Dec. 18.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 2313

(d.) How plants obtain their food. Function of the leaf. Decomposition of carbonic acid. Leaf-green. Importance of water to the plant. Absorption of food by the roots. Action of root-hairs.

(e.) The soil. How soils are formed. Decay of rocks. Chemical constituents of soil. Subsoil. Humus. The soil as a source of plant-food. Standard V.—(f.) Brief outline of the chemistry of the elements essential to the growth of plants. Influence of light, warmth, and moisture on plant-growth. Bacteria as the cause of decay and fermentation.

(g.) Mechanical analysis of soils. Classification of soils. Good and bad qualities of soils. Influence of mechanical condition of soils on their fertility. Plant-food in the soil, available and dormant.

(h.) The objects to be obtained by tillage. Improvement in the mechanical condition. Importance of a good seed-bed. Chemical changes induced by exposure to the air. Action of bacteria, &c., in the soil. Fallows. Tillage as partly replacing manure. Water in the soil. Capillary action in the soil. Drainage. Possible loss of plant-food in drainage water. Differences in modes of cultivation for light and heavy soils. Plant-food in the soil. Exhaustion of the soil. Principle of application of manures. Principle of rotation of crops. Improvement of the soil.

Standard VI.—(i.) Object of manuring. General and special manures. Farmyard manure, its composition and value; its liability to ferment; management to prevent loss of value. Vegetable and animal refuse as manures. Green manuring. Plant-food most frequently wanting in soils. Manures supplying particular kinds of plant-food. Guanos. Special manures supplying nitrogen. Bone manures. Superphosphate and other manures. Action of lime on the soil.

(j.) The characteristics of the common crops—cereals, fodder-crops, root-crops. Habit of growth of a plant. Distribution of roots. Principle of adaptation of manures to crops.

(k.) Importance of good seed. Propagation of plants by cuttings, tubers, bulbs, &c. Object of grafting and of pruning. Insect-pests. Insect changes, as illustrated by the life-history of common insects. Nature of parasitic fungi.

In schools in which it is not practicable to have the work of the three standards done separately, Part I. may be taken as the work of one year; Part II. may be taken as the work of another year, together with so much of Part I. as is is necessary to render Part II. intelligible to beginners; and Part III., with the most necessary portions of Part I., as the work of a third year.

26. The object-lessons and lessons on natural history, manufactures, and common things, for Standards I., II., and III., are intended as an introduction to the elementary science lessons for the higher standards. Classes S1 and S2, or S1, S2, and S3, may be taught and examined together in these subjects if the programme of lessons is varied from year to year, so that on the whole the work prescribed for two or three classes shall be done in two or three years, as the case may be; or S3 may be instructed in elementary science with any higher class, and even S1 and S2 may, instead of receiving lessons on objects, &c., be instructed in the elementary science prescribed for the higher standards if the instruction in elementary science is oral, illustrative, and experimental, and is, in the teacher’s judgment, adapted to the capacity of the lower classes, and fitted to promote the development of their faculties.

27. Any order of instruction in singing other than that prescribed in the standards will be recognised as of equivalent value if the result be good singing, sufficient theoretical knowledge, and careful training of the lower classes as well as the higher.

28. All the girls in any public school in which there is a mistress or assistant mistress shall learn needlework, and the Inspector shall judge all other work done by the girls more leniently than that done by the boys in such a degree as would be implied in reducing by 10 per cent. the minimum marks required for an examination pass. To secure full approval the needlework of the several classes must be according to the following programme:—

S1. Threading needles and hemming.

S2. The foregoing, and oversewing, running and felling, and fixing a narrow hem.

S3. The foregoing, and stitching, sewing on strings and buttons, and making eyelet-holes for hooks.

S4. The foregoing, and setting in gathers, button-hole stitch, and sewing on hooks and eyes.

S5. The foregoing, and button-holes, and plain darning on stocking material.

S6. The foregoing, and darning and patching linen, calico, and woollen material, herring-bone stitch, cutting out on paper, and cutting out and fixing one plain garment.