Miscellaneous. 



schools have had many varieties to give 

 the pupils for planting at home. 



As a means of encouragement I shall 

 offer a prize to the pupil who raises the 

 finest specimen of each thing planted. 

 Pupils are permitted to submit in this 

 competition products from their home 

 gardens, as many of the pupils have 

 home gardens, which I personally 

 inspect and encourage as much as 

 possible. If a pupil can produce better 

 plants in his home garden than we do 

 in the school garden I want to know it, 

 and also how it was done. 



I now have on my hands one more 

 garden in Tubao than was desired. The 

 first-grade pupils were told that they 

 would have no garden, as they were 

 too small. This announcement brought 

 forth requests, petitions, and a few 

 tears, until I told the children in this 

 grade to go to work. To have seen 

 pupils seven or eight years old carrying 

 bamboo and working their plots would 

 convince anyone that the Ilocanos are 

 agriculturally inclined. 



A garden is now found at every school, 

 and is part of the school work. The 

 central school of Aiingay has an excel- 

 lent flower garden, containing many 

 beautiful flowers ; also some experi- 

 mental plats, and a vegetable garden. 

 The central school of Tubao has two 

 large gardens. All of these gardens are 

 located near the school-house — in most 

 cases adjoining the school-house. 



The general arrangement was to 

 assign a certain part of the garden to 

 each class, the teacher in charge of the 

 class also having charge of the gar- 

 den. I found that awakening a certain 

 amount of class rivalry lent interest to 

 the work. In the central schools the 

 teachers have immediate charge, but in 

 barrio schools each class chooses a 

 leader, the teacher having an oversight 

 of the work. This was found necessary, 

 as the barrios contained but one teacher 

 each. 



The part of the garden assigned to 

 each class was subdivided, and eaeh 

 membet' of the class was given a small 

 plat. That plat was his. He planted 

 what he liked, and the work in prepar- 

 ing and cultivating the plants was done 

 by himself. The arrangement gave each 

 individual pupil a definite ownership. 

 In this assignment of plats both boys 

 and girls were included, 



Preparation of Garden. 



No difficulty was experienced in 

 securing the necessary land, and I found 

 it best to build with school labour the 

 fences required. Each pupil in the 

 school donated a portion of the bamboo 



574 [June, 1909, 



needed, and the older boys, under the 

 guidance of the teacher, buiit the fences. 



Every garden in my district was 

 fenced by the pupils. These fences 

 were built in July, after which no more 

 " general " work was done, each pupil 

 being interested in his own plat and 

 working on it alone. As the rains are 

 heavy, borders were placed around each 

 plat. These borders were made of rock, 

 brick, bamboo or sod, the material that 

 was most plentiful in the barrio being 

 used. Numerous wide paths were made 

 so as to give the pupils ample room for 

 their work without stepping on the beds* 



Fertilisers. 

 The kinds and uses of fertilisers were 

 taught, and each pupil was required to 

 fertilise his own garden, some of my 

 best gardens having been on worn-out 

 land. The pupils carried the fertiliser in 

 baskets from their homes. After the 

 ground was prepared to a depth of 8 

 inches the seeds were planted. In order 

 to give needed instructions in the pre- 

 paration of seed-beds a part of each 

 pupil's garden was used as a seed bed. 



Care of Garden. 

 Each pupil was required to have at 

 the school some vessel for carrying 

 water. Some of the schools had water 

 close at hand, and in others it was neces- 

 sary to carry the water nearly one mile. 

 The girls usually brought water in jars, 

 while the boys used a long bamboo ; in 

 two barrios nothing but bamboo was 

 used. Each school had one or more 

 sprinklers. Some plants required daily 

 watering, and others were watered once 

 every two days. On Saturdays and 

 other holidays a committee was chosen 

 from each class to water the class 

 garden, but many pupils preferred to 

 come and water their own plat rather 

 than trust a committee. 



Results. 



When the products were ready to be 

 used the pupils were encouraged to take 

 them home, each pupil having been pre- 

 viously instructed in regard to their 

 use. Many a proud boy or girl trudged 

 home with three or four radishes, beets, 

 or turnips, but no pupil was permitted 

 to take all of any one kind from his 

 garden. At least one plant was left for 

 seed, each pupil being required to save 

 seed from ea3h kind planted in his 

 garden. This seed was divided into two 

 equal parts, one part for the pupil, the 

 other to be kept for the school garden 

 next year. Pupils were taught that 

 saving of the seed was quite as essential 

 as the planting of the garden. 



I will not attempt to attach a list of 

 all plants that were grown in 



