( ) 
AaRlCULTURAL EDUCATION. 
ELEMENTAEY EXAMINATION or Pupils of Middle-Class 
AND OTHER ScHOOLS. 
Examination Papers^ 1886. 
A. AGEICULTUKE. 
November 9th, 1886. 
(Three Hours Allowed.') 
N.B. — Use the fewest possible words : Essays are not icanted. 
I.— THE SOIL 
Is (a) a warehouse — (h) a laboratory — (c) a feeding machine. 
1. What materials of use as plant food are stored in the soil as in 
a warehouse : and what are the necessary substances in which it is 
most often deficient ; which must then be artificially provided ? 
2. What processes are naturally going on in the laboratory qf the 
soil for the preparation of food for plants ? 
3. What can the farmer do (a) to replenish the warehouse of the 
soil — (b) to quicken or regulate the processes conducted in the 
laboratory of the soil — (c) to improve it as a machine for feeding 
plants ? 
4. How does land drainage affect the soil, (a) as a warehouse, (b) 
as a laboratory, (c) as a feeding machine. 
II.— PLANT LIFE 
Includes (a) the germination of the seed — (b) the growth and culti- 
vation of the crop — (c) the ripening and harvesting of its fruit. 
