Garden days with prizes

Title

Creator

Quintano, Silvino

Language

English

Year

1916

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

GARDEN DAYS WITH PRIZES. By S1LV1N0 Quintano, Supervising Teacher, Ligno, Albny. For some years garden days without prizes have been observed in Albay. Their purpose has been the selection of products for the annual agricultural competition held in connection with the Bicol meets. Garden days with prizes were instituted during the last school year. To give publicity and to promote the success of the day in each locality, teachers discussed the matter in their classes, and lists of prizes were posted in conspicuous places. Teachers visited the homes of farmers and invited them to participate in the contests. The announcement of cash prizes aroused enthusiasm. In spite of the destructive baguios of 1915, there were more exhibits, their quality was far better than in previous years, and the attendance was greater. It was expected that one half of the money for the payment of prizes would be furnished from general funds. The municipal councils authorized the transfer of the necessary money, but their action in some cases was disapproved by the provincial treasurer. In those instances the sums were reduced to the maximum amount that could be spared from school funds. Supervising teachers prepared lists of proposed prizes and these were submitted to the division office for approval. The division superintendent made some changes where it was learned that no money could be had from the general funds. Two sets of prizes were offered, one for farmers and the other for pupils, the amounts ranging from 20 centavos to t*2. Prizes were of fered for the best individual exhibits in any class. In some cases first and second premiums were given. Where single prizes only were offered, the judges usually indicated their second selec tion by means of red ribbons. The schools of the different districts took part in the garden days of their respective municipalities, each being represented by a booth. The grades of central schools were classified sepa rately, and the judges numbered all of the booths according to their relative merits. A friendly rivalry resulted, and this contributed largely to the success of the events. In some of the towns there were exhibits of both boys’ and girls’ industrial work, and at Ligao, there were academic exhibits; but prizes were not provided for these. 287 THE PHILIPPINE CRAFTSMAN In general, teachers were made responsible for farmers’ as well as pupils’ exhibits. In some places municipal officials as sisted, and there the best results were secured. The farmers took a keener interest because there was no competition with pupils. The fact that the local exhibitions were preliminary to the inter-provincial agricultural contest also encouraged them. At Polangui they were so enthusiastic that they held a meeting in the school building at the close of garden day. The president of the Provincial Agricultural Society presided, and many mat ters of importance to farmers were discussed. FARMING. In America the farmer lives on his land and raises his own grain, vegetables, fruits, live stock, and poultry. This makes him to a high degree independent. In the Philippines the farmer generally lives in a crowded village and depends on one crop. It would be well to teach the Filipino youth how to develop homesteads into little farm homes, with all their conveniences and economic advantages. With this purpose, small farm schools might be organized throughout the Islands, the industrial features to be patterned after the work on a well-regulated small farm. The schools ought not be large, and they ought to provide in struction for both boys and girls. In addition to their academic work, the boys should do the work of men, and the girls should do the work of women on the farm. Both classes of work ought to be as nearly complete as circumstances will permit. (W. J. C.) FERTILIZER FOR ROSES. As the result of a series of experiments carried on by Dr. F. W. Muncie, of the Department of Floriculture at the University of Illinois, the interesting conclusion has been reached that the use of acid phosphate as a fertilizer increases the rate of pro duction of roses to a remarkable extent, perhaps a hundred times.—University Farm Press News. o o o “I pray you, as long as you are a part of an institution, do not condemn it. Not that you will injure the institution—not that—but when you disparage the concern of which you are a part, you disparage yourself.”—Elbert Hubbard.

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