Vol. III. No. 46. 



THE AGRICITLTURAL NEWS. 



27 



EDUCATIONAL 



Agricultural Schools. 

 The usual half-yearly examinations were held at 

 the Agricultural Schools at Dominica, St. Lucia and 

 St. Vincent in December last. The following are the 

 general rej^orts of the examiner (Mr. L. Lewton- 

 Brain, B.A., F.L.S.), from which it will be seen that 

 the results are, (jn the whole, of a satisfactory 

 character : — 



D0MINIC.\. 



The papers, on the whole, are fairly satisfactory, 

 especially those of the senior class. Both classes have sent 

 in weak papers in Chemistry and the juniors also in 

 Arithmetic and Geography. Great watchfulness is needed 

 to prevent the Itoys' knowledge being merel}' a matter of 

 memory ; they must be taught, if possible, to think and 

 reason. Great care should be taken, in perf(jrming 

 experiments, that every boy sees and understands every 

 detail. The average of marks is not high, owing to the fact 

 that, in most sulyects, all the boys fail, more or less, to 

 answer one particular question, as is noted in the se[)arate 

 reports on the different subjects. Among the seTiiors, Elwin, 

 Winston and Serrant have done fairly well. There is not much 

 to choose between the others. Watty is the only one who 

 has totalled less than .")0 per cent. Among the juniors, 

 Josse and Bruney are well above the others, liellot, Gachette 

 and La fioc(pie are all considerably under 50 per cent. 



ST. LUCIA. 



The new syllabus has now been in force for only a few 

 months, consequently the results, as was to be expected, 

 are not so entirely satisfactory as they were under the 

 old syllabus. There seems a tendency, especially in the 

 Chemistry and Botanj-, for the work to be too bookish. This 

 should be carefully guarded against and the work in these 

 sciences should be taught in close connexion not oidy with 

 the experimental work in the class room, but also with the 

 practical work in the School gardens. The papers in 

 Agriculture are the most satisfactory. There seems some 

 confusion in the grouiiing of the boys into two classes ; some 

 of them have clone the senior jiapers in one subject and the 

 junior in others ; consequently the arrangement of the boys 

 in order of merit is hardly possible. Goring has again done 

 very well, and Allahdua, Edgar, du Boulay and Flavien, 

 fairl}' so. Pedriel is the only boy who has less than 50 per 

 cent, of the total marks. 



ST, VINCENT. 



The two new boys, Fall)y and Henderson, have done very 

 little : it is to be hoped that they will show considerable 

 iniiirovement at the next examination. Apart from them, the 

 junior boys have not done well ; in nearly every subject their 

 answers are comparatively of less value than those of 

 the senior boys. The seniors have done very well, on the 

 whole ; their answers show that the subjects have been 

 taught in a jjractical manner and that they have see)i and 

 understood the experiments described. None of the juniors 

 should be promoted to the senior class. Among the seniors, 

 Glasgow and Derrick have sent in excellent pai>ers all 

 through. Derrick has beaten Glasgow on account of his 

 arithmetic paper ; in the other sulijects Glasgow is better or 

 equal. None of the seniors have obtained less than 50 per 

 cent, of the total marks ; Browne and Warner are near it. 

 Among the juniors, Durrant is the best. Longheed and 

 Eankin have both totalled less than 50 per cent. 





IIIXTS ON OUTFIT FOR TRAVELLERS IN 

 TROPICAL COUNTRIES .■ By C. F. Harford, .^I.A., :H.D., 

 Princii)al of Livingstone College, Editor of Climate, and 

 Instructor in Health and Outfit to the Royal Geographical 

 Society. London : The Royal Geographical Society, 1, SnviUe 

 How, W., 1903. 



The special object of this little handbook is to answer 

 some of the questions that present themselves to intending 

 travellers. While it is quite inqiossible to lay down rules 

 that will meet all cases, there are, as stated in the introduc- 

 tion, ' certain general jjrinciples which should guide the 

 intending traveller in the selection of his equipment, which 

 are dealt with in succeeding pages.' 



Chapter V dealing with Mosquito Protection is especially 

 worthy of consideratio)i. Information is given as to 

 mosquito nets, mosquito boots and other methods of protec- 

 tion. 



While this book is not written so much for the use ijf 

 persons visiting well-organized communities, such as are 

 found in the West Indies, as for those joining exploring 

 expeditions and the like, yet it contains much useful 

 information which should be of assistance to travellers in 

 any tropical countrj'. 



DISEASES OF THE HORSE: A special report 

 of the Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. Wnxhinqton : Government Printing 

 Office, 1903. 



This is a new and revised edition of a report first 

 issued in 1890, the limited edition of which was very soon 

 exhausted. An entirely new article on ' The examination of 

 a horse', by the State Veterinarian of Pennsylvania, is 

 included, as well as a chapter on horse-shoeing, by Dr. .1. W. 

 Adam.s, Professor of Surgery in the "N'eterijiary Department 

 of the Universitj- of Pennsyhania. 



The report has lieen jirepared by a number of the 

 foremost men in the veterinary profession in the LTnited 

 States, and may, therefore, be regarded as the work of 

 specialists in the various Ijranches of the subject. It forms 

 a .safe and reliable guide for horse owners in the treatment 

 of the diseases of the horse, the want of which has long 

 been felt not only in the United States but also in Great 

 Britain and the colonies. 



This volume has been prepared for the special use of 

 the farmer, and will be found to be free, for the most part, 

 from technical terms and exi)ressions, and to be written i)i 

 a more or less popular style. 



Horse owners will, no doubt, find the cha[iters on the 

 diseases of the foot and horse-shoeing particularly useful in 

 enabling them to adopt humane and scientific treatment of 

 the horse's foot, and to prevent the unnecessary suffering 

 so often brought about by careless or unscientific shoeing. 



The volume is well illustrated throughout, containing 

 some forty excellent plates in addition to a number of 

 smaller figures. 



