CHILDREN'S GARDENING COMPETITIONS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 13150, 5 December 1906, Page 4

CHILDREN'S GARDENING COMPETITIONS.

I The _Tiifta.ru-;Floral, and .^orticuijtnral ,f ! ciety, in preparing iHCbedule of priiww' for» their ,tfnnWi_. Show' in March have considerably enlargeii the shore, u'Jt: 'lotted' to. Softool children,.. It should be »» source of satisfaction to the Society's committee, arid of encouragement 1 to pOßsjble competitors, to leaxn that the Wanganui Horticultural Society last week devoted a second day of their Sliow to school children's exhibits, and that this venture proved most successful. The " Chronicle ''V records that oyer 1000 entries were i-eceiyej' from the children of differewb Bcbooljr; Cut flowers and decorative arrangement* of flowers were of course the most ttwnerptw, but UK-re importance was attached to th« school garden competition. For this there were eight entries, and the winning school showed besides flowers a dozen varieties of vegetables. For the fortheoming Ti-

maru Show Mr J. E. Hurdley has offered: a challenge shield, and a guinea in cash, t-- be spent on plants, tools or books on gardening for tie school, the prize to be for most points in flowens, fruit, and vegetables grown in the school garden. ■This offer should arouse a spirit of emulation: among the schools possessed of gar- < ess. and by well arranged co-operative tifort each of them should be able to produce a good and well varied collection. It has been a weakness in the shows of the past that the number of exhibitors in west classes has been very small. By enlisting the eympafhies of the school children of the present, the Society will be <loing something to ensure a larger body of active supporters in the future; for the sake of this result, therefore, as well.as for the benefit- the children must derive from their garden work, we hope that the competition will be such as to encourage the Society to enter stall more heartily into t'-e movement in future years.