June  29,  1S99. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
527 
young  peraons  interested  in  gardening  as  to  the  present  method  of 
examining  being  quite  fair  towards  them.  Should  this  ratio  of 
declension  be  continued  tor  three  years,  then  we  may  expect  a 
repetition  of  what  happened  to  the  Society  of  Arts’  exams  in  horti¬ 
culture  thirty  or  more  years  ago,  when  with  Dr.  Hogg  and  Thos.  Moore 
as  examiners  the  questions  submitted  to  candidates  were  far  more 
practical  than  are  those  of  to-day. 
Another  unquestioned  fact  in  relation  to  the-e  present-day  exams 
is  that  they  are  fast  resolving  themselves  into  battle  royals  between 
rival  schools,  or  laboratories,  or  colleges,  for  precedence  for  their 
respective  pupils.  Anyone  looking  over  the  list  of  candidates  placed 
in  the  respective  classes  will  not  fail  to  notice  the  prominence  given 
to  these  respective  institutions,  which,  whatever  they  may  do  in 
producing  practical  and  useful  gardeners,  at  least  get  a  good  advertise¬ 
ment.  Thus  Swanley  Horticultural  College  takes  the  cake  with 
thirty-two  placed  pupils,  Chelmsford  Laboratory  next  with  twenty. 
Holmes  Chapel  Horticultural  School  with  eleven,  and  the  Stafford 
Technical  School  with  nine,  making  a  total  of  seventy -two  candidates 
out  of  160  passed.  So  far  as  can  be  seen,  there  are  no  other  teaching 
institutions;  certainly  no  other  is  mentioned.  It  is  a  most  remarkable 
fact  that  the  chief  national  school  in  practical  horticulture — the  Royal 
Horticultural  Society’s  Chiswick  gardens — is  not  credited  with  a  single 
candidate.  Naturally,  it  may  be  expected  that  in  establishing  this 
examination  the  R.H.S.  would  be  the  first  body  to  see  that  its 
practical  school  of  gardening  sent  numerous  candidates  for  its  own 
exam.  Kew,  again,  does  not  send  one,  unless  the  candidate  residing 
at  Chiswick  belongs  to  one  or  other  of  these  great  gardens. 
So  far  amongst  counties  that  have  no  horticultural  schools,  Surrey 
has  usually  sent  the  highest  number  of  candidates.  I  count  this  time 
twenty  from  that  county  as  having  passed — a  very  good  proportion 
indeed,  considering,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  the  county  sets  up  no 
scientific  school,  such  as  a  few  other  counties  possess.  Kent,  which 
in  the  matter  of  purely  technical  instruction  in  practical  horticulture, 
stands  amongst  the  best  instructed  of  counties,  sends  other  than 
from  Swanley  College  only  two  candidates.  Evidently  the  Kent  O.C. 
does  not  value  these  exams  much.  Of  the  passed  160  candidates, 
twenty-six  are  females,  and  of  these  twenty-four  are  from  college  or 
laboratory.  It,  may  be  expected  that  some  of  these  have,  of  course, 
gone  in  for  the  exam  to  gratify  their  respective  teachers;  but  to 
assume  that  Horticulture — written  with  a  capital  H — will  benefit 
thereby  is  absurd. 
But  what  of  the  questions  set  ?  These  readers  may  discuss  them¬ 
selves,  as  doubtless  they  will  be  published.  If  we  look  at  the  first 
eight,  or  elementary  questions,  it  is  seen  that  these  are  almost  exclu¬ 
sively  of  a  physiological  order ;  only  two.  Nos.  3  and  7,  having  any 
bearing  on  practical  gardening,  and  then  only  in  a  most  limited  degree. 
Nos.  6  and  8  are  essentially  botanical.  It  is  not  difficult  to  understand 
that  such  serai-scientific  questions  as  these  are  favoured  in  awarding 
marks,  although  they  would  leave  the  cleverest  of  replies  still  very 
much  wide  of  sound  practice. 
In  the''’3rvision  allotted  to  horticultural  practice,  only  one  relates 
to  fruit  culture,  and  that  under  glass,  and  very  limited.  Two  only 
relate  to  vegetables,  but  these  are  very  good  and  practical.  The 
question  relating  to  what  is  an  “  American  garden,”  is  quite  out  of 
date.  No  one  refers  to  American  plants  or  gardens  now.  Our  shrub 
and  hardy  plant  gardening  is  far  too  cosmopolitan  for  such  divisions. 
In  the  same  way  question  No.  16  is  of  no  value,  because  in  flower 
gardens  we  grow  plants  that  need  cool  as  well  as  warm  aspects.  The 
term  “flower  garden”  is  now  an  enormously  wide  one. 
However,  I  think  I  have  said  enough.  To  me  the  product  of  this 
annual  exam  is  very  disappointing.  It  fails  to  provoke  general 
interest  evidently,  and  seems  now  to  be  mainly  kept  alive  by  the 
competition  of  the  rival  schools. — Practical. 
It  must  not  be  taken  for  granted  that  we  agree  in  everything 
that  is  said  by  our  correspondent.  He  has  evidently  examined  the 
matter  carefully,  and  we  suspect  he  knows  more  of  the  examinations 
of  a  generation  ago  than  we  do,  nor  do  we  think  he  was  a  plucked 
candidate.  The  candidates  in  schools  and  colleges  predominate,  as  they 
undoubtedly  ought  to  do,  as  being  specially  trained  over  a  long  period, 
yet  there  is  a  wider  representation  of  non-schoolmen  and  collegians 
than  appears  in  the  communication. 
The  county  passes  seem  to  stand  somewhat  as  follows : — Surrey, 
as  stated,  20;  Berks  11,  Leicester  8,  Hants  6,  Isle  of  Wight  and 
Middlesex,  5  each ;  Dumfriesshire,  Lancashire,  and  Yorkshire,  4  each ; 
Stafford,  Hants,  and  Kent,  2  each ;  Derby,  Gloucestershire,  Lincoln¬ 
shire,  and  Westmoreland.  1  candidate  each. 
The  numbers,  we  are  convinced,  in  no  sense  represent  the  relative 
capacities  of  gardeners  in  the  several  counties ;  and  in  some  of  them 
the  best  and  most  useful  teaching  of  its  kind  is  given— notably  in 
Derby  and  Kent,  but  is  concentrated  in  meeting  the  particular 
requirements  of  allotment  holders,  cottagers,  tradesmen,  and  others, 
who  desire  to  make  the  land  they  occupy,  with  their  home  surround¬ 
ings,  as  profitable  and  attractive  as  possible,  and  it  is  gratifying, 
indeed  in  some  instances  wonderful,  to  see  what  has  been  done  in 
those  and  other  counties  as  the  result  of  such  teaching  by  practical 
men.  Such  cases  cannot  be  met  by  the  R.H.S.  exams;  but  many 
more  young  gardeners  might  enter  these  to  their  own  advantage, 
though  it  is  of  no  use  disguising  the  fact  that  numbers  of  them 
decline  to  do  so  because  of  what  they  regard  as  “  college  cramming 
and  competition,”  though  it  is  really  not  “  competition  ”  at  all,  as  if 
for  prizes,  but  simply  a  case  of  every  candidate  doing  his  or  her  best, 
and  being  credited  with  the  results  attained. 
ADIANTUMS  FOK  (mTTINd. 
The  demand  for  cut  Fern  fronds  for  various  purposes  is  enormous, 
and  no  matter  what  steps  are  taken  to  insure  a  continuous  supply, 
there  generally  occurs  some  period  during  the  year  when  hard,  ripe 
fronds  are  sought  for  in  vain.  There  seems  to  be  no  limit  to  the 
amount  which  could  be  made  use  of  in  large  private  gardens  where 
much  decorative  work  is  done,  but  when  lern  is  scarce  other  sub¬ 
stitutes  have  to  be  found  for  it,  and  the  force  of  circumstances  often 
has  the  effect  of  showing  us  that  foliage  of  many  kinds  may  sometimes 
with  advantage  be  used  in  the  place  of  fronds  of  Adiantum ;  but  for 
many  purposes  these  are  quite  indispensable,  and  their  popularity  does 
not  seem  likely  to  wane.  A.  cuneatura  and  elegans  are  the  varieties 
most  largely  in  demand,  and  in  order  to  insure  a  supply  of  fronds 
turoughout  the  year  it  is  necessary  to  work  on  systematic  lines,  for  if 
haphazard  methods  are  followed  breaks  will  inevitably  occur  in  the 
supply. 
An  excellent  plan  to  pursue  is  to  grow  the  plants  in  collections,  and 
never  to  cut  a  single  frond  from  a  given  stock  until  full  development 
and  hardening  have  taken  place  ;  then  to  pick  the  fronds  as  required 
till  all  the  ripe  ones  have  been  removed,  and  grow  the  plants  again 
till  a  successional  crop  of  fronds  is  ready.  From  strong  plants  two 
crops  of  fronds  may  generally  be  secured  in  one  season.  Take,  for 
instance,  plants  which  were  repotted  during  January  or  February. 
The  first  set  of  fronds  produced  should  have  been  ready  for  picking 
some  weeks  ago,  and  as  these  were  secured  a  succession  of  young 
ones  ought  to  be  advancing.  These,  if  encouraged  to  grow,  will  give 
good  fronds  during  the  end  of  the  summer  and  autumn,  after  which 
the  plants  ought  to  be  rested  by  being  kept  dry  at  the  roots  and  cool 
till  early  spring. 
Giving  Adiantums  a  season  of  rest  is  in  reality  one  of  the  most 
important  points  connected  with  their  culture,  for  if  they  are  kept 
growing  throughout  the  year,  their  fronds  being  also  continuously 
removed,  they  do  not  last  long  in  good  condition,  but  the  crowns  and 
fronds  gradually  get  weaker  and  smaller,  till  they  refuse  to  grow  at 
all.  Each  time  a  frond  is  picked  before  it  has  become  hard  it  tends  to 
weaken  the  crown.  I  once  knew  a  gardener  who  wtxs  required  to  produce 
a  large  quantity  of  Maidenhair  Ferns  for  decorative  work  during 
the  autumn  months.  He  succeeded  in  obtaining  what  was  required 
by  a  very  simple  plan,  and  had  good  reason  to  be  proud^  of  hisAlants, 
which  were  grown  throughout  in  a  cool  house,  and  allowed  to  complete 
the  whole  of  their  growth  before  any  of  the  fronds  were  picked. 
During  the  autumn  each  plant  was  quite  cleared  of  fronds  as  they 
were  required  for  use.  Water  was  then  withheld  till  the  spring,  and 
the  plants  were  repotted  once  in  two  years.  With  this  treatment 
bold  crowns  and  good  fronds  were  produced  year  after  year. 
The  above  serves  to  illustrate  an  excellent  method  of  culture  for 
securing  fronds  for  cutting  in  the  autumn.  To  give  a  supply  during 
spring  and  early  summer  a  number  must  be  grown  in  heat,  but  in  each 
case  it  is  important  that  the  fronds  become  hard  and  ripe  before  being 
picked,  or  deterioration  will  gradually  take  place.  It  is  not  wise 
to  keep  plants  lingering  after  they  have  become  stunted.  They 
should  instead  be  consigned  to  the  rubbish  heap,  and  seedlings  grown 
to  take  their  place.  These  can  now'  be  bought  so  cheaply,  or  raised  at 
home,  that  one  item  in  systematic  Fern  growing  is  to  pot  a  number 
of  young  plants  each  year,  so  as  to  always  have  some  vigorous  “  young 
blood  ”  to  depend  upon. 
The  season  when  Adiantum  fronds  are  usually  extremely  scarce 
is  from  December  till  IVIarch,  but  with  young  plants  the  difficulty  of 
maintaining  a  supply  then  can  be  surmounted,  by  procuring  strong 
plants  in  3-inch  pots  during  October,  potting  them  in  5-iach  ones, 
and  forcing  in  heat.  Good  mellow  loam,  with  abundance  of  fibre, 
will  grow  them  well  without  any  addition,  but  so  few  growers  are 
able  to  obtain  just  the  right  kind  of  loam  that  it  is  usually  safer  to 
employ  a  compost  formed  of  two  parts  loam,  one  of  peat,  with  a  liberal 
addition  of  sharp  sand.  When  the  loam  is  not  good  mix  an  equal 
portion  of  peat  with  it,  and  in  all  cases  pot  firmly. 
Adiantums  delight  in  a  moist  atmosphere,  but  this  should  ba 
maintained  by  damping  rather  than  by  syringing  the  plants.  They 
