EXAMINATION OF SCHOOL TEACHERS IN GARDENING. 1 57 
EXAMINATION OF SCHOOL TEACHERS IN COTTAGE AND 
ALLOTMENT GARDENING. 
April 21, 1915. 
Two hundred and eighteen candidates entered for the Examina- 
tion of School Teachers in Cottage and Allotment Gardening held 
on April 12, 1916. Of these, 33 obtained a first class, 103 a second, 
and 67 a third, leaving 12 failures and 3 absentees. 
The Examiners, Mr. F. J. Chittenden, F.L.S., Mr. John Fraser, 
F.L.S., Mr. W. Crump, V.M.H., and Mr. C. R. Fielder, V.M.H., report 
that of the ten questions in Division A, Nos. 3, 8, and 10 were very 
well answered. Two hundred and three candidates took No. 3 ; 150 
took No. 8, and the majority of the answers showed decided intelli- 
gence as to cultural details and a few obtained maximum marks for 
this question; 196 took No. 10, a most important question, and it 
was gratifying to find that it was on the whole the best answered 
of all, the deep and thorough cultivation of the land being quite well 
understood ; fifteen candidates obtained maximum marks for this 
question. 
The answers to Questions 2, 6, and 7 were on the other hand very 
disappointing. In answering No. 2 many candidates gave remedies 
without saying when they should be applied, and not a few included 
such things as canker and silverleaf amongst insect pests. With 
No. 6 it was decidedly curious that those whose duties must often 
include the making out of requisitions should give such weak and 
disappointing replies. One hundred and forty-seven answered No. 7, 
but almost all of them entirely overlooked the ideas of economy 
of labour and cost of materials, and many recommended artificial 
manures to be used indiscriminately and mixed all together. 
The answers to the remaining questions were very fair, though 
in No. 5 Dahlias were included amongst sweet scented flowers, and 
in No. 9 Annuals were hopelessly mixed up with ' hardy herbaceous 
plants/ 
In Division B in several instances only one question had been 
answered which does not fulfil the requirements distinctly laid down, 
