April  30,  1903. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
375 
so.  Beyond  tlie  possibility  for  good  to  the  island  itself  of  this 
instruction,  there  are  corollai'y  advantages  that  are  not  always 
taken  into  account.  While  not  enlarging  on  the  iinprovement 
which  cannot  fail  to  result  to  cottagers,  small  holders,  and  even 
commercial  gardeners  from  the  guidance  and  hints  imparted  by 
an  experienced  professional  man  who  has  made  a  study  of  his 
subject,  another  consideration  suggests  itself,  and  that  is,  that  by 
providing  .such  instruction  the  Council  may  be  awakening  in  some 
minds  a  knowledge  of  the  possibilities  of  the  land  to  support  a 
much  greater  number  of  people  than  it  does  at  the  present  time. 
The  primary  intention  of  the  various  County  Councils  in  the 
matter  of  providing  horticultural  instruction  is,  that  holders  of 
small  gardens  may  be  taught  how  to  extract  the  gi’eatest  yield 
from  them  in  flowers,  fruits,  and  vegetables,  and  to  be  gainers 
thereby.  A  second  consideration  is  to  interest  the  youths  of 
rural  districts  by  directing  their  minds  early  to  a  practical, 
utilitarian,  and  exceedingly  interesting  pursuit ;  and  the  natural 
consequence  that  follows  the  achievement  of  these  two  aims  is, 
that  more  people  become  attached  to  villages  and  the  country ; 
more  produce  is  yielded  from  gardens  (to  the  betterment  of  the 
community),  and  the  last  consideration  is  the  good  results  that 
are  likely  to  follow  to  commercial  horticulturists  and  the  indu.stry 
generally.  The  moral,  political  and  social  reasons  in  favour  of 
practical  rural  instimction  on  such  an  important  subject 'as  horti¬ 
culture,  are  so  obvious  and  weighty  that  it  is  remarkable  how  any 
intelligent  person  can  gi'umble,  either  openly  or  secretly,  at  the 
small  expense  such  instruction  demands.  They  overlook  the  fact, 
apparently,  that  the  co.st  is  returned  one  hundredfold  in  other 
ways. 
I  will  briefly  outline  the  work  in  hand  at  Newport,  and  in 
order  to  afford  a  conception  of  the  subjects  dealt  with  at  the 
lecture-courses,  an  examination  paper  set  by  Mr.  Martin  at  one 
of  his  centres  in  March  this  year,  is  here  printed.  The  questions 
asked  were  as  follows ; — 
1.  Describe  the  damage  done  by  codlin  moth  and  caterpillar. 
What  remedies  can  be  adopted  again-st  this  insect? 
2.  Why  is  root-pruning  fruit  trees  neces.sary  ?  At  what 
season  of  the  year  would  you  commence  the  operation  ? 
3.  Define  the  following:  Annual,  biennial,  perennial.  How 
would  you  raise  annuals  for  early  exhibition  or  for  market? 
4.  Give  particulars  of  the  cultivation  and  pruning  of  Roses. 
Name  the  nio.st  suitable  soil  for  Roses. 
5.  How  and  when  would  you  propagate  bush  fruit  trees? 
Give  methods  of  protecting  the  bud. 
6.  Describe  the  method  of  propagation  and  general  cultiva¬ 
tion  of  Chry.santhemums  in  pots. 
7.  In  garden  culture  for  profit,  what  four  sub.stances  ought  to 
be  supplied  to  the  land  for  plant  food  ? 
8.  At  what  time  of  the  year  should  liquid  manure  be  given  to 
fruit  trees? 
9.  Write  particulars  for  the  raising  and  successful  cultiva¬ 
tion  of  Tomatoes. 
10.  Describe  the  operation  of  bjidding.  W^hat  are  the  chief 
points  to  be  attended  to  for  successful  work? 
11.  Give  instructions  for  propagation  and  cultivation  of 
Strawberries. 
12.  What  is  the  Potato  disease?  and  what  methods  of  prevent¬ 
ing  the  disease  can  be  adopted  ? 
Many  of  the  gardeners  and  residents  in  the  Isle  of  Wight  have 
never  left  its  shores  (one  can  hardly  credit  the  statement!),  and 
their  ideas  and  their  practices  are  confined — limited;  the  profes¬ 
sional  gardeners  are,  indeed,  often  bigoted,  and  (just  as  in  some 
parts  of  Ireland)  the  in-structor  finds  it  difficult  to  break  down 
existing  prejudices,  or  to  alter  their  belief  that  what  they  possess 
is  not  always  the  best  obtainable.  In  Ulster,  for  instance,  the 
farmers  refuse  to  believe  that  they  have  not  the  best  varieties 
of  Apples,  yet  experienced  experts  tell  them  that  they  are  wrong. 
The  sensible  way  would  be  to  test  some  of  those  recommended 
by  the  instructors. 
The  Technical  Instruction  Committee  of  the  I.W.C.C.  are  at 
present  engaged  in  building  a  large  and  very  handsome  Technical 
Institute,  the  site  of  which  has  absorbed  part  of  the  C.C.  garden. 
This  fine  building  will  cost  nearly  £10,000,  and  vTien  finished 
there  will  be  a  properly-equipped  room  for  the  convenience  of  Mr. 
Martin  and  his  students.  The  public  library  will  be  housed  here, 
and  various  in.structional  classes  be  inaugurated. 
I  have  said  scarcely  anything  about  the  garden.  It  is  a  neat 
and  Avell-stocked  area,  containing  bush,  standard,  pyramid,  and 
cordon  fruit  treesj  there  being  representative  varieties  each  of 
Apples,  Plums,  and  Pears,  Gooseberries,  Apricots,  Peaches, 
Cherries,  Currants,  Raspberries,  Loganberries,  and  Strawberries, 
all  in  the  open ;  while  under  glass  we  find  Vines,  Peaches,  and 
Nectarines.  Strawberries  are  forced  in  pots,  and  Mr.  Martin  this 
year  is  trying  St.  Antoine  de  Padue  for  the  purpose.  Vegetable 
and  flower  crops  are  grown  in  variety  out  of  doors,  and  plants  in 
as  varied  an  assortment  as  possible  find  a  place  in  the  glass  range. 
It  would  not  be  interesting  to  describe  everything  that  one 
made  a  note  of,  and  the  people  of  the  Garden  Isle,  who,  of  course, 
are  the  interested  folks  in  what  is  done,  receive  an  excellent 
yearly  report  of  all  the  trials  undertaken  by  the  horticultural 
instructor,  with  the  results  under  the  conditions  of  culture,  which 
are  fully  stated.  As  an  example  of  part  of  his  annual  report, 
the  following  paragraphs  are  indicative,  and  as  the  report  is 
published  through  the  Isle  of  Wight  Express,”  every  inhabitant 
can  see  exactly  what  has  been  attempted. 
Taking  the  item.  Primulas,  of  them  Mr.  Martin  reports: — 
“  Early  in  the  spring  we  had  under  cultivation  a  batch  of  plants, 
consisting  of  single  and  double  vai’ieties,  amongst  them  being  our 
new  seedling.  Island  Gem,  a  delightful  coloured  pink,  which  bids 
fair  to  be  one  of  the  most  useful,  dwarf,  hardy,  robust,  and  free 
in  germinating  Primulas  in  cultivation.  Visitors  who  have  not 
already  seen  it  should  avail  themselves  of  this  opportunity  of 
seeing  qur  present  batch  of  this  flower,  fast  coming  into  bloom, 
numbering  3(X)  plants,  every  plant  true  from  seed.” 
Of  the  popular  Begonia  Gloire  de  Lorraine  he  says: — “  Thi.s 
plant  did  remarkably  well  with  us  during  the  season.  We  placed 
it  as  an  experiment  in  every  hou.se  in  our  possession,  with  a  view 
of  testing  the  conditions  under  which  it  thrives  best,  the 
minimum  temperature  ranging  from  50deg  to  32deg,  or  during 
very  severe  weather  just  below  freezing  iioint.  I  find  that  to 
grow  this  plant  well  a  temperature  of  SOdeg  to  55deg  is  required, 
but  to  flower  it  a  much  lower  temperature  will  suffice;  for  in¬ 
stance,  those  in  the  coolest  structure  remained  in  bloom  until 
June,  whilst  those  under  warmer  conditions  were  over  some  time 
Mr.  Chas.  Martin. 
in  April,  proving  that  once  the  plant  becomes  established,  to  pro¬ 
long  the  display  of  bloom  an  ordinary  heated  greenhouse  is  to  be 
preferred.  My  advice  to  all  who  wish  to  produce  the  best  effect 
from  this  plant  is  to  suspend  it  to  the  roof,  either  in  baskets  or 
pots  with  wire  around.  No  stakes  should  be  psed ;  it  appears  at 
its  best  hanging  naturally.  We  have  at  the  present  time  about 
fifty  plants  growing  in  tliis  way.” 
Tomatoes. — “  These  were  planted  in  the  warmest  structure  very 
early  in  the  year,  resulting  in  success,  considering  they  were 
grown  in  a  house  not  ab.solutely  devoted  to  them,  but  where  all 
our  propagating  and  seed- raising  has  been  done.  We  commenced 
gathering  early  in  April,  when  prices  w'ere  ranging  high,  thus 
proving  that  growers  of  exotic  plants  may  easily  add  to  their  re¬ 
turns,  by  the  same  amount  of  fire  heat,  without  detriment  to  the 
structure  for  other  purposes,  by  occupying  a  portion  of  the 
roof,  and  growing  on  the  stages  in  pots.  The  chief  object  of  the 
cultivator  at  this  early  stage  should  be  to  assist  fertilisation  by 
tapping  the  wires  on  which  they  are  grown,  about  noon  every 
day,  to  distribute  the  pollen.” 
The  notes  on  the  fruit  trees  are  interesting: — “Building 
operations  in  the  garden  necessitated  the  removal  of  Apple  trees 
in  full  bloom  during  the  last  week  in  May  to  another  part  of  the 
garden.  Tlie  varieties  wmre  Pott.s’  Seedling,  Pea.sgood’s  Non¬ 
such,  Blenheim  Orange,  Ecklinville,  Mr.  Gladstone,  and  others. 
I  admit  the  past  season  has  been  most  favourable  to  such  a  severe 
operation,  but  to  those  wiio  have  never  experienced  the  removal 
of  fruit  trees  at  that  exceptional  season  of  the 
year  the  results  which  have  followed  are  so  strik¬ 
ing  as  to  make  them  worthy  of  a  visit  of  inspec¬ 
tion.  Cultivators  who  are  full  of  timidity  as  to  the  wisdom 
of  root-pruning  during  the  autumn  months,  I  feel  sure  on  seeing 
these  trees  would  immediately  banish  all  such  fears,  and  speedily 
I  put  into  practice  one  of  the  mo.st  necessary  adjuncts  to  successful 
1  fruit  cultivation.  Great  care  should  be  taken  during  the  winter 
