Sir, - A vast amount of misunderstanding prevails respecting the object which the Society of Arts has in view in getting up examinations on horticulture; and with your permission I shall endeavour to put the matter in a clear and fair light, and thereby do simple justice to a good cause.

The prizes and certificates which the Society of Arts offers are intended to stimulate young men to think, to become acquainted with principles, and in the end to deserve the name not of mere workmen, but of skilled workmen who have some knowledge of the laws of nature. It is taken for granted that the capacity for doing is looked after elsewhere, and by every employer and superior; and it certainly is, for no one need expect promotion in Adam's business whose hands are not as expert in executing as his head is in comprehending. Trials in digging and suchlike are carried on every day, Sunday excepted; and any one south of the Tweed, and calling aloud for the spade and rake, who disbelieves this doctrine, has only to cross over for a while in order to find out his mistake. The practical test is constantly in operation, and has been for centuries, but the theoretical test is a new thing; and the rising generation, if it is wise, need not wonder to find those belonging to a previous generation laughing at what they are not in sympathy with, and cannot understand.

I do not wish to cast any slight on years, be they few or many, for it is quite certain that there are hoary-headed sages completely abreast of every new matter belonging to their own favourite department of knowledge; but nothing should be accepted without a reason from any one, and statements are worthy of approval only in so far as they express truths. I often wonder who those are who joke about certificates; and until the names of a few are served up in print, no notice should be taken of inferences drawn from premises perhaps without a foundation. Doubtless there are plenty of cunning but ignorant fellows who hold good posts, and who generally promote in proportion as the sponge is used, or sometimes as their wives suggest, but they are not likely to show themselves before the public. And also it is certain that stupidity can adorn a shovel or a hoe, but intellectual training alone can give any one that power for classifying details, and that nicety of discrimination, which lead to a proper distribution of duties, and to the right subordinate getting into the right place.

It is but too well known that in gardening, as in most other things, advancement is not always and instantly in proportion to merit; but I hope no one will be discouraged by this, for I have a strong faith in knowledge rightly used, and belonging to an upright character, meeting with a suitable reward somewhere; for if one rank is closed, other ranks are open. It seems to me intolerable, in a world full of real work requiring to be done, to find people engaged in trying to destroy a thing good, if not perfect; and this is pretty much the case with those who attach hard names to what the Society of Arts is endeavouring to perform; for, in so far as I am aware, not one of the detractors has yet suggested any improvement on the method of procedure employed by that useful body. To pull down without any capacity for building up again - to be a spoliator and nothing more - seems to me to be one of the most thankless tasks on the face of the earth. The being whose business lies in such a channel is an object of pity rather than of envy. A good deal, too, has been written about grinding, but, as applied to gardeners, I hardly know what either it or the term cramming means.

A young man, who works twelve hours per day, has surely time enough for reflection over the few facts he is able to acquire in the short space he can call his own.

And then on the subject of apprentice fees, as having a bearing on the gardener's financial interests rather than on his education, I may say at once that I classify myself with those who go against payment in that way. I call the taking or demanding a premium, in the majority of cases, and as matters are at present arranged, very unfair; for surely it is not just for poor Tom Jones, whose father is a labourer in a rural district, to have to pay ten guineas to get the garden-doors opened to him, whilst all the Browns, who live near a large town with plenty of market-gardens, get everything opened, and yet give nothing. Also instruction and encouragement are often promised, and fine bright prospects are implied, if not held out; but, alas! how seldom they come! Another thing that makes the fees unjust, and throws the whole business beyond the pale of political economy, and into that of monopoly, is the foul play that prevails in the market. 0, Father Adam! what a terrible job there would be if the appointments of your representatives in the latter part of the nineteenth century were always chronicled and looked into as those of Mr Gladstone are!

J. D.