were sent in. The results of the examina¬ 
tion have been published and we presume 
sent to all the candidates who sat at the 
examination. Since 1902, when there were 
229 candidates, the council of the society 
adopted a more advanced syllabus, which 
seems to have had the effect of reducing the 
number of candidates to 160 this year. We 
have heard several complaints about the 
advanced character of the questions and the 
lengthy answers which seem to be required 
by the examination papers, but surely for 
practical gardeners it is not necessary that 
the questions should be made so difficult. In 
many cases a gardener’s education is scarcely 
sufficient to enable him to express himself 
clearly and adequately in very advanced 
gardening questions, and presumably many 
of the candidates who sit for the examina¬ 
tion are yet young and would gradually 
educate themselves in coming years if not 
frightened away at the commencement by 
the too advanced questions. The maxi¬ 
mum number of marks was 300, and 
20 of the candidates gained 250 and 
upwards, these being placed in the first 
class. Those who secured 200 marks and 
less than 250 numbered 67 and were placed 
in the second class ; those who obtained 100 
marks and upwards numbered 71 and were 
placed in the third class ; only three candi¬ 
dates were not placed, and this we consider 
satisfactory. Compared with last year, the 
greatest reduction in the number of papers 
occurred in the first class. The number who 
passed second class was slightly reduced, 
but the number of third class yiapers was 
greater than last year. Even in elementary 
papers the syllabus now requires a higher 
standard of knowledge, but many of the 
students were quite equal to it, though the 
examiners presume that the questions were 
answered from book study. The students 
do not seem to be well drilled in 
morphology of natural orders, and very 
few of the candidates attacked the ques¬ 
tion in relation to the morphological char¬ 
acters of the two natural orders required. 
In glancing down the list of successful can¬ 
didates we note that the students of the Lady 
Warwick College, Studley Castle and the 
Horticultural College, Swanley, take a very 
high position. In the second class the 
honours are more widely distributed, in¬ 
cluding also students from the University 
College, Reading, the Essex County School 
of Horticulture, the Edinburgh School of 
Gardening and others from various widely 
separated schools in Britain. Those appear¬ 
ing ia the third class are also widely 
distributed over various parts of the 
country. 
Cottage and Allotment Gardening 
Examination. 
Last year the Royal Horticultural Society 
inaugurated an examination for the benefit 
of teachers intending to qualify for in¬ 
structing cottage and allotment holders in 
the subject of gardening. This year’s 
examination was held on April 5th last, 
when examinations were held concurrently 
in different parts of Britain, and 139 papers 
have since been returned from various 
centres, The examiners now report a 
distinct advance in the answers relating 
to the practical treatment of cottage and 
allotment gardens as compared with 
those of last year. The most successful 
candidate of all was only able to secure a 
second-class certificate last year. Judging 
from the papers themselves, it would seem 
that the candidates have gained considerably 
WEEKLY PRIZE COMPETITION. 
- RESULT - 
The prize in the Readers’ Competition was 
awarded to “Y. Z,,” for his article on 
“ Plums Grown as Rushes,” p. 546. 
