ADVANCED TEACHING

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 139, 11 December 1908, Page 2

ADVANCED TEACHING

THE SCHOOL GARDENS AT W3ASTERTON. INTERESTING RESULTS. MINISTER OF EDUCATION ON TOUR, (By Our Special Reporter.) MASTERTON, This Day. The ceremony connected with the opening of the Technical School here yesterday passed off very successfully. The main points of the speech of the Minister of Education (the Hon. Geo. Fowlds), who performed the ceremony, were reported in the Post yesterday. The Minister enlarged on the advantages of technical education, and was at some pains to show the remarkable advance which has taken plate in that branch <if training during the last eight years in Now ZealandMasterton's new tochnical 'school is a fine two storied brick structure, of handsome design, and solid construction. Tho building cost about £3000, and has been erected as a- memorial to the late Mr R. J. Sed<lon. The residents of Masterton subscribed £1200 towards the cost. This sum was subsidised pound for pound by the Government, and a special grant of £1000 was also made by the Government towards the cost. The building should meet the require- ■ ments of the Masterton district for many years to come. Mrs". Seddon was un- . avoidably prevented from attending the ceremonyj but Mr. T. E. Y. Secldon, .son of tho late Premier, and Mrs. F. Dyer, daughter of the late Mr. Sed.don, were present. The residents of Masterton. presented both the Minister and Mr. T. Seddon with silver keys mounted on shields, over an appropriate .inscription, ia honour of the occasion. When Mr. Seddon addressed the gathering he was warmly applauded, and the other speakers, Messrs. A. W. Hogg, , Feist, Hollings, and Corudine, were also listened to with interest. • „- The function gave the Minister an opportunity of inspecting the school gar,dens, which . are > carried on under the supervision •of the head ■ master of the -High School, Mr. Jackson, by the sixth standard and secondary pupils. The work which has been dope there is really worthy of the highest praise, and it is doubtful if there is anything of a similar kind to equal it in New Zealand. Two years ago Mr. Jackson, who is an enthusiast in horticulture, persuaded the Masterton Trust Lands Trust to hand over to the High School Committee a 'vacan^ section opposite the school. Tho land in 'this particular locality is poor and covered with shingle, but the master and tho schoolboys went to work with a will, and an extraordinary transi formation has been worked in v. little | over twenty months. Over 100 tons of large .shingle were cleared off tho section, .and a start was then made with the cultivation of the land. The wholo area was carefullly laid out m plotsthere are thirty-two altogether — and a systematic line of action was decided upon. Two ooys are assigned the management of two plots, and competition is the main feature of the race for supremacy. Flowers and vegetables are cultivated with equal zest. Yesterday, the visitors saw a glorious ptoi'usion of sweet peas, luscious clumps of red currants, strawberries, poaches, nectarines, turnips, carrots, gooseberries, and the iC latest thing out " — the asparagus pea. - The cultivation of such a variety pf xegetablcs and flowers is not carried on haphazard. Experiments are being conducted the w hole ,of tho time. In each plot different varieties of vegetables are grown, aifd the same variety is .treated in rows with different classes of manure, various quantities of the same manure, and cultivation without artificial manures must also be attempted to determine the relative value of the systems adopted. The boys are required to keep | a register of the quantities of manure used, and a careful record of the results obtained. Each brace of plots is worked i in competition with the others, and tho two boys who come out on top are rewarded with prizes of 10s each. The time devoted to this instruction in agricultural training is three hours per week —one hour to the science of agriculture (it should be explained that the .«chool is furnished with a well-equipped laboratory), one " hour to botany, and one I hour to the practical work. j The young agriculturists go into the business with whole-hearted energy. At the Masterlon Horticultural Show they are found in open competition with the other exhibitors, and it speaks well for the work done by them that last year they wore able to carry off several prizes. This year they hope to do even better. The Masterton District High School garden is really an object-lesson to the other schools of the Dominion. The Minister of Education stated yesterday that he had seen nothing like it in New Zealand, dnd that meed of praise does not seem to be in the least overdrawn. The success of the imdertaking is primarily due to the enthusiasm of the headmaster of the school, Mr. Jackson, but the Masterton Trust Lands Trust is also deserving of the thanks of the school authorities for the practical support it has given to the school garden scheme.