AGRICULTURE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLIII, Issue XLIII, 18 October 1923, Page 8

AGRICULTURE.

BOYS' AND GIRLS' CLUBS. Looking at the results of the competition amongst members of the boys' and girls' agricultural clubs for the Stuart Wilson Cup, one cannot fail to be struck with the great possibilities these clubs hold as a' training ground for our^farmers of the future (says the Dominion). The members of the clubs are the children of farmers, and they each. cultivate a plot of ground, growing what they please, and each endeavoring by care and skill to produce a bigger yield than that secured by •their rivals. It is an admirable training, and the spirit of competition serves to stimulate and maintain interest, while the practical results of the effort in many cases yield a not inconsiderable financial reward. In the case of this year's competition, for instance, an Otago lad grew a crop of potatoes yielding at the rate of 22£ tons an acre at a. cost of £1 per ton. The average yield of potatoes for the district was about seven tons to the acre, so the merit of the lad's effort can readily be seen. Another lad grew a crop of mangolds equal, to 132 tons : to the acre at a cost or 2s 5d per ton; whereas the average yield in that district was about 50 tons to the acre. These lads should make first-rate farmers. Nearly 1000 boys- and girls now belong to m&. agricultural clubs, and there can be no doubt that the experience they are gaining will not only i . assist to make them good farmers, but * \ should have a wholesome effect in * bringing home to their elders the advantages of giving .greater attention to -improving their farming methods. I The dubs are capable of doings such ; useful service that every effoi-t should be made to increase their membership and to stimulate interest in their work. I I have noticed lately amongst those : who favour the dairy pool, writes the Stratford correspondent of the Taranaki Herald, indications of a rising doubt, not as to the principle of control, but as to whether the occasion will produce the men capable of wisely exercis. I ing control. A beneficent despotism i may have much to recommend it as a .form of-government, but history furnishes few examples of enduring benefits coming to tne people. There will ( be some first-class billets to be filled in j connection with the marketing of I £16,000,000 of produce, and it is very j likely that we shall find second-class men filling them, j Mrs Grace Butler, whose work is well known in Auckland art exhibitions, had two pictures accepted for the New • Zealand court at the Empire Exhibition in London. The pictures ate one of Brighton Beach, Christchurch, and the other of Mount Rolleston, Southern Alps. Mrs A. Elizabeth Kelly I has had the portrait of a lady in evenj ing dress accepted, and Mrs Wallwark, a landscape with sheen, while ,of the Sc-uthern men artists, Mr Ronald Mac- . kenzie has a snow scene, Mr Cecil Baxter some water colours, which will jbe-showji in London when the Exhibii tion onens next year.