BOYS’ AND GIRLS’ CLUBS

Taranaki Daily News, 10 November 1932, Page 8

BOYS’ AND GIRLS’ CLUBS

SOUTH TARANAKI ACTIVITIES

NOTES FOR COMPETITORS.

CLASSES IN HOME SCIENCE.

(Contributed by the South Taranaki Agricultural Clubs’ Association.)

Although the judging of the calves for the club competitions will not start for a week or two yet, many of the boys and girls will be' entering their calves at the A. and P. shows. As the general appearance of an animal counts for a lot when judging is taking place, attention must now be given to such matters as grooming, teaching the calf to lead and teaching the calf to stand well, so that on judging day all calves will be looking their best. .

■Frequent grooming makes a great difference to both the feel of the skin and to the appearance of the hair of the. calf. You will all have noticed that the judges always pay a lot of attention to the feel of the skin, so at each feeding time a few moments can well be spent at the important task of grooming the calf. It is also well .worth while washing the calf before judging day. Chose a bright sunny day for this task- and do the washing in the morning so that the calf will not be damp in the skin when night falls. It is also a good thing to take the calf for a good, brisk walk after it-has been washed as this will help to avoid the possibility, of the calf catching a, chill. The switch of the tail should be plaited with 'braid the night before showing and then brushed and combed out as close to judging'time, as possible. On no account should competitors stop feeding their calves until the final judging is over as a calf usually goes back for a few days after it has 'been weaned and this spoils the appearance and feel of tho coat.

For leading the calf a halter will be required and is very much better than having a rope tied round the neck of the calf. A halter is quite easily made at home from a piece of rope or strap and we hope to see all the calves with one this year. Remember that all animals should be led on the left or near side and the person leading should walk just alongside the front legs of the animal. It is a very bad mistake to walk along in front and pull the calf along behind you. Next time you are at one of the big stock shows, if you have a few minutes to spare, go 'along to the judging rings and notice the great care that many of the meh take in leading the animals. The whole time they are in the ring they are particular to see. that the beast is looking its best. When the calves have been brought to a standstill for a closer inspection by the judge each boy or girl should remain on the near side of the calf, but face towards the calf’s hindquarters. Stand opposite the front legs and hold the halter rope fairly short. On no account should you 101 l against your calf or put your hand on its back as this has the effect of making it stand unnaturally. Keep the halter rope up so that the calf stands with its head veil up and the top of the head higher than the level of the ■withers. Pick out a. level piece of ground for the calf stand on, or, if the is sloping, see that the calf is facing uphill. Teach the call to stand with the feet close together, both in front and behind.

COW-JUDGING COMPETITIONS. Last year cow ; judging competitions were arranged at all the group judging centres and not only were there a »Teat many competitors for this woik, but most of them showed that, they had a good knowledge of judging on points. This year we hope to be able to arrange for a similar competition. Your attention is also drawn to the fact that at both the Hawera and Stratford A and P. shows this month there will be cow-judging competitions for primary school boys and girls and also for secondary school boys and girls. Now that so many of you have had some practice at this kind of work you should enter for the show competition and see if you can win one of the prizes. The. weather during the past fortnight has been ideal for the germination of the carrot and mangold seed and from reports that have come to hand many competitors already have the young plants showing above the ground. These children will have a decided advantage over those who have not yet sown their seed and no further time should be lost in getting the crop in, as it often happens that a spell of dry weather about the middle of November will delay the germination. All plot competitors are reminded about their records. If you have not already done so get a small notebook and enter the dates and description of all the work you do in your plot. Also' watcfi for and enter up the details of any injury to your crop as. a result of the attacks of pests or diseases. VEGETABLE PLOTS. All competitors are advised to keep their v instruction sheets and to follow 1 them carefully, especially as regards the dates of sowing of the various seeds. All parsnips and carrots should now be in and probably many yill have them above the ground already. As soon as the rows can be clearly followed the spaces between the rows should be hoed up to kill all weeds while they are still small and to loosen the soil. Later, when the plants are an inch or so high, you can remove all weeds that arcmin the row.

Prepare the ground for the beetroot, as this well be the next crop to go. in, the suggested date being November 15.

Those who are going to grow the special crops for the Norinanby Horticultural show, besides the five for the competition, should see about getting the cabbage plants any time within the next week or .so. The hotbed for the bush . marrows should be prepared without delay. The best way is to proceed as follows: Mark out a bed about 6ft by 3ft and carefully remove all th-e black soil and put it on one side. Then take out the subsoil until you have a trench about 18 inches deep. \ou will not use the sub-soil so' it should be wheeled away. Then fill up your trench by putting in first a layer of grass clippings about 2 or 3 inches thick, then a - sprinkling of lime and a layer of about 2 inches of soil. Repeat these layers of grass, lime : and soil until the trench has been filled up level with the surrounding plot, after it has been well tramped. Then raise the bed about 6 inches with the best compost or black soil you can get. Don’t make the bed any higher than this as, if it is raised too much, it will get very dry in the summer. A bed made in the way described will sink down as the grass rots and will be slightly hollow on the top, so that it will hold

water well when you pour it on in. the dry weather. Stock manure and fowl manure are both' good materials for a, -hot bed, but they should be well rotted first and should be put in a layers between the soil and grass. Sow the bush-marrow seed on the hotbed and thin them out later. You would not require more than two or. three plants, in a hotbed of the size mentioned. Slugs and grubs are very fond of the young marrow ' plants so as soon as they come up they should be surrounded with a circle of soot or lime. HOME SCIENCE CLASSES. The committee has decided to continue the. home science classes that were conducted last year for the first time, and the schedule of classes has been revised and extended to provide 20 classes for boys and girls who are still at school, and 20 classes tor boys and girls under the age of 18 years. Very good entries were received last year from the children still at school, but the other classes had poor support. However, it has been decided to have both divisions again this year in the hope that the older boys and girls will show more interest. There will be classes for cooking, knitting, sewing and preserves on much the same lines as before, but new classes include such things ,as home-cured sheepskins, moccasins, useful novelties, home-made candied peel, etc., so it will be seen that there is a wide range of work to chose from and most boys and girls will find something they are able to enter for. All exhibits will .be. judged at Eltham on the occasion of the championship judging in connection with the calf competitions. All those who are interested in this work should watch this column, as each Week recipes and instructions will be published to help you with your work. We hope to be able to give you full particulars of a simple method of curing a sheepskin in next week’s notes.

(Questions addressed to Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs, care Daily News, Hawera, will be answered in this column.)