THE SCHOOL GARDENS

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIII, Issue 9081, 22 February 1908, Page 5

THE SCHOOL GARDENS

Tiie report of the judges, Messrs Weight-man and A. R. Mayo states that there lias been great improvement since.their last visit. Cultivation.—This generally was good, in some places excellent. Better results, no doubt, would have been shown at some gardens bad the pupils been provided with suitable tools. At some places we found an absence of hoes, except Dutch, which placed tliese schools at a disadvantage so far as deep and thorough cultivation.-went. A lack of judgment was also shown in the supplying of forks, some being much too heavy for children’s use, whilst elsewhere mere toys had been provided, only those at Waituua being of a suitable class. Order and System.—Varied from fair to excellent. At some gardens very little attentiou'had been given to thinning out, whilst in others weeding had been rather neglected. Labelling,—At some schools this was a weak point, and at nine were we able to award maximum marks. Vegetables and roots. —At no school did we find a lack of the'requisite number (13), but in growth and evenness the difference was very marked. In some places these were uniformly good, in others some kinds were good, others poor, but taking the season into consideration we are of opinion the results are very satisfactory. Tools.—These varied very much, some being a model of cleanliness, and the condition of others left much to be desired. At one place an error of judgment was evident, the whole of the tools having received a coating of green paint. Trees.—At some schools no attempt had been made to raise either hedge or shelter trees; at others, 1 great pains had been taken, but with < indifferent success, and at none were i the results satisfactory. ( We commenced our duties on ; January 29th, by visiting Ohelten- • ham, Kimbolton, and Apiti, Mr ] Lethbridge,*M.P. ,fkiudly , conveying us by motor to Kimbolton, and pro- 1 viding a buggy for the journey to s Apiti. Cheltenham. — The garden here i was in splendid order, our sugges- ] tious of last year had received every < attention, and the cultivation and < order we considered perfect. The 1 growth of . everything was good. < The labelling was also a great im- i provemeut upon last season. The care of (tools might have been i better, and this, with the absence of ; trees, in our opinion, lost Chelten- ; ham the premier position in the ■ competition. Kimbolton.—This garden has im: proved considerably since last year. ; The nature of, the soil at this place ; makes cultivation easy. This we took into consideration |when making our award. The arrangement of this garden is still capable of improvement, too much space, in our opinion, being taken up by needless paths. The growth here was somewhat uneven. Much pains had been taken to raise various kinds of trees. The result must have been very disappointing. Apiti.—Here we found what gardening under difficulties meant. The strong nature of.the iground involved a vast amount of labour in clearing the largest boulders away, and even now the ground is full of medium-sized stones, making cultivation very difficult. Considering the work performed we regret being unable to place Apiti higher on the list of competitions. The care of tools here was a strong point. Mangaweka.—The ground here is of such a nature |that successful gardening is next to impossible, unless thoroughly drained, and even then much hard work will be required to get and keep the soil (which is very heavy and adhesive) in a pulverised condition. On the paths we noticed cracks into which it would be possible to drop a hen’s egg. Considering the soil and the season, the results were better than might .have been expected, but were far short of an adequate return for the labour expended. We noticed here an interesting collection of grasses and forage plants, which should prove of much educational value to the pupils. Ruahine. —This garden was most interesting as in conjunction with the vegetables and roots flowers'were extensively grown. This portion of the garden reflected great credit upon both teacher and . pupils, and after careful inspection we could only regret being unable to take this part into consideration. In fact, the flower gardens at this school were grand, and were so pleasing to us both that, to mark our approval of the work done, and as a reward for the splendid appearance the flowers gave to the place, we’are personally donating 20s worth of flower roots and bulbs to this school, and came to the conclusion that it might not be out of place to suggest to your Association the advisability of ap- t portioning some points to flowers in any future competition, with a special prize to the school securing the most points in this section. They also kept several boxes of bees here, and we would suggest to the Education Board that it would be money well spent to send to this school a few frame hives, as the new laws relating, to bee-keeping require the bees to be kept in such.

Halcombe. —Several of the competing schools have an advantage over this cue in the nature and quality of the soil, also in the tools to work it, no proper hoes being provided. Under these circumstances we consider the cultivation very good. The thinning out here was a weak point. In our opinion, too much is attempted at this school, as a large experimental plot containing several kinds of grain and potatoes might well be left to some farmer in the immediate vicinity to carry out. This would give the children a chance. At present they are asked to do too Jmuch, therefore we consider they are not receiving asjmnch benefit from their labours as they have a right to expect. Rangiwahia.—This garden was not what we had hoped to find, and we came to the conclusion that the severe frost early in January must have disheartened the cultivators, as there was evidence of a waning interest in its upkeep. Waituna.—A very pleasing garden, and had the cultivation been a little better and more attention paid to thinning out and weeding this garden would undoubtedly have been a prizetaker. Taouui. —At this school Mr A. 11. Atkinson undertook Mr Mayo’s unties as, judge. Mi\ Mayo thinking it undesirable to adjudicate upon a garden in which ho was interested. Tin's garden wo found very ,gcod. a”hd but l*oa few wheels in several Ms, aud a

under the beading of trees. The tools were in splendid order. Tiiis completed our somewhat arduous duties, wo trust with satisfaction to the schools concerned, and to 'your Association. Unr award has been already supplied. Mr Robert Brown, Dairy Instructor for the Wanganui Education Board reported ou the observation books in connection with the school gardens competition and awarded marks as underKimbolton 80 (the maximum), Taouui 37, Apiti 3(>, Ruahine 2-1, Mangaweka 28, Waitnna 19, Raugiwahia IS. A full report is unavoidably held over.