210 
THE GARDENERS’ MAGAZINE. Mabch 22, 1913. 
RECENT ADVANCES IN 
HORTICULTURE. 
(Continued from page 139.) 
Horticultural Education. 
Lastly, I come to what is, perhaps, after 
all, the most important aspect of the matter, 
viz., the education of the young gardener, 
for on the keeping up of the supply of cap¬ 
able, well-trained young men a great 
of the future success of horticulture will de¬ 
pend. I need not say very much about this, 
for last session we had a discussion on this 
important matter, introduced by Mr. Com¬ 
fort, with a paper on the practical training 
of the gardener, and one by the secretary 
on their technical education. I will there¬ 
fore merely refer here to what is being done 
by way of providing facilities for horticul¬ 
tural education. 
As you are aware, the setting up of educa¬ 
tional machinery for the teaching of horti¬ 
culture is of comparatively recent date. For 
generations agriculture has been taught in 
our universities and colleges, and even 
forestry, under the name of arboriculture, 
had a place in these courses; but horticul¬ 
ture had no such position. Nevertheless, hor¬ 
ticulture, so far as the practice of it went 
at any rate, has always taken the lead, and 
even a^culture has been indebted to it for 
much light and leading. Forestry has now 
been separated from agriculture in our teach¬ 
ing institutions, and recently ’ horticulture 
‘has also received due recognition in this way. 
In Edinburgh we have, perhaps, the best 
equipped college—the EdinWrgh and East of 
Scotland College of Agriculture—in the 
country for the teaching of the subject, and 
quite recently a demonstration garden, with 
an efficient staff, under the direction of Mr. 
Berry, has been added to its equipmeoit. It 
is right, I think, that Edinburgh should take 
the lead in this, for it has long been asso¬ 
ciated with horticulture, and in no other city 
or town of Scotland has gardening and nur¬ 
sery work been so extensively pursued as they 
have been in its vicinity. But all over the 
United Kingdom horticulture is being 
taught, if not in colleges, then in schools; 
in fact, school-gardening is becoming uni¬ 
versal all over the country. One excellent 
feature of the teaching of the practice of 
horticulture in the collies in this country is 
that it is to a lar^ extent in the hands of 
practical men, and in this respect it is a long 
way ahead of forestry, which, in Scotland 
at any rate, is almost entirely in the hands 
of men who know nothing, or next to nothing 
about the practice. So far as horticulture 
18 concerned, this is as it should be, for no 
practical subject, such as horticulture is, 
can be efficiently taught unless the teacher 
himself has gone through the mill, and knows 
all the details of it. 
Individual Application. 
But there would be little use for technical 
training, little use, in fact, in trying to im¬ 
prove the educa"^ion of the gardener in any 
way, unless he can effectively utilise the 
knowledge which has been imparted to him. 
Unless he can use his reasoning powers and 
his powers of olxservation. as the old gar¬ 
deners did, his technical education will avail 
him nothing. Gardeners’ wages, compared 
with the remuneration given in many other 
callingH, demanding not more intelligence, 
and certainly not more skill, are low. This 
is a matter which we hope will soon right it¬ 
self, but it is quite obvious, if the position 
of the gardener is to be improved, that he 
must not rest on his oars and allow every¬ 
thing to be done for him. He must do som^ 
thing for himself. He must not rely on bein.<y 
spooni-fed in his education. It was not thus 
that the old gardeners won their way to the 
front rank in their calling, and it is not thus 
that the young gardeners will succeed. I 
have said that a great deal of the fntare 
success of horticulture will depemd on the 
keeping up of the supply of capable, well- 
trained young gardeners. It therefore be¬ 
hoves them to embrace every opportunity to 
improve themselves if there is to be an ad¬ 
vance all along the line in the future as 
there has been in the past. 
Conclusion. 
I have laid before you some of the main 
facts regarding the progress of horticulture 
in recent years. What of the future? Is 
this progress lo be maintained? I have no 
fear for the future. I believe that, great as 
the progress in the past has been, the pro¬ 
gress in the future will even be greater, for 
wi h all the advantages we now ei.ioy in the 
way of improved methods, with all the ac¬ 
cumulated knowledge acquired from prac¬ 
tical men who have gone before us, and with 
the scientific knowledge which is being im¬ 
parted to us by our teachers of the presemt 
dav, ib cannot bs otherwise. Horticulture, I 
believe, has a great future in store for it, 
and in its development I believe that this 
association is destined to take a leading par':. 
GARDEN DAHLIAS. 
(Continued from page 130.) 
We have several more sections that suit our 
purpose, and will next take the Pompon.” 
This, admittedly, is quite another style of 
bloom to any of the former, but neverthe¬ 
less quite suitable for the garden, providing 
they are grown naturally. It is a wide step 
between the p»ony-flowered and these, but 
their very dissimilarity makes them a happy 
change. In growing the various types one 
may be tempted to use them as an edging 
to taller growers, but that is not advisable. 
These perfectly-formed and charming little 
flowers have a character all their own, and 
as such should be given beds to themselves. 
paid to staking, and still more to watering. 
The dwarfer growers should be selected for 
this purpose. A good dozen are Bacchus, 
Bonella. Evelyn, Tommy Keith, Little Bees¬ 
wing, Pink Beauty, Blush Gem, Ideal, 
Darkest of All, Daisy, White Aster, and 
Nerissa, and, just mentioning that the first 
four are the b^t for tubs, we pass on to the 
“ Singles.” 
These are beautiful old favourites, and the 
newer giant forms look very attractive when 
arranged for exhibition. The singles, in addi¬ 
tion to being an undoubted asset to the dahlia 
garden, are probably the best of all for asso¬ 
ciating with other plants, such as in the 
herbaceous borders. 
I do not think, however, that they will in¬ 
crease in favour (as the collarettes have sup- 
planfed-tbem for the garden) unless the new 
giant forms alluded to above, and of whose 
habit I am unfamiliar, should reinstate them. 
A few we liked last year were Snowdrop, 
Crimson Prince. Mrs. W. Wood, Nimrod, 
Mrs. W. W. Merry, Peggy, Princess of 
Wales, Serita, and Little Othello. The lat¬ 
ter, with its very dark foliage and scarlet 
flowers, makes an unconumon and effective 
bedding plant. 
Our next section is the new " Star,” which 
are not, I believe, very well known. We had 
the nine varieties last year, which so far 
as I know are all that exist. The flowers are 
single with curled florets, and all have a 
white or cream ground, with picotee-like 
edging of different colours. They are ex¬ 
ceedingly pretty and of good habit. These 
shoidd make a useful addition to the singles 
for beds or mixed borders. They are app^ro- 
priately named, each representing a star— 
Aries, Atus. Orion, Jupiter. Mercury, Nep¬ 
tune, Polaris, Saturn, and Venus. The 
favourite with us appeared to be Jupiter. 
Now, in conclusion, I should like to refer 
to a sweetly pretty section known as the 
Dwarf Bedding Cactus.” 
These we procured from Messrs. Bobbie, 
ana are^ I believe, of Continental origin. 
^,J^ore delightful subject for bedding it 
would impossible to imagine, and I anti¬ 
cipate that when better known they will be¬ 
come immensely popular. In habit the 
plants are dwarf and bushy, growing about 
twenty inches high and for the most part 
nowers of extreme delicacy of colouring. The 
varieties are Amanda, Citronenvogel Gold 
perle, Edelweiss, Faunkonig, Gluchant Job 
Mortenson, Perkeo, Quelle, and Zwerg^nM 
with a new introduction'named Marianne. ' 
Though not strictly of this type, a favour- 
able word must also be given for Barlow’i 
Bedder, a scarlet variety of much merit And 
here a passing reference to the dwarf show 
bedders, noting the variety Bising Snn as 
being especially good, concludes my list 
From this list it must be admitted we have 
ample choice for all tastes and gardens For 
large gardens, where a bold display is neces- 
sary, the paeony-flowered take pride of place 
followed by the decoratives and collarettes 
the others being used discriminately. For 
small gardens it may be necessary to omit the 
giant decoratives and taller pseonies. 
If I raav give my ideas as to what wruH 
increase the popularity of garden dahlias. I 
would say grow them early, go that thev 
reach the flowering stage before autumn. If 
the same attention which is ungrudgingly 
given to many summer bedding plants were 
bestowed on the dahlia, I feel sure tbev 
would soon be much more largely grown. I 
overheard some ladies remark at the R.H.S. 
Hall tile last week in August that it was sad 
to see so many dahlias, naturally inferring 
that we were reaching the end of the season. 
That seemed to sum up the situation. They 
are looked upon as typically autumn flowers, 
and often late autumn at that. It is quite 
possible to have a good sprinkling of bloom 
early in July, but not if they are planted 
out of 3in. pots the first week in June. To 
me it is sad to see them commencing to 
bloom at the end of September, with the 
possibility of their being cut down any night 
by frost. 
We endeavour to have our cutting plants j 
well established in Sin. pots up to 9in. ac¬ 
cording to size, by planting time. They are 
then ready to grow right away without a 
check. Amateurs with little convenience 
should make efforts to pot their plants on 
after receiving them from nursery. I should 
also like to mention that I do not agree with 
^igrgring in a lot of manure. Our ground had 
a mere scattering of colliery manure last 
year, and none in 1911, but during that 
memorable year of sunshine we gav? repeated 
mulchings of grass from the mowing j 
machines. I trust that many, who like my¬ 
self look forward to a good dahlia season will 
not be disappointed. 
Potatoes. —For affording an early 
supply sets of a quick maturing variety may . 
now be planted oni a warm border, the soil w i 
which was dug or bastard trenched two 
months or longer ago; it is advisable to 
prick over the surface with a fork to pro- 
vide a fine tilth. In planting the border . 
deep drills should be drawn or chopped out at 
2ft. apart, the sets being dropped at a dis- 
tance of 1ft. apart and five or six inches ] 
below the ground level; fill in the soil so 
that a slight ridge be left to mark the row. 
Medium-sized sets, which have been sp^utea 
under cool conditions, are the most suitawe. 
The following varieties are excellent eariies 
to select from; May Queen, Ringleader. 
Sharpe’s Victor, Sharpe’s Express, and agc >‘ 
type of the old Ashleaf.— W. Messenger. 
Late planted Standard 
Trees.— These will need to be 8^rte”w 
more or less, according to the lengtn 
strength of the growth and quantity 0 . 
roots. Cut the shoots just above an eye P® , 
ing in the direction the following - . 
growth is required, and spur the s | 
to within two eyes of the base. B ' 
weather should prove dry, ' 
and about the roots, and see fhat a 
moisture is applied until the fr«fh 
have taken to the new soil. Any ^ 
to be planted should be thoroughly 
in water for some hours before pR ^ 
otherwise failures may occur. Sta 
make all trees secure against movem 
wind, taking care to allow for the . 
swelling when tying the stems to tn 
poJis.—H. Markham. 
