AGRICULTURE IN SCHOOLS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIII, Issue 129, 1 June 1907, Page 15

AGRICULTURE IN SCHOOLS.

A very interesting rcpoil on the rssuits of planting oats and potatccc- a 1 tho Halcombo experimental school station was read at a recent meeting of lhu Wanganui Educrtion Board. Mr. > Strachan points out that the snil on which ths experiments were conducted was virgin land, 'eomewhat r.parfcly covered with manuka and rushes. The ', average depth of th? coil vr-s four ' inches, ths subsoil being a stilV yellow clay. At a depth of from 9 to 15 inches there was a considjrablo amount of ferrous oxide. In August, Ihc ground, which was rather wet, was dug for tho first time. Experiment} were mud-o with six varieties of oats, and witSi nine \arirtics of potnto-03. In ! the cases of tl)2 oits, the children of Standards V. and VI. each selected <i ' hundred grains of the fluent oceds and wcighad thorn. ThVn'a hundred e>v.ins were taken at random and weighed. The r.ocdo wore all planted individually. Tt will bo cocn by tho results that while the selected oats pi-odx:o3d a gieator numb 3i' of grains thin the iinsclccted. the weight for a hundr:d grains of the producs was not, except in ono instance, inoiv than the hundred grains of rcccl. Tho potato seed \\o> obtiiucd from Momonaki (six varisties), Buri'fll (ons variety), Sinclair (ono variety), and our own garden (one vanity). The best result was obtained fiom the oecd which grew in our ov. n garden the pr;\ ions season. The next best were Eldorado (Burrcll's), Scobia (Momohaki), and Warlior (Sinclair's). The potntoe." were sprayed five times during the «-&son with Mr. DougaH'o fruit tree wash. No blight appeared on tho loaves. The yields per aero woro from 10i tons "(Northern Star), to 7 tons 10 cwt (Up-to-Date).