144 



The Review of Reviews. 



November 1, 1906. 



Pliato kiiully lent by tlif piofridjrs cf" The icaiif> '] 



A Gippsland school. 



were two exhibits which were the subject of much 

 praise. One was from the Mortlake school, where 

 farming in miniature is carried on within the school 

 grounds. The work done is both practical and 

 scientific. The rocks of the district and the soils 

 formed by their disintegration are carefully studied. 

 Such important matters as the rotation of crops, the 

 growth of grasses suitable for the district, the ex- 

 haustion of the soil and the remedy, are specially 

 studied. The planting and cultivation of potatoes 

 and other vegetables is part of the regular work. 

 Experimental plots are used to demonstrate the use 

 of fertilisers and the value of each. The children 

 have been trained to recognise drought-resisting 

 plants, and those which cannot resist the Australian 

 climate. Weeds, too, and their effects are carefulh 

 studied. In addition, records of the direction of the 

 wind, the rainfall, the meridian altitude of the sun, 

 and the effects of these are shown. On the same 

 chart barometric and thermometric readings are also 

 set out. 



The other exhibit was from a small school in 

 Gippsland, Wy Yung, and dealt with the dairying 

 industry carried on there. As in the case of the 

 Mortlake school, the rocks of the district and the 

 resultant soils are shown, and the chemical consti- 

 tuents in them. These are proved to exist in the 

 grass and other vegetable products, and finally in 



the milk, so that the connection between the soil 

 and its products is clearlv traced. 



In geography, too, we see from a study of the 

 various courts that the local geography is taught 

 first, and that it is linked with geology of an elemen- 

 tary character. Local maps and relief models alike 

 show that this subject is made a living one, and 

 that the teacher develops the subject from what the 

 child knows of his own neighbourhood, afterwards 

 linking this knowledge with the geography of the 

 great world without. 



NATUKAL STUDY- 



If we consider the nature study sections we find 

 further evidence that the aims I mentioned before 

 are being realised. 



In the different districts plant and animal life is 

 being observed in the vicinity of the schools, as it 

 never was before. Already these observations have 

 proved of value. It is said that in the Castlemaine 

 district the observations of the children have led 

 the fruitgrowers in one locality to modify their gar- 

 den oj)erations for the better. Morally, the subject 

 should have a good effect on children, and tend to 

 make them more considerate and less cruel towards 



insects. 



THE THREE R'a. 

 As for reading, WTiting and arithmetic, the evi- 

 dence at first sight is not so clear. But when we 

 learn that hundreds of libraries have been estab- 



