302 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
in good order. Work will be easier, and the life of the tools pro- 
longed. 
For the holidays a rota of boys should be chosen to keep weeds 
down and to stir the surface soil by hoeing. A small plot might well 
be left without attention as an object-lesson in the value of the constant 
use of the hoe. 
The instructor, preferably a schoolmaster, enthusiastic and with 
sound knowledge of horticulture, will produce similar enthusiasm in 
his class. A certificate in school gardening is granted to teachers 
on examination by the Royal Horticultural Society, and another 
" Certificate of Diligent Interest in Plants " is given to the winners of 
school competitions. 
If a section of the local Vegetable Show can be reserved for the 
school children it gives a wonderful impetus to the work, or a small 
competition among the plot-holders may be preferable in some cases. 
The exchange of gardening journals brought from home, the use and 
distribution of pamphlets issued by the Royal Horticultural Society, 
are invaluable means of awakening a love of garden craft and a sense 
of the importance of technical works. These pamphlets should play 
a great part in extending general garden knowledge. 
Instruction will avoid the repetition of local mistakes, such as the 
use of potato haulm (which should always be burnt) for covering 
potato clamps. The burning of all diseased vegetation immediately is 
a habit which must never be neglected, and continually impressed 
upon the children. Wide-spaced planting of well-sprouted sets, 
rejection of doubtful seed, careful earthing up, and spraying with 
Burgundy or Bordeaux mixture as means of preventing disease 
and increasing the yield of that most important crop, the Potato, 
would do much to bring about better methods of cultivation in the 
neighbourhood. 
Experimental Work. — A scheme which includes the following as 
a basis has given good results. Seeds : seed saving, testing, ger- 
minating, sowing. Soil : composition, tests for lime. Potatos : cut 
and uncut sets, sprouted and unsprouted sets, unlimited sprouts and 
sprouts limited to two and three shoots, spraying. A small plot left 
unsprayed shows the increased value of the sprayed crop. Cultiva- 
tion : digging, double digging, and trenching, natural and artificial 
manures, &c. Fruit: pruning, grafting, &c. 
Insects, Birds, Fungus, &c. — The beneficial insects and something 
of their life-histories, as well as of the harmful ones, should be known 
and easily recognized. The influence of bird life on the economy of 
the garden when properly understood checks the slaughter of valuable 
allies and the stealing of their eggs. Fungus pests should be noted. 
Such problems as seed dispersal and plant growth assist vegetable 
cultivation and the suppression of weeds. Collections of harmful 
insects and dried and pressed weeds are easily formed. By means of 
drawings in colour permanent records can be made where it is not 
always possible to preserve the actual specimens. 
