EDUCATIONAL WORK

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 30 June 1925, Page 3

EDUCATIONAL WORK

. THE SCHOOL SECTIONS. There are riva-ny features .qf thd great Winter SHpw ivliich HaVq tinetly educational value, and, therefore ,are very .fitting oh the prog ramihe of •an institution which has always stressed the need of aims of tlhit nature. But of them all none is mpr© worthy , of the imjport a rib place'it bakes on xhat programme than the farm work afb, the schools, especially .as .it is , linked up with at istrong mp'diotiim. of literary;, effort such as is found on the syllalius of the school work at , the, shoiy, Th| cry. is “'Back td.the' lan,u; arid stop the drift to the city.” : That is one of the great reWspriri for the forrhaion of the Boys’- arid Girls’ Ajgriciiltural Olubs. It. will lie • readily acknowledged 'by. most ip.eopie that although these clubs may ./riot, h dve done so much as was hoped, they have given the young people oh the I a rms an added incentive to do farm work on their own and! given them' a fresh point of view. Farmers have to acknowledge that they have learnt much from the work of their boys arid girls.- The results of their work. has been in very many eases marvellously good, and have /set a hew standard,in root crop growing. The afforestation -work alike has been a factor in increasing the young people’is interest in the farm. .The cry for more pl'aritirijg oh farms lias grown strongly of recent years. Such work is readily looked ion as a .valuable national! . la'sset. What better subject, then, could be on the programme of a winter show than the subject or afforestation, .which is. thereby given ever more apdmore encouragement ini the development of a national service?: AFFORESTATION. One of the most interesting, as it is valuable, pf the displays of nature work, is the show, of school operations in. afforestation. , In the Schools the children are securing a very practical training in the study of trees, their habits, their correct methods- of growth and. in. fact the method of growing more and better trees arid to obtain from the soil the maximum that is in it. A striking example of, .the value of the work is afforded by the exhibit of strong, young trees, four feet high,

which Irist year ritefe in the seedling bC> The stages in the! raising of.seedling trees ffaines, , (3) p germination, (4) . atcer treatment. .In this way the childien are taught, to do these operations m the, right way and at the right time. Arid a ieisdh. is taken , from the evidence of piaiits, suffering through not being transplarited' out at the correct time,, oivirig to children being away during, bpidejriic time. In such cases of partial fdilute, there is- a lesson to be leaf rit.

Then there, are various useful., desighs—model, of , plantation one inch to on© foot, dffahged; triangularly _ accordin**- to ail experts ideas, miniature ffairies .showing construction, scrim to shade vdiriig trees, strip .method, or fa iking conifers- and eucalypti from seed raised steed, beds, trays of seeds frith end cut down preparatory, to planting, arid several other schemes tor obtaining the best results. Theie afe bottles of seeds of the macrocarpa, pinus irisigriis, eucalypti, cupresses lafrsoriiaha, etc. To encourage a knowledge of the -Various timbers there, are specimens of the timbers mounted m strips and named. The botany of' the leaves is studied tier .medium of the mounting on papei of the leaves of various trees. lhi® is a good Class, arid shows great variety. The iridge (Mr. R.. Syme) said that in this feature this year’s work is a great, improvement on 1924 exhibits. l ■ Theoretical knowledge is .secured by the charts of the various such as the pinus insignis, eucalyptus botryo.ides, pinus radiata, showing operations of , growing—operations, date,', reason and drawings to illustrate the .methods used,. There ape yepy good drawings also of . stems arid leaves, the best ,being . cut. out and mounted on sheets,

A series of .photographs, showing tree planting at Bothnia - and Whaka, and other matter's of afforestation, are very interesting,, , . , . Them.'as a test .of. their theoretical knowledge the students- have written essavs on “The value ,of forests to the Dominion,” and these show a lot of thought and carp. ROOT CROPS.

Exhibited alongside are numbers of samples of roots grown by the children in' their competitions, in which- they learn to grow more arid better crops. Then follow notes on the life history of the crop, charts showing as with trees (-1) operations-, (2) date, (3) (4) illustrations. Graphs indicate the re-

suits of a Variety of trials .of. mangold's and other bfbsfe,: With yield , per acre. These iare valuable, and lead to habits of care and bbserVat-ibh. ... . , The whole .bxiiibit is . full of ufeetuj dndi interesting,.'ihiqrniaiiqii to the farmer ,and bears Simple evidence or its Utility and value., . . i-. •, The judge (Mr Rod. Syine) says that the scope of the .work generally hasbeen much^e^tehdcdAAM^yC^ l '*