Miscellaneous. 



60 



[JULT, 1909. 



(h) To be mediums of communication 

 between the agencies that aim at the 

 improvement of agriculture, and the 

 cultivating classes. 



(i) To induce the cultivator, directly 

 or through the school boys, to take up 

 new and improved products and adopt 

 better methods of cultivation. 



(j) To awaken in school children a new 

 interest in the cultivation of plants, and 

 instil into them a love of nature, and so 

 reconcile them to a country life and to 

 agricultural pursuits. 



(k) To encourage school children to 

 establish gardens at their homes. 



(I) To make school boys take an honest 

 pride in manual labour, and induce a 

 healthy competition among them as well 

 as between one school and another. 



2, —Conditions tinder which School 



Gardens are worked, 



(a) Any school which presents possibi- 

 lities for school gardening -will be fur- 

 nished with a stock of implements, and 

 supplied with seeds from time to time : 

 where required, fencing wire will also be 

 supplied. 



(b) Garden work should be carried on 

 by the teacher with the help of the 

 monitors and scholars. After setting 

 aside such part of the produce as is re- 

 quired for purposes of propagation the 

 remainder should be divided between 

 the Headmaster, Assistant Masters. 

 Monitors, and boys who have actually 

 assisted in the work of the garden. 



(c) In the ease of produce not actually 

 used as food, and which it is desirable 

 to dispose of with a view to profit, the 

 amount realised is to be entered in the 

 quarterly report form. The revenue 

 from such cultivation will at the end of 

 the year be equally divided, half to go to 

 the Headmaster, and half to be devoted 

 to a garden prize fund for the school. 



(d) Quarterly Reports should be fur- 

 nished in the forms provided. 



(e) The School Gardens will be inspect- 

 ed periodically by the Superintendent 

 and his assistants, and prizes will be 

 awarded by the Department to teachers 

 who show the best results. 



(/) A certificate will accompany each 

 prize, setting forth the nature of the 

 award, &c, and certificates of honorable 

 mention will also be awarded to deserv- 

 ing teachers. 



3. — Points to be considered in the 



judging of School Gardens. 



(a) Area cultivated. 



(b) Situation and lay of land. 



(c) Climate and rainfall. 



(d) Number and variety of plants 



grown : (I) economic ; (II) orna- 

 mental. 



(e) Laying out. 



(J) Arrangement of plants and trees. 



(g) Grouping for effect. 



(h) Skill in cultivation. 



(i) Cleanliness of premises. 



0) Cultivation in pots, tubs, and boxes. 

 (k) Bowers and aiches. 

 (I) Fruit trees. 

 (in) Fences and hedges, 

 (n) Paths and drains, 

 (o) Lawn and playground, 

 (p) Furnishing of reports and returns. 

 (q) School garden records, 

 (r) Activity and intelligence of scholars, 

 (s) Care of implements. 

 (t) Aptitude and interest shown by 

 teacher. 



C. DRIEBERG, 

 Supt., School Gardens, 



AGRICULTURAL CREDIT BANKS. 



(From the Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries' Leaflet No. 21b.) 



A Credit Bank is a Co-operative Society 

 through which persons in a small way 

 of business may obtain advances of 

 money for useful purposes at a reason- 

 able rate of interest. 



Some people may be inclined to 

 question the wisdom of supporting or 

 encouraging any system which makes it 

 easy for a man to conduct his business 

 with borrowed money. This idea, how- 

 ever, is based upon a misconception. 

 The wisdom of borrowing upon reason- 

 able terms is generally a question of the 

 security which the borrower can offer. 



Credit is at the foundation of modern 

 business methods. Most public com- 

 panies work with borrowed money, and 

 so long as the company can show good 

 security for its liabilities, nobody ques- 

 tions the soundness of the principle. 



A business man of any standing in 

 the commercial world experiences little 

 difficulty in obtaining temporary ad- 

 vances cf money to meet special require- 

 ments. But the small man in an agri- 

 cultural community does not, as a rule, 

 possess the same facilities. 



In the days when private banks were 

 scattered up and down the country the 

 position was somewhat different. A 

 trustworthy man could then more easily 

 obtain a credit accommodation merely 

 on the security of his character and 

 position. But with the gradual absorp- 

 tion of private firms into large Joint- 

 Stock Banks conditions have changed. 

 The small farmer, the labourer with his 

 allotment, the market gardener and the 

 village tradesman, may not be in a 

 position to borrow money through the 

 ordinal y channels of credit, because 

 ability, experience, and honesty of 



