120  London  Botanic  Gardens.  { AmkJa°rch.?906fm* 
accommodations  for  garden  fetes,  frequent  displays  of  flowers  and 
decorative  plants,  and  a  club  house. 
It  is,  however,  in  its  educational  capacity  that  the  Society  claims 
our  attention,  for  in  so  far  as  medical  and  pharmaceutical  students 
are  concerned,  it  undoubtedly  fulfils  the  chief  role  in  London  in 
supplying  the  necessary  materials  for  the  study  of  living  plants. 
Close  upon  seven  hundred  students'  tickets  are  issued  annually 
through  the  medium  of  the  professors  and  teachers  in  the  respective 
schools,  these  tickets  being  available  daily,  until  3  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon ;  after  that  hour  the  Gardens  are  reserved  for  the  use  of 
the  Fellows  and  visitors.  In  addition  to  this,  from  50,000  to  60,000 
cut  specimens  are  distributed  among  such  students  every  year. 
Lectures  in  Botany  were  formerly  delivered  on  certain  mornings  in 
the  Gardens  to  the  students  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society's  School, 
but  they  have  been  discontinued  for  some  years. 
Among  the  educational  features  of  the  Society  the  lectures  de- 
livered from  time  to  time  on  botanical  subjects  must  be  included  ; 
these,  together  with  the  other  proceedings  of  the  Society,  are  pub- 
lished in  its  "  Quarterly  Record." 
In  1897  *ne  educational  side  was  further  developed  by  the  institu- 
tion of  a  Practical  Gardening  School.  The  training  consists  of  a 
course,  extending  over  a  period  of  three  years,  which  is  essentially 
practical  in  character,  although  it  is  accompanied  by  a  series  of 
lectures  delivered  in  the  Laboratory.  The  students  consist,  in  part, 
of  pupils  who  have  obtained  scholarships  from  the  London  School 
Board — now  the  Education  Department  of  the  London  County 
Council.  These,  originally  ten  in  number,  acquitted  themselves  so 
satisfactorily  that  the  number  has  since  been  increased  to  twenty. 
In  addition  to  the  scholars,  there  are  several  independent  students, 
many  of  whom  are  ladies. 
This  account  would  not  be  complete  without  a  concluding  refer- 
ence to  the  educational  exhibitions  that  are  occasionally  held  in  the 
Gardens.  These  are  illustrative  of  work  done  in  schools  on  the  too- 
long  neglected  subject  of  Nature  Study,  and  must  appeal  to  every- 
one who  has  the  cause  of  education  at  heart. 
[Further  details  concerning  the  Royal  Botanic  Society's  Gardens  will  be  found 
in  the  Society's  "  Quarterly  Record,"  first  published  in  1880,  and  continued  from 
that  date  to  the  present  time.  In  vol.  Ill  of  that  publication  (No.  36,  p.  216. 
London,  1888)  there  is  a  short  historical  account  of  the  Society  contributed  by 
